Interview
Identity Bleeding into Storytelling:
an Interview with Xio Axelrod
BY Emily Mendelsohn, Megan Nielsen, Janaye Roberts, & Gianna Vanore
October 2026
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Over the past several years, the literary industry has become more cognizant of the importance of representation in literature. Publishers are seeking it out, and as a result, more authors are being recognized and appreciated for their work representing POC and the LGBTQ+ community. Xio Axelrod, a USA Today Bestselling author from Philadelphia, explores both music and identity in her popular series The Lillys, and dives into the aspects we are all wishing to see more of in the literary industry. With complex characters, relationships, and plots alike, Glassworks dove deep into Axelrod’s genius behind her stories—her processes, thoughts, and priorities—discovering more about how she brings her novels to life.
In this interview, Xio Axelrod discusses how her experiences as a musician have shaped her as a writer, her masterful inclusion of representation, and how she approaches heavy topics in her work. |
Glassworks Magazine (GM): Many of your books, such as The Lillys series, center around indie musicians. You have an extensive musical background and still perform today. What aspects of your musicianship have impacted your writing?
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Xio Axelrod (XA): I've had my writing described as lyrical, which I take as a compliment. My background is in songwriting, and I like to think that both long-form and short-form storytelling have a lot in common. With a song, I'm clearly limited in the word count. Otherwise, my songs would be super long. So, the idea of exploring characterization and expanding on the themes that I'm interested in was quite freeing when I started writing fiction. Trying to convey all of those emotions and thoughts in 3 or 4 minutes in a song is a challenge, but I like to think of it as some really good training for getting your point across concisely. That said, I do tend to write in sentence fragments a lot, which frazzles my editors.
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GM: The Lillys is not only the title of one of your series, but is also the name under which you publish music. We noticed there are four members of your band, and four projected books of this series. Is this intentional? How much of this series pulls inspiration from real events that’ve happened to you or the musicians you’ve worked with?
XA: The Lillys is a fictional band. When I sold the series to Sourcebooks, one of the things I put in the proposal was that I wanted to record music as the band and release it as the series went on. I want everything about their journey to feel as real as possible for the readers. From their merchandise to their music to their social media, I want readers to feel like they can immerse themselves in the world of the Lillys. My band configuration has changed over the years. We are not called the Lillys. It’s just me performing under my name with musicians that I love working with. But there are four members of the Lillys, and each member of the band will have their own book because they each have their own story to tell.
XA: The Lillys is a fictional band. When I sold the series to Sourcebooks, one of the things I put in the proposal was that I wanted to record music as the band and release it as the series went on. I want everything about their journey to feel as real as possible for the readers. From their merchandise to their music to their social media, I want readers to feel like they can immerse themselves in the world of the Lillys. My band configuration has changed over the years. We are not called the Lillys. It’s just me performing under my name with musicians that I love working with. But there are four members of the Lillys, and each member of the band will have their own book because they each have their own story to tell.
"I want people to feel like they can immerse themselves in the world of the Lillys." |
GM: Looking at your complete body of work, a consistent theme, alongside music, is romance. What draws you to this genre specifically, and what keeps you writing it? Is it natural interest, or is there something special about it that keeps you coming back?
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XA: Romance is a hopeful genre. It's the one place where you can find every other genre of fiction. Be it murder mystery, sports, or firefighters. Whatever it is, you'll find it under the romance umbrella. The only caveat is that, no matter what the characters go through—heartbreak, illness, loss, grief—they're going to come out of the other side with joy and with love and surrounded by happiness, whatever that looks like for them. I was not a romance reader growing up. I came to it really late because I had this preconceived notion of what the genre was and dismissed it as if it were anything less than great fiction. Needless to say, I was shocked when I picked up my first romance and tore through it within a day or two. It was so good I couldn't put it down, and I picked up another and another and another, and I haven't looked back. People who look down on romance more than likely haven't read one, or at least haven't read one since the '80s, when there was perhaps less agency for the female characters. Romance writers excel at peeling back the curtain on what makes people tick.
GM: We noticed that the main characters across your romance series, Plays and Players and The Lillys, are all women of color. How has your experience as a Black woman affected the characters that you create?
