44. S4, Ep1: Holly Smale: Synaesthesia, hyperlexia and accidentally writing an autistic book-child

Holly Smale is a multimillion-bestselling and award-winning author of young adult fiction, famous for her Geek Girl and The Valentines series of books. Geek Girl heroine Harriet Manners is a 15 year old, socially awkward girl, and Holly says that it was only after being diagnosed autistic herself at 39 that she realised that her character Harriet is also autistic - and that she had actually been writing about neurodivergence for a decade.  Holly lives in Hove, in East Sussex in the UK. Holly and I talked about all sorts of things, including: ➡ Meltdowns, masking, synaesthesia and dyspraxia ➡ Holly’s childhood memories ➡ Coming out as autistic publicly ➡ Attitudes, misconceptions and gender stereotypes ➡ Undiagnosed intergenerational autism  ➡ Her lifelong special interest in books and writing, autistic characters in books and on screen and writing an autistic character  Squarepeg is a podcast in which neurodivergent women, and trans and nonbinary people, explore navigating a neurotypical world and share their insights, challenges and successes. I hope that these conversations will be inspiring and thought provoking, open you up to new ways of thinking about being neurodivergent, and help you feel more connected to a worldwide community of people with similar experiences. I’m Amy Richards, and after being diagnosed autistic at the age of 37 I’m now on a mission to learn more about different perspectives and issues around being a neurodivergent adult in a world that feels like it doesn’t quite fit.   EPISODE LINKS: Find Holly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HolSmale  Kieran Rose course: https://theautisticadvocate.com/onlinelearning/  If you'd like to connect or get in touch with Squarepeg, you can find me on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/squarepeg.community/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/squarepegautism  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/squarepegautism/  Or on my website: https://squarepeg.community/    THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS! A HUGE thank you to my amazing patrons, who support my work on the podcast: Caroline, Cat Preston, Corinne Cariad, Elise, Karawynn Long, Kate Faust, Katharine Richards, Katherine Lynch, Laurie Green, Lea Li, Lilli Simmons, Pete Burke, Sarah Hardy, Vera Cady If you’re enjoying the Squarepeg podcast and would like to help me carry on making new episodes, you can become a member of the Squarepeg community on Patreon from just £3 per month: https://www.patreon.com/squarepegpodcast