British author Shanta Everington says in the Western Mail in Wales that her own struggle to accept that she is disabled informed her debut novel, Marilyn and Me, which was published by Cinnamon Press.
Marilyn and Me is the story of a young woman with learning disabilities who, at 20, is attacked at a bus stop and then struggles to get her life getting back on track.
Everington, 36, who has scoliosis, said: “Disability is not a very common topic in art and many people find it hard to talk about.
“Disabled people don’t generally like the sympathy and pity that comes with the term disabled – that was certainly the way I felt as a young adult.
“In fact I think there is a desperate need for more positive representations of disabled people and Marilyn is a very strong character. She lives on her own with support from the community, but after the attack, the people around her want to see her live in a way they regard as more secure.”
Everington's second book, Give Me a Sign, a teen fiction title, will be released July 1 and focuses on the relationship between a hearing girl and a deaf boy.
