The most powerful stories are the ones that make people feel understood, and I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, a new young adult novel, is one of them. 

On Feb. 17, award-winning author Mariama Lockington visited Dunbar, where she spoke with students about her new young adult novel, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm, and the importance of telling stories that reflect the complexity of growing up.

Lockington’s novel is about two Black queer girls navigating love, family struggles, and identity during the holiday season. While the book contains familiar romantic tropes like fake dating and opposites attract, Lockington wanted to tell a story that centered on joy and connection.

“I just wanted to take a try at writing a true romance,” Lockington said. “I was inspired by just watching a ton of cheesy Lifetime holiday movies, and then wanted to put queer Black girls at the center of that.”

But the story goes beyond romance. 

Lockington said she was interested in exploring how different emotions can exist at the same time, especially during the holidays.

“Often we think in binaries, like the holiday season is either wonderful or terrible,” she said. “But it’s actually a lot of in-between moments.”

Lockington explained that her own experiences with grief and mental health shaped the book’s emotional tone.

“It can be a really lovely time and also a sad time,” she said. “Those things can exist during  the same day.”

Lockington intentionally moved away from a storyline focused on coming out or discrimination, and instead, wanted the characters’ identities to exist naturally within the story.

“The conflict in the book is not about either of my characters coming out,” she said. “They’re just queer; it’s part of who they are.”

Dunbar librarian and Gay Straight Alliance Club advisor Mrs. Amber Faris felt that the choice made the novel feel especially meaningful for young readers.

“I really enjoyed that both characters were dealing with realistic conflicts that lots of young people are dealing with,” Faris said, pointing to themes like family struggles, foster care, and complicated relationships at home.

Faris said representation in literature matters 

“Kids need to see mirrors of themselves in books,” she said. “But they also need to read about perspectives that are different from their own.”

Students who read the novel as part of Dunbar’s book club echoed that same sentiment. Junior Rachel Wilkinson said she appreciated how the story focused on the relationship itself rather than the conflict surrounding identity.

“It didn’t center around the queerness,” Wilkinson said. “It centered around the romance.”

Although Wilkinson said she did not share the same background as the characters, she still connected with aspects of their personalities and emotions.

“It was a very diverse book,” she said. “Even if the situation wasn’t exactly relatable to me, I related to who they were as people.”

Lockington said that sense of connection is exactly what she hopes readers take away from the story.

“I hope someone feels seen in some way,” she said, “or feels validated by parts of the story.”

For Lockington, storytelling is ultimately about reminding readers that they are not alone and that “joy can exist alongside everything else.”

Lockington’s visit left students with a reminder of the power stories that reflect real experiences. In centering around joy, identity, and emotional complexity, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm shows that feeling understood doesn’t come from perfect lives, but from honest ones. The novel is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Macmillan Publishers for readers who want to experience that story for themselves.