This interview originally appeared in the May/June 2025 Horn Book Magazine as part of the Publishers’ Previews: Diverse Books, an advertising supplement that allows participating publishers a chance to each highlight a book from its current list. They choose the books; we ask the questions.

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In Sawyer Lovett’s first novel, Shampoo Unicorn is the podcast that gay teen Brian and his straight bestie Riley, as “Sass and Mimi,” anonymously produce to talk about what it’s really like for queer kids in their small rural town.

1. Which of your characters arrived first in your imagination?

Brian arrived first, although in my mind he was Sass right from the very beginning. This smart, audacious kid who knew that he was a big fish in a small pond and just needed to keep swimming until he found his place.

2. At your lowest, do you choose “something to do tomorrow that was worth sticking around for”?

Yes. I have, and I think it’s a solid method for building resilience and making the future a gentler, more interesting place for your future self.

3. What book has inspired you as a writer?

So many. We talk in bookish circles and classes about Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s theory of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. My first real mirror book was Bastard Out of ­Carolina by Dorothy Allison, but I also really love the work of Toni Morrison, David Levithan, and many other talented writers.

4. Third person, second person, first person — how did you decide which protagonist would get which narrative point of view?

I want to say trial and error, but really, there was a lot more error. Shampoo Unicorn went through ten years of drafts, developmental edits, beta reads, and long periods of being shelved. I’m deeply inspired by Kate Scelsa’s use of mixed POV in Fans of the Impossible Life, and the Greek chorus of letters was an homage to Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, which is one of my favorite books to revisit.

After the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, I couldn’t stop watching interviews with survivors and thinking about how trauma survivors sometimes use “you” instead of “I” as a way of disassociating ourselves from events that change us profoundly.

5. What’s a podcast you never miss, and we shouldn’t either?

Bad Gays, a history podcast about queer villains. It’s well researched and thoughtful and frames the social constructs of gender and sexuality over various periods of time.

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