Interview: Lisette Auton

Lisette Auton’s new novel The Starlight Rebel, published by Puffin on July 3rd, is a sci-fi adventure set in the year 3897. It follows Astrifer Nova, a neurodivergent 11-year-old who’s assigned to a sock factory but soon uncovers a much bigger truth about the world around her. With a cast of unlikely allies—including a knitting alien—the story explores themes of protest, equality and resistance. As with all of Auton’s work, disabled and neurodivergent characters are central, and the book arrives at a time when government policies are having a devastating impact on disabled communities.

Auton is also an award-winning poet, performer and activist whose work spans theatre, film and spoken word, often appearing in unexpected places—from crypts to launderettes. We caught up with her to find out more…

What’s your writing process like? And how has it evolved over time?
It begins with an idea that I try to swat away.  If it sticks, then I know there is something to it. It has to be attached to a place – it’s as important as character or plot for me, an essential ingredient. I begin scribbling in notebooks (any excuse to use one of my too many fountain pens, the obsession is real) – ideas for scenes, little bits of dialogue, descriptions. I’ve learned to write these down immediately, I don’t know how many times I’ve thought I’d remember and haven’t… This is two-fold – makes me pin down what’s important to the story and what isn’t, what the heart and theme are, once I’m duplicating myself, I’m probably onto something. Then it also means that sitting down at the computer to write isn’t as threatening. All I’m doing is typing something up! And before I know it, I’m writing on from that. I then have a patchwork of a book that I try to develop into a sample and pitch, to either sell or write from myself. It keeps me on track. Each time I think I’ve nailed the process it refines and changes from book to book, or if I’m writing a play. I’ve had to become more slick now that this is my job and I have deadlines, but the heart is always the same – ideas, scribble, type.

You wear many hats — writer, performer, activist, theatre-maker — how do these different facets of your work feed into each other when you’re building a story like this one?
Writing a book can be very lonely and isolated. I write these solo and I need quiet. I’m not a coffee shop writer. But all of my other work is incredibly collaborative, working alongside other creatives in multiple roles. I imagine them being in the room as I write; thinking about what they would lean into with their particular skillsets for example, in dialogue, set-design, character arcs, music. And then I make sure I’m keeping every one of those people happy in the writing that I do. It makes a solo project feel collaborative. Also, being able to talk to other people when I’m stuck really helps. Those aren’t just jobs that I do, they’re part of me, my identity, so I make sure I account for them all in the books that I write.

The Starlight Rebel is published by Puffin. Can you tell us a little about how your working relationship with them came about?
I went through lots of rounds of applications and submitting work and gained a place on Write Now, one of Penguin’s flagship programmes for underrepresented writers way back in 2018. This meant that I got mentored by a Puffin editor for a year. There was no guarantee of publication, but the hope that you’d finish a novel and they’d help you to shape it, you’d learn about editing and the publishing industry. Through this, I got my incredible agent, and then we sold two books to Puffin. This is now my fourth. A big shout out goes to local Teesside Writers’ Block North East, which was absolutely instrumental in getting my work ready to e picked up like this, and for all the creative friends I made there.

What inspired the creation of Astrifer Nova, and how does her journey reflect real-world experiences of neurodivergent and disabled people today?
This book is set in the future on Earth. It is surrounded by a neon shell and no one remembers that there are stars beyond and planets full of life. The galaxy is in great danger and Astrifer Nova has been chosen as the one who can save everything. Except Astrifer is eleven, she’s having the worst day ever, and is not quite the hero they thought they were getting…

Two years ago, I went on a trip to Canada with my Mum and we visited Niagara Falls. I should have done a Google… I was expecting beautiful nature, which it was, I just wasn’t expecting the absolute sensory cacophony surrounding it. Noise, casinos, neon lights, skyscrapers, waterfall lit up, music etc. I’m autistic and this was a LOT, I mean amazing, but very wide-eyed and what the actual… I wondered what it would be like, how I would cope, if the entire planet was like this with no respite. We then went to play glow in the dark adventure golf, you know, as you do, and my freckles glowed. That’s where Astrifer came from – a neurodivergent girl in the future who feels very alone and isolated, the things she loves and who she is are not valued, and the discovery about what happens when she leans into herself and also finds community. That reflects my experience as a disabled and neurodivergent person from shame, to acceptance and celebration. And this was possible for me via the incredible community of disabled and neurodivergent people and artists that welcomed me in. 

