Meg Eden Kuyatt: Perfect Enough (Autism)
- 41 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Welcome back to A Novel Mind, Meg, and congratulations on your newest book -- which pubs today! -- PERFECT ENOUGH. First off, can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
My name is Meg Eden Kuyatt. I am an autistic author, mostly of verse novels, including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor Title GOOD DIFFERENT, THE GIRL IN THE WALLS, and now PERFECT ENOUGH. I write largely about neurodivergent experiences, generational neurodivergence, and how to thrive in a society not built for you.
PERFECT ENOUGH continues the story of Selah, your main character from GOOD DIFFERENT. Can you tell us a little about Selah?
Selah is an autistic girl who has internalized her symptoms her whole life. In the first book, she discovers that internalizing and masking aren't good long-term solutions, and receives her diagnosis. Selah is very much based off of me, at least emotionally. The literal details of our life sometimes differ, but Selah is sort of an alternative universe Meg, as I didn't get diagnosed until adulthood.
Sometimes we authors develop extraordinary affection for our main characters, and you've been with Selah for two books now. In what way(s) has she been easy to write? Hard to write?
Selah is easy to write in that she's basically me. Writing her, figuring out her plot, I find the pieces come together quite easily with Selah's narratives. I'm not sure if there's a hard thing about her books honestly. Maybe sometimes honing and focusing them down. It's every other book I write that I find hard 😂
Explain to us the internal and external challenges Selah now faces in PERFECT ENOUGH.
Internally, Selah struggles with feeling like she has to prove herself as an autistic person in a neurotypical world. She has some internalized ableism that she has to be able to do the same things as allistic kids, that if she has her tools she can do everything and anything. Externally, Selah has sensory challenges at camp and friendship conflicts (!!). I know as a kid (and adult!) the idea of conflict, of needing something but feeling that it won't be received well, that it interrupts what the other person is doing or might want, is often my worst nightmare!
I went to camp as a kid and I had terrible homesickness, and sensory issues, and friend-problems with bunkmates very similar to Selah's! Did you go to camp as a kid? If so, how was your experience? Did you like it?
I did go to camps as a kid, and I'm shocked that I had quite positive experiences! I think they were short enough that I was OK. I think if they had been longer than a few days (mine were always fairly local, maybe a week long at most), I would've not done well. Many of the challenges Selah has were inspired by my challenges living on campus at college, like roommate conflicts, and going on retreats with my church group.
Selah has come a long way since we first met her in GOOD DIFFERENT, and by the end of PERFECT ENOUGH, she is thinking about the start of high school . . . Might we, perchance, see a third book in this series someday, where she continues on her journey?
I do have an idea for a book three that we are proposing. My vision would be to talk about her last year of middle school...at a new school!...learning to say goodbye and transition to new seasons of life, as well as discerning how and when to receive and reject feedback...in the writing world and beyond! Fingers crossed! If you want to see another Selah book, please consider preordering PERFECT ENOUGH, and/or requesting it at your library, as that will show folks that there is interest in Selah's continuing journey!
This is your third book in verse, and you are also a poet. Tell us a bit about what draws you to verse?
As an autistic person, my feelings are often "big." They need more space than prose. They also don't seem to be understood by neurotypicals as well through my prose. People seem to connect more with my verse, and I enjoy writing verse. It allows us to get into the speaker's head more, which I think is particularly helpful when you are writing about a neurodivergent experience.
What's next for Meg Eden Kuyatt?
My YA in dual POV with two autistic protagonists is slated for 2027 with Scholastic. Stay tuned!
Right now, I have quite a few ideas but need the last bit of "clicking" for them to fall into place. We've also had a lot in our personal lives, so I think for the summer especially, but the rest of the year, my goal is to resist my compulsion to churn out and instead abide, rest, and see what starts organically clicking together. Hopefully I'll be able to say more soon!
Thank you Meg! I love your use of the word "abide." May we all find time for some rest and peace this summer -- may we all abide.
Meg Eden Kuyatt teaches creative writing at colleges and writing centers. She is the author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection “Drowning in the Floating World” and the forthcoming “obsolete hill” (Fernwood Press, 2026) and children’s novels including the Schneider Family Book Award Honor-winning “Good Different,” and “The Girl in the Walls” (Scholastic, 2025). "Perfect Enough" pubs June 2. Find her online at megedenbooks.com.