Emmy, Tony, and Grammy Award–winning performer Billy Porter makes his picture book debut with Songbird in the Light, an uplifting story of a young singer that draws on Porter’s own experiences. Written with Chris Clarkson and accompanied by Charly Palmer’s vibrant, color-saturated paintings, the book offers readers an inspiring example of finding one’s voice through song. PW spoke with Porter about his childhood, the difference between writing and theater, and his hopes for readers of the book.

What led you to write a picture book and how has the process compared with your experiences in the performing arts?

I can’t quite say that I thought about writing a picture book. I sold my memoir to Abrams [Unprotected] and they actually suggested that I write a children’s book as well. The difference between writing a book and performing is that writing is isolated. Writing can be very lonely, because it’s just you. One of the things that I love about theater is that it’s collaborative and it’s familial. It’s community; that’s the difference.

What was it like working with Chris Clarkson and Charly Palmer?

It took me about two years, working with Abrams and going through several illustrator’s’ portfolios, to find Charly Palmer. I was really set on having illustrations that didn’t pander to what people think child illustrations should look like. I wanted it to be aspirational. I wanted the art to be elevated, but also to be able to connect with kids. It took a long time to find those elements. I was so happy to find Charly. I want this book to grow up with the people who are introduced to it. I want it to be able to transition into adulthood, and I think Charly did that so beautifully.

The picture book is based on my childhood. Originally, it was called Rockhead Bill. Children can be very mean, and I was labeled Rockhead Bill at the time. My head grew faster than my body at the ages of eight, nine, and 10, and so I had a really big head. It’s funny now, but the inciting incident of the book was somebody throwing a rock at my head.

What’s so interesting to me is that my first time writing a book was my memoir, and I wrote it by myself. It took me a few years to write it, but I wrote that book–that memoir that’s almost three hundred pages long. When it came to the children’s book, I had to have some help, because I just didn’t understand tonally how to write for kids. [Clarkson] came in and we had several conversations about what the themes were and what I wanted to say. And he took all of that and just swirled it together.

Songbirds play a major role in the text and the art. How did you settle on that motif and what does it mean to you?

Safety. The birds are freedom, joy, peace, authenticity, and self-love. My singing voice saved me. I grew up very poor and was bullied for being gay, incessantly. I sang in the fifth-grade talent show, and the bullying stopped. And that’s when I knew: my voice became my weapon. It became my way out. It helped me to be able to dream beyond my circumstance. My voice was everything, and still is. That’s where that metaphor comes from.

The book concludes with a personal note. Can you share more about how you drew on your own experiences in the story? What do you hope readers will take away from it?

My full experience was, I sang and the bullying stopped. I sang and I was no longer frightened. I sang and the people around me who were afraid of my queerness relaxed a little because they saw and knew that this voice was protection in ways that doesn’t happen for a lot of people. I hope readers will feel that authenticity is freedom. Authenticity is the thing—no matter what anybody tells you—that will make you soar in life.

Songbird in the Light by Billy Porter with Chris Clarkson, illus. by Charly Palmer. Abrams, $19.99 Mar. 17 ISBN 978-1-4197-4583-6