Protest and resistance are at the core of this story. In a future drenched in distractions and noise, what does meaningful rebellion look like to you — both in fiction and in life?
In this book rebellion is being yourself, and finding an alien friend who shows you how. It’s being sentenced to work at the sock factory and dreading it, and then realising that the people there are exactly the people you needed, and that they have completely overthrown the way things ‘should’ be done and found ways that work for them. Then it’s about being brave and vulnerable and showing the world these things, how they can make everything better for everyone. I mean I have yet to find an alien bestie, nor do my freckles show a map of the stars, and I have not yet overthrown a cruel government (but am doing my very best to try), but other than that, it’s strikingly similar!

The book lands at a time when the rights of disabled people are under renewed attack. How do you channel that political fury into something hopeful and empowering for younger readers?
I had no idea just how prescient this book was going to be, bearing in mind I had the idea for it two years ago and by the time it comes out in the shops the story has been set in stone for well over six months. But disabled people have always been under attack, it’s just that this time the stakes feel higher and it’s more cruel than ever, particularly coming from a Labour government. I could either be perpetually angry and rage and rant (I still do this, I just I have to give myself a time limit or I would explode), or I can put it to use the only way I know how – writing. I create worlds that are filled with hope and possibility, with the undercurrent of fighting against injustice. I thought I was writing adventure stories for children. They are! But they all include social commentary, protest, and what the world could be like if disabled and neurodivergent people were respected, supported and accepted exactly the way they are. And it would be ruddy lovely.

How do you strike the balance between joyful sci-fi invention and powerful social commentary?
It’s how I find the balance in my life too, I guess. Living openly as a disabled and neurodivergent person often feels like a defiant and political act. But there is also joy and community and chaos and hilarity and friendships and falling out and making up and living life to the absolute full but with lots of naps and downtime. I can’t create a world, even in the future, where I gloss over the things that happen to disabled and neurodivergent people on a daily basis, nor can I write a book without them and the triumphs and challenges firmly at the heart. It would be doing my community a disservice. I’ve created an incredible future world and making that up and then it coming to life on the page is an absolute wonder, but it needs to go hand in hand with reality.

Do you remember what it felt like when you first held this book in your hands? What was that moment like?
I was slightly chaotic. I’m trying better to be better on social media. Not glossy and pristine, but my usual layers of carnage and ridiculousness. I decided to film opening the package. My dog looked on in disgust as I managed to open it wrong and covered us both in fluff… Once I’d got over that, I was in awe. There’s this thing that you have completely and utterly made up out of your brain, and now it is an actual tangible object that so very many people have put time, love and expertise into, and other humans that you don’t know can go out and read. Still can’t get my head around that.

If you could visit one place from the book or hang out with one of the characters for a day, who would it be?
In the book there is the Museum of Trees which houses the SRS, the Star Rescue Society. They have a plentiful supply of biscuits, olde worlde seed collections, married with future high tech gizmos. I’d like to go there and hang out with Astrifer (I wonder if we’d get on? Maybe we’re too similar?), Doris and Slugger. My three favourite human characters in this book. Obviously with Opi too, the alien who adores knitting, sugary treats, shiny things, and can tell whole stories of planets using mycelia systems.

You’ve spoken about this being your most ‘needed’ book yet. What conversations are you hoping it ignites?
I hope that it makes disabled and neurodivergent children feel part of a bigger community where they’re valued. I hope we can talk about hope! And ways for our communities to lead the way in making worlds accessible and friendly and kind. I hope it makes people realise that we can change things, that there is possibility, that together we can create change. I hope it starts tricky conversation too, about who is excluded from important conversations and how we can change that. And conversations about disabled and neurodivergent joy! Those are always the best sort.

The Starlight Rebel is out now and can be purchased via Lisette Auton’s website.