Leyla Brittan is the author of the young adult novel Ros Demir Is Not the One (Holiday House 2024).
Originally from Chappaqua, New York, she received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wyoming in 2023, and she graduated from Harvard College in 2019 with an A.B. in English and a Secondary Concentration in Computer Science.
Her short fiction has appeared in Pigeon Pages, 5×5, and The Harvard Advocate, and has been nominated for Best American Short Stories. She has attended workshops in fiction writing, screenwriting, playwriting, and journalism through Tin House, Harvard University, the UVA Young Writers Workshop, and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
She is also an actor and singer; while at Harvard, she toured internationally with the jazz a cappella group The Radcliffe Pitches, and she has most recently appeared onstage in Relative Theatrics’ productions of Black Sky and Arsonist.
She has a background in outdoor sports, and has written for the rock climbing magazines Rock and Ice and Gym Climber. She is a recreational rock climber, skier, hiker, runner, and PADI-certified Open Water Diver.
SE: What inspired you to write Ros Demir Is Not the One?
LB: Ros Demir Is Not the One actually grew out of a short story that I wrote in college. I’ve always been drawn to works that reimagine classic stories, from Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead to Madeline Miller’s Circe. The premise of the short story was the same as the book: a girl finds herself in a relationship with a guy who is seemingly perfect for her, only to discover that he has an incredibly deep, seemingly star-crossed connection with someone else, and she has to decide whether to confront him with this reality. I took that story, changed the characters, and crafted a setting inspired by a summer resort I visited as a young teenager (which, interestingly enough, has found its way into several of my stories), and ended up with Ros Demir Is Not the One!
SE: The book delves deeply into themes of culture, identity, and belonging. How did you approach these themes, and why do you think they are important for young adult readers today?
LB: My mother is from Türkiye and my father is from Montana. I grew up with a strong feeling of connection to my heritage on both sides, and like many young readers, I found myself searching for reflections of myself in literature. I never found any young adult books featuring Turkish-American or half-Turkish protagonists, although I did find solidarity and understanding through books featuring multicultural families more generally. I know how much reading a book like this one would have meant to me as a teenager, and I hope that it helps readers feel a little more seen, in whichever ways Ros and her struggles with belonging resonate with them.
SE: Can you describe your writing process for this novel?
I like to say that every first draft of a novel that I’ve written (I’ve finished four) has come out in a totally different way, and that I’ve learned to listen to the book and how it wants to come to me. This book was interesting because it grew out of a short story. I had a premise and I had an ending—sort of—but I didn’t yet know what happened in the middle to get us there. I was working as an assistant to an executive film/television producer during the time that I drafted this book, and I’d wake up an hour early each morning to write as much as I could before work. Over the course of a few months, I found my way through the book, piecing together the backstory that made Ros who she is as well as the exact series of events that lead to her climactic decisions.
SE: Your protagonist, Ros Demir, is described as refreshingly flawed and deeply human. What was your approach to developing her character, and how did you ensure she resonated with readers?
LB: I often say that the primary reason that I started writing young adult fiction was the impact that young adult books had on me when I was younger. The period of my life during which I read the most YA was also the period of my life when I was looking to books to help me understand how to be the type of person that I wanted to be. I really wanted to write a teenage protagonist who does not have her life figured out, who makes serious mistakes and learns from them. Ros hasn’t fully figured herself out yet: she thinks she knows who she is and what she wants, but she still has a lot of self-discovery and reflection to do.
SE: The book has been praised for its witty and absorbing narrative. How did you balance humor and serious moments to create an engaging story?
LB: The short story that this book grew out of had a much more solemn and introspective tone: the heart of the story is somewhat serious. But I wanted the book to be fun and engaging and funny to read as well. I really enjoy writing dialogue, possibly because I have a background in theatre, as both an actor and a playwright. I love the process of stepping into each character’s voice and seeing how their personalities bounce off of each other. Most of the humor in the book comes through the character’s voices, both in the dialogue and in Ros’s sometimes-snarky narration.
SE: Ros Demir Is Not the One is your debut novel. What has the journey been like from writing the book to seeing it published, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
I think a lot of people don’t know how long the publishing process tends to take! I wrote the first draft of this book back in 2021, when I was working in film and television. I revised it, got my agent, and signed my book deal while I was pursuing my MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Wyoming. My book deal was announced in February 2023; since then, I’ve graduated from my MFA program and moved to Seattle. Ros Demir Is Not the One comes out on October 1 and it still feels surreal, but I can’t wait for it to be out in the world and in the hands of readers.
Interview: SHELF ESCAPE
