Shaken by the 2009 police shooting of Oscar Grant, then-college student Angie Thomas began the project as a short story for her senior project in Belhaven University's creative writing program.[1][2] While writing the short story, the project quickly expanded, though Thomas put it aside for a few years after graduation. Speaking to her hometown newspaper, Thomas said, "I wanted to make sure I approached it not just in anger, but with love even."[3] The deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Sandra Bland drew Thomas back to expand the project into a novel,[2] which she titled after Tupac's "THUG LIFE" concept: "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody."[4] Events surrounding the killings of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile[5] and Michael Brown,[6] and widespread ensuing protests against racism and police brutality, also informed moments in the book.
Unsure whether publishers would be interested in the Black Lives Matter-inspired material, Thomas reached out to literary agent Brooks Sherman on Twitter in June 2015 to ask for advice.[7] In February 2016, HarperCollins' imprint Balzer + Bray bought the rights to the novel in an auction, outbidding 13 other publishing houses,[8] and signed a two-book deal with Thomas. 20th Century Fox optioned the film rights the following month.[9]
The 464-page book was published on February 28, 2017,[6] when the industry was attempting to address a decade-long stagnation in the number of children's books by African-American authors.[3][10] Since its publication, Thomas has become an example of attempts by publishers to publish more young adult African-American novelists.[3]
