‘Grishaverse’ Author Leigh Bardugo Wants to Make You Uncomfortable

Leigh Bardugo is encouraging readers to embrace art that makes them uncomfortable.

The author, 50, spoke at ‘A Night of Forbidden Magic,’ hosted by Social Life Magazine’s Devorah Rose, about the need for books and art that challenge readers — because creativity rarely thrives in one’s comfort zone, per Page Six. Bardugo is the bestselling author of the Grishaverse series and the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the latter of which was adapted for a TV series on Netflix.

Bardugo recalled the uproarious reaction to her first book, Ninth House, a bold tale following a Yale student that seeks to uncover the university’s secret societies. Readers, assuming the author wrote the book for shock value, were “outraged” and “decided to basically set fire to [Bardugo] on Twitter,” she said.

The author’s initial reaction was to get defensive: she worked hard and researched extensively to write that story. But then she considered readers’ points, and realized they weren’t wrong, just perhaps misguided.

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“Then I thought, ‘No. You’re right. I do want to shock you. I do want to make you a little uncomfortable,'” she recalled. “‘In fact, I want to f— you up a little.’”

And that isn’t a bad thing, Bardugo said. The author suggested that readers often forget the difference between tangible discomfort, which indicates danger, and creative discomfort, which encourages new lines of thinking.

“We live at a time where we can control all of our inputs, when we never have to be challenged or even provoked,” she said. “And that’s fine, but it does interfere with our ability to be creative. And the more we become uncomfortable with discomfort, the harder it becomes to make art and to seek out interesting part[s].”

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Social media has brought readers and authors closer together than ever before, Bardugo pointed out. The close proximity has its advantages, but the author stressed that the artist’s job is to keep creating “when no one gives a damn,” not to simply please an audience.

Bardugo rounded out her message by urging readers to sit with the discomfort a piece of art brings them and consider its dimensions and complexity, and encouraged creatives to keep pursuing challenging themes and subjects, even if there’s pushback.

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“I hope you embrace that discomfort. I hope you turn toward it and you recognize that that is not an unwanted visitor — it is a welcome guest. And it means you’re that much closer to doing something interesting and maybe even something extraordinary.”

Bardugo and John Picacio have a new children’s book, The Invisible Parade, coming out Aug. 26. It’s available now for preorder, wherever books are sold.