Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) recently connected with Promised Protagonists, a youth-led literary organization that hosts a youth book club and publishes an online magazine for middle-grade readers and writers. As managing editor of Teachers & Writers Magazine, I was honored to have the opportunity to be a guest of the Promised Protagonists Youth Book Club and lead reading and discussion of a packet of poems selected for the occasion. The engagement and thoughtfulness of the book club attendees (who gathered virtually via Zoom) was inspiring. The young readers were eager to read and discuss, and they engaged thoughtfully with poems by Sharon Olds, Cameron Awkward-Rich, Ada Limón, and others. They brought an abundance of wisdom and insight to the table, and there was a deep sense of community within the group by the end of the hour. All of this was clearly due to the work of Katie Lin, founder of Promised Protagonists, who is herself a young reader and writer. Inspired as I was by this community of young readers and writers, I thought it was worth hearing more from Katie about how Promised Protagonists came to be and how literature led her to create space for those younger than her to fall in love with creative writing.
Katie Lin is a high school junior from Massachusetts. After working with the DEI in her district and teaching multiple camps for kids, she was inspired by children’s imagination and the need for diverse education, leading her to start Promised Protagonists. She does nonprofit communications work, serves as an editor for different literary magazines (e.g., Polyphony Lit), and is a Civic Innovators Fellow. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, among others. She is passionate about the intersection between psychology and sociology, particularly related to education.
Our interview took place over email in the fall of 2024.
Joshua Garcia
Managing Editor
Teachers & Writers Magazine
Joshua Garcia [JG]: Promised Protagonists is a youth-led literary organization that works to instill a love for reading and writing in younger generations. Can you tell us a little more about what Promised Protagonists does and what prompted you to start an organization like this?
Katie Lin [KL]: Yes! Promised Protagonists brings diverse literature to children through both our literary magazine and our children’s book club. Anyone can submit stories and art to our magazine, which gets read by our middle-grade audience. Our submissions are actually open now if anyone’s interested in getting feedback and a chance to be published. Our book club is sort of similar in that we provide a space for kids to discuss new short stories every week, learn about its historical context, and also do a craft to relate to the story. We’ve read stories on Samoan medicine, Malaga Island, immigrant experiences, and it’s super rewarding to see the kids connect each story to themselves and the world around them.
I started this organization because I was surprised by how little I knew about my own family history and cultural identity. I was honestly really struggling my freshman year of high school, but that’s also when I fell in love with reading again because it was a nice escape. Maybe one turning point I remember is when I read Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi. Many things happen in the book, but part of it is that these two Korean-American sisters return home to visit their family. There are flashbacks to their terrible high school years of feeling out of place, but also nostalgia for that time again, but also strained relationships with their family and each other. Even though these characters were in many ways different from me, I still could relate a lot to the experience of being Asian-American and wanting to conform, and also just the dynamics I have with my own sister. I really realized the importance of having characters you see yourself in, not just like folktales, but modern-day characters that share a part of your identity. Stories like this being mainstream actually made me start becoming comfortable talking about being Asian-American with others, which is unfortunate but true. I was also doing a lot of teaching at the time, and I wanted to bring representation in literature to younger children because that’s when you’re the most impressionable. I also really wanted to capture the imagination they have, being kids. I absolutely love working with them and seeing how they light up when they discover something new or something that resonates with them.
Every child is promised the opportunity of being the main character, and they should see that reflected in stories they read.
JG: I love the name Promised Protagonists. Where did you get the inspiration for that name, and what does it mean to you?
KL: Well, originally I was thinking of naming the magazine something kind of more cozy. For example, we have kids’ magazines called Cricket and Chickadee, which I think is super cute. So I was thinking of one-word names like “Papaya” or “Carousel.” But then, when I was looking at it again, I really wanted the name to reflect the organization’s overall purpose. I was also writing poetry at the time, and I really loved the sound of the word “protagonist,” so I wanted to incorporate that somehow. What the name means to me is that every child is promised the opportunity of being the main character, and they should see that reflected in stories they read. It’s almost like a pledge, so if they don’t see part of themselves in any stories, we need to write more. I also think the name’s special because it’s recognizing the importance of each individual. I almost picture it as if you’re talking to an older version of yourself in the mirror, with admiration for who you’re going to become.
JG: Do you prefer to read or write in a certain genre? If you’re a writer, what does your writing practice look like?
KL: I love reading literary fiction, or I think they call it “domestic fiction” too now. Just very realistic stories, maybe even taking place in the late 90s early 2000s. It honestly feels like I’m watching a film when I read those, and the way the author practically psychoanalyzes each character is super interesting. I like writing the same type of stories too. My pieces tend to jump around time and be pieces of different snapshots because I think that’s fun, showing a full coming-of-age story. My writing practice is pretty much me reading a bunch of short stories, watching movies, looking at lyrics, writing down words I think are nice. Then, whenever I have an idea, I write it down in my notes. I usually start by writing one paragraph of the piece and seeing if I like it. The hardest part is probably getting the entire piece planned out.
JG: Are there any teachers or mentors who have helped establish your love for reading and writing? If so, what was it about them that caught your attention or made you want to delve deeper into literary life?
KL: Definitely! For one, my fourth-grade teacher absolutely loved literature. She was always raving about new books and encouraging people to read, and her passion was pretty contagious. So that was the first time I started writing to actually get better instead of just making up stories for fun. During COVID, in middle school, I also took an online writing class, and it was actually very challenging. Each week we basically had to read part of a book and write an essay on those chapters. But it was super rewarding, and I learned so much. One of the teachers from that class still helps mentor me with writing, and I’m really thankful—she sends me amazing pieces to read too. Honestly though, the original spark that led me to delve deeper into literature is Google Docs. It sounds funny, but when I used to write on paper it was actually painful because it took so long to write a word and erase it. The first time I could type a story I felt so professional, and it really encouraged me to start writing more.
JG: What has been a highlight of your time leading Promised Protagonists so far? Where do you hope to take the organization from here?
KL: Wow, I guess a highlight has been meeting so many wonderful people. Like having you from Teachers & Writers come to the book club was amazing, and I learned a lot about both poetry and teaching from you. I’ve also met with other authors and publishers, which is crazy, and they’ve given me so much great advice on how I should run Promised Protagonists. Probably one of my favorite things, though, is seeing children excited about stories we’re discussing. We put together the magazine and then share some of those stories with the book club kids, and their enthusiasm is so gratifying to see. I think that kind of leads into the second question, because I would love to bring the organization to schools or libraries in-person. I’d love to get more feedback from our audience on the stories we publish, and I’d love to meet more of our readers as well.
Photo by Marta Nogueira.
Joshua Garcia is the author of Pentimento (Black Lawrence Press 2024). His poetry has appeared in Ecotone, The Georgia Review, Passages North, Ploughshares, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA from the College of Charleston and has received a Stadler Fellowship from Bucknell University and an Emerge—Surface—Be Fellowship from The Poetry Project. He lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.