Senior Justin Kemp has recently published two books, becoming one of the youngest authors in Germantown Academy history.
Kemp’s first graphic novel, Dear, includes stories of individuals suffering from mental health, and his second book Dear, Before The End, addresses similar topics. Kemp has already begun filming a movie for his book Dear. For this movie, he asked Germantown Academy students to volunteer and participate in it.
In Dear, GA students Maisy Betancourt ‘24 and Anthony Lara ‘24 helped to design the images and illustrations of the book.
The inspiration for Dear stems from two places, which ultimately motivated Kemp to accomplish the feat of writing two complete novelettes.
“One [inspiration] being my own experiences with depression and anxiety,” Kemp said. “The second being the four characters in my book, whose names are from real teenagers who lost their lives from depression and the society they were put in.”
Kemp has loved to write for the majority of his life. Growing up, he loved to write speeches to promote social change, and has since carried his passion into his time in the Upper School.
“The end goal of everything I do is to show people that they are not alone, because that is what dealing with mental illness feels like,” Kemp said. “You feel completely alone.”
Photo courtesy of Justin Kemp ‘24
“I want the readers to feel heard and to feel like they have people that share the same experiences as them,” Kemp said.
The process of writing and creating a story did not come without its challenges, however, the experience of working with different teens was very rewarding for Kemp.
“This process was really fun,” Kemp said. “I got to work with illustrators from all parts of the country. All of them are in their teens like us. There wasn’t really a brainstorming process. I write as I think. I just put it down on a piece of paper, and in this case, it became a book.”
These two novelettes are far from the end of Kemp’s career as an author. He has many plans for the future for both books and his upcoming movie.
“There are lots of things on the schedule coming up,” Kemp said. “Many interviews and travel for speaking engagements and meetings, but I’m most looking forward to going out and meeting people. I love talking to people, especially when I have some things they can relate to.”