Truth Is: A Novel in Verse - Hardcover

by Hannah V. Sawyerr (Author)

Finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

From the critically acclaimed author of All the Fighting Parts comes an empowering and defiant novel in verse in which a teen poet grapples with an unplanned pregnancy and determines what happens to her body in a world that wants to take the choice away from her.

Seventeen-year-old Truth Bangura wants nothing more than to know a life beyond her hometown. Writing and performing is her only solace in a life overwhelmed by a drifting relationship with her best friend, an emotionally turbulent home environment, and the reality that her below average grades make her true dream--escaping her mother's grasp after graduation--uncertain.

When Truth learns she's pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, she makes one decision she's finally sure about: an abortion.

Determined to move forward, Truth turns to the pages in her notebook with the support of her slam poetry team--including the poet with a voice smooth as summer jazz, who's been catching her eye during practice.

At an open mic night, Truth finally gains the courage to perform a piece that dives into her rocky relationship with her mother-and reveals the choice she never told her. But when a video of Truth's performance is posted online and starts going viral, her decision quickly becomes everyone's business-including her mother's.

Told through searing free-verse, journal entries, and interspersed fill-in-the-blank poetry prompts, Hannah V. Sawyerr's Truth Is reminds us there is always a choice. There is always hope. And there is always a way forward.

A National Book Award Finalist

A Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist

A Pedro and Daniel Intersectionality Award Finalist

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

A Kirkus Books Best Book of the Year

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year

A Book Riot Best Book the Year

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year

A Chicago Public Library Best Book the Year

A Rise: A Feminist Book Project Top Ten Selection

A YALSA Best Book of the Year Top Ten Selection

A Horn Book Fanfare Selection

Four Starred Reviews

Author Biography

Hannah V. Sawyerr was recognized as the Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore in 2016. Her debut novel in verse All the Fighting Parts was recognized as a William C. Morris Debut Award finalist, a Walter Dean Myers Award Honoree, a Rise Feminist Book Project Top Ten Title, and a Kirkus Best Book of the Year. Her spoken word has been featured on the BBC's World Have Your Say program as well as the National Education Association's "Do You Hear Us?" campaign. Her written word has been included in Essence, xoNecole, and gal-dem. She holds a BA in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Sawyerr lives in Los Angeles, California.