Leila Mottley
The Girls Who Grew Big opens with the unforgettably raw scene of Simone, sixteen years old and thirty-six weeks pregnant, giving birth to twins in the back of an old, dirty pickup truck. Through Simone and her friends, Adela and Emory, readers come to know and cheer for a group of teenage mothers navigating life in tiny Padua Beach on the Florida Panhandle. Exiled from their homes or facing difficult circumstances, these young women find strength and a sense of belonging in the community they forge together. Mottley’s first novel, Nightcrawling, was an Oprah’s Book Club Pick and a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of a poetry collection, woke up no light, and was named the Oakland Youth Poet Laureate in 2018. Mottley was born and raised in Oakland where she continues to live with her wife.
“Blistering, wise, empathetic. . . Mottley has brought the physicality and pain and beauty of birth and new motherhood into the light. That she has done so by way of teenage girls who have too often been shamed and shunned and told to hide themselves away makes her novel all the more vital to behold.” — The New York Times Book Review.
At the Festival
Leila Mottley appears in 1 session in the archive.
2026 Festival: Video and Photos
Featuring Amity Gaige, Karen Russell, Alice Austen, Virginia Evans, Susanna Kwan, Daria Lavelle, Kyra Davis Lurie, Leila Mottley and Kathy Wang
Books
Copies of every title are available from Vroman's Bookstore at the festival.
The Girls Who Grew Big
The Girls Who Grew Big opens with the unforgettably raw scene of Simone, sixteen years old and thirty-six weeks pregnant, giving birth to twins in the back of an old, dirty pickup truck. Through Simone and her friends, Adela and Emory, readers come to know and cheer for a group of teenage mothers navigating life in tiny Padua Beach on the Florida Panhandle. Exiled from their homes or facing difficult circumstances, these young women find strength and a sense of belonging in the community they forge together. Mottley’s first novel, Nightcrawling, was an Oprah’s Book Club Pick and a New York Times bestseller.