Author: Hannah V. Sawyerr

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 bachelor's degree in English from Morgan State University and an MFA in creative writing from The New School. Sawyerr lives in Los Angeles.

Novel ‘Truth Is’ Shows What It Really Takes for a Teen to Get an Abortion in 2025

Truth Is is a pro-choice novel in every sense of the phrase. Truth’s choice to move forward with an abortion is made early on in the novel and the majority of the book focuses on her life and her choices after her decision.

I hope that years from now, a student picks up this book and reads about the challenges that the book’s main character Truth faces and goes, “Is that really how it was back then?”

For adults who engage with Truth’s story, I want us to consider the limitations we sometimes unknowingly put on young people. I want us to consider the heights young people could reach if they were granted opportunities and community support, the way Truth ultimately does in the novel.