XA: I write a wide range of characters because, as a writer, I like to put myself into someone else's shoes and learn more about their lived experience. Respectfully, of course. But I come back to women of color, specifically Black women, because that's my lived experience, and I don't think there's enough representation for us in publishing. With The Lillys series, I specifically wanted to write about the experience of women of color working in a genre of music that is dominated by straight white men and the obstacles that they would face in that field. My experiences as a rock/pop singer definitely inform some of the situations they find themselves in. The discrimination that they face, the infuriating awkwardness of having to prove yourself over and over. Those are things that I can draw directly from personal experience. I like to call The Lillys series my Rock and Roll fairy tale because they'll get to do things and go places I wasn't able to do.
GM: We noticed that the main characters across your romance series, Plays and Players and The Lillys, are all women of color. How has your experience as a Black woman affected the characters that you create?
XA: I write a wide range of characters because, as a writer, I like to put myself into someone else's shoes and learn more about their lived experience. Respectfully, of course. But I come back to women of color, specifically Black women, because that's my lived experience, and I don't think there's enough representation for us in publishing. With The Lillys series, I specifically wanted to write about the experience of women of color working in a genre of music that is dominated by straight white men and the obstacles that they would face in that field. My experiences as a rock/pop singer definitely inform some of the situations they find themselves in. The discrimination that they face, the infuriating awkwardness of having to prove yourself over and over. Those are things that I can draw directly from personal experience. I like to call The Lillys series my Rock and Roll fairy tale because they'll get to do things and go places I wasn't able to do.
GM: Your Frankie and Johnny duology, among other works, normalize queer relationships in contemporary literature rather than being the typical “coming-out” story we often see. What makes this kind of representation important to you? In what ways have your experiences within the queer community influenced your writing?
XA: I feel like at some point society decided that people only go through bouts of self-discovery when they're in their teens and twenties, and I like to write about people discovering themselves when they're a bit older and have lived a bit of life. I don't think we should ever exist beyond a point of self-discovery and self-realization. We're always learning and growing. Besides, queer relationships are normal relationships. I don't understand why queer love is so often othered. It's such a strange concept to me. Love is love, and yes, that sounds cliché, but that's how it should be. When I started writing specifically queer romance, people asked if I was going to choose a different pen name for those books because they thought I would alienate part of my readership or that there wouldn't be a lot of crossover. I felt, and still feel, that if someone doesn't want to read my queer characters or learn about their journey, then they're not going to want to read any of my books. And that's cool. There's something out there for everyone. But if you're not going to read Frankie and Johnny, then you probably won't appreciate The Lillys either, because those books are pretty queer as well. Back in 2018, I started an anthology called Love is All, and it was just me and a few authors donating our stories to raise money for the Trevor Project, which was our beneficiary that year. Since then, I've released eight volumes of Love is All, and we've raised over $10,000 for various charities. I think one of the jobs of romance fiction is to teach people what the world could be and should be, one with tolerance and acceptance and joy. A society that doesn't put people in a box or shove them in the corner because they don't love or worship or present the way that they're used to. Anyone who picks up an Xio Axelrod book is going to see a world through that lens.
XA: I feel like at some point society decided that people only go through bouts of self-discovery when they're in their teens and twenties, and I like to write about people discovering themselves when they're a bit older and have lived a bit of life. I don't think we should ever exist beyond a point of self-discovery and self-realization. We're always learning and growing. Besides, queer relationships are normal relationships. I don't understand why queer love is so often othered. It's such a strange concept to me. Love is love, and yes, that sounds cliché, but that's how it should be. When I started writing specifically queer romance, people asked if I was going to choose a different pen name for those books because they thought I would alienate part of my readership or that there wouldn't be a lot of crossover. I felt, and still feel, that if someone doesn't want to read my queer characters or learn about their journey, then they're not going to want to read any of my books. And that's cool. There's something out there for everyone. But if you're not going to read Frankie and Johnny, then you probably won't appreciate The Lillys either, because those books are pretty queer as well. Back in 2018, I started an anthology called Love is All, and it was just me and a few authors donating our stories to raise money for the Trevor Project, which was our beneficiary that year. Since then, I've released eight volumes of Love is All, and we've raised over $10,000 for various charities. I think one of the jobs of romance fiction is to teach people what the world could be and should be, one with tolerance and acceptance and joy. A society that doesn't put people in a box or shove them in the corner because they don't love or worship or present the way that they're used to. Anyone who picks up an Xio Axelrod book is going to see a world through that lens.
