Red Emma’s

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.

"Sawyerr combines fast-paced, unwavering verse poems with text messages, social media transcripts, and more in this stunning portrait of a teen in transition that earns all the snaps." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hannah V. Sawyerr was recognized as the Youth Poet Laureate of Baltimore in 2016. Her debut novel in verse All the Fighting Parts _was a finalist for the William C. Morris Debut award, 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. Sawyerr holds a BA in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Her sophomore novel in verse _Truth Is (Abrams/Amulet) is slated for release on September 23, 2025. Sawyerr lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Niccara Campbell is the host of ...But Make It Books Podcast.