Author Angie Thomas Expects Her New Book To Get Her ‘Banned’

Angie Thomas, the author of the young adult novel The Hate U Give, has reportedly written a third book, and she promises it’s her boldest one yet.

Her new work, titled Concrete Rose, is slated to be published by HarperCollins on January 21, 2021 and takes readers back to Garden Heights, 17 years before the events of Thomas’ The Hate U Give.

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The Hate U Give follows the story of Starr, a young Black girl who is pulled between her fancy preparatory school and her poor neighborhood. When her childhood friend Khalil is killed by a cop, her and her community rises up in protest. The book was adapted into the hit feature film of the same name. Thomas’s new novel will go back in time to tell the story of Starr’s father, Maverick Carter, and — according to Thomas — she expects her forthcoming work to ruffle a few feathers.

“Of all characters who really just stayed with me, Maverick was at the top of that list,” Thomas told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “And what was fascinating to me was once readers started reading The Hate U Give and then when the film came out, he was the character that I was asked about the most.”

Thomas says she was inspired by the stories she heard from her young male fans, and wanted to give them a story that would reflect the ones she heard.

“I started talking to young real life Mavericks,” she says. “Young men who are trying to still find their way and are often written off and seen as troublemakers or this or that. They’re never seen as [having] potential, they’re only seen as being at risk. They have stories and they deserve the opportunity to not just grow, they deserve the opportunities to be seen as someone beyond their circumstances.”

Read the full PEOPLE interview with Angie Thomas here.