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GM: Within The Lillys series, as well as your other work, you portray complex familial relationships, along with romantic ones. One of these familial relationships is Kayla’s strained interactions with her mother. How do you go about fleshing out and developing these dynamics?
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"I don't think we should ever exist beyond a point of self-discovery and self-realization. We're always learning and growing." |
XA: I think anyone who is a creative or, say, an athlete—basically anyone who's really passionate about their calling—can run into friction with family. Particularly with parents who might think that their passion is impractical. If you want to be a dancer or you want to be a singer or a painter or whatever, and they're like, ‘Well, how are you going to pay the bills? You need to be an accountant. You need to be a lawyer. Do these other frivolous things on the side.’ That can lead to a lot of friction. It can lead to tension and strained, deteriorated relationships. That's one reason why I write a lot about found family, which is something you hear a lot about in the queer community, and I think it can also apply to creatives as well. The Lillys are a found family not only because many of them are queer, but also, when the love of your life is music, or art, or theatre, the only people who will understand that are other people who share that passion. I also live to explore the concept of fame and how it can affect people.
GM: Girls with Bad Reputations, the second novel in The Lillys series, opens with a heartbreaking scene where we see Kayla grieving her brother. Loss is difficult to write about, but you describe it in such sensory detail that the readers also feel Kayla’s pain. How do you navigate writing about these sensitive topics?
GM: Girls with Bad Reputations, the second novel in The Lillys series, opens with a heartbreaking scene where we see Kayla grieving her brother. Loss is difficult to write about, but you describe it in such sensory detail that the readers also feel Kayla’s pain. How do you navigate writing about these sensitive topics?
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XA: There's an old philosophy that pain fuels creativity, and I think that there's some truth in that. Some people can create incredibly poignant beauty from their pain. Kayla's grief for her brother drives her musically. Playing the drums for her feels like a connection that she can hold on to with her brother and in the book. She is struggling with the idea that the only thing that drives her to be a musician is the loss of her brother, and she has to decide whether or not that's all there is to it. Or is this something that is really, truly hers? I think fiction and particularly romance is such a safe space to explore these themes because you know at the end of it all, everything is going to be, if not perfect, at least okay. You know that Kayla is going to find some healing or find the road to healing, and that she's going to be surrounded by people who care for her. It's all part of the human experience.
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GM: Girls with Bad Reputations contains heavy topics, such as racism, homophobia, grief, and anxiety, some of which we have already mentioned. What compels you to write about these topics? You say on your website that you’re passionate about human rights and mental health awareness. Do you feel that you are an advocate or representative for human rights and mental health awareness?
XA: Sure, I can call myself an advocate. I wouldn't say that I'm a representative. I'm just someone who believes that everyone deserves to be seen and heard and to feel seen and heard. If I have a desire, it would be to destigmatize mental health issues, to normalize queer representation, and help people understand how universal the human experience is and can be. While at the same time celebrating what makes us unique. I think sometimes we get caught up in our differences and treat them as if they're something to be shamed, silenced, or ridiculed. Or legislated. Our individuality is what makes us interesting. And our similarities are what make us a society. At the end of the day, I'm simply fascinated by people. By what drives us. What moves us. What makes us want the things we want and fight for what we fight for? I really want to know.
XA: Sure, I can call myself an advocate. I wouldn't say that I'm a representative. I'm just someone who believes that everyone deserves to be seen and heard and to feel seen and heard. If I have a desire, it would be to destigmatize mental health issues, to normalize queer representation, and help people understand how universal the human experience is and can be. While at the same time celebrating what makes us unique. I think sometimes we get caught up in our differences and treat them as if they're something to be shamed, silenced, or ridiculed. Or legislated. Our individuality is what makes us interesting. And our similarities are what make us a society. At the end of the day, I'm simply fascinated by people. By what drives us. What moves us. What makes us want the things we want and fight for what we fight for? I really want to know.
