The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes To Their Younger Selves

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes To Their Younger Selves, Edited by Sarah Moon with contributing editor James Lecesne

If you received a letter from your older self, what do you think it would say?  What do you wish it would say?

That the boy you were crushing on in History turns out to be gay too, and that you become boyfriends in college?  That your mother, who's so freaked out about you being a lesbian now, will one day make the wedding cake for you and your girlfriend?  That the bully who is making your life miserable every day will one day become so insignificant that you won't remember his name until he shows up at your book signing and asks for your autograph?

In this anthology, sixty-four award-winning authors and illustrators such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Terrence McNally, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Amistead Maupin, make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know about their lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered people.  Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love, messages of understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead.  They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew about before.  And they will tell you about yourself.

Carry this book with you.  Read it when you're having a difficult time, when you're feeling sad, insecure, or angry.  Read it when you feel hopeful and happy.  And someday - truly, it is not as far away as it seems - you will be able to add your own letter to the collection.

Sometimes, the jacket flap copy on a book is so great, I just have to run it as is (which I've done above.)   Here's the book trailer...



The list of authors who contributed to this collection is pretty remarkable:

Amy Bloom
Michael Cunningham
Julie Anne Peters
Jacqueline Woodson
Eileen Myles
David Levithan
Jasika Nicole
Rakesh Satyal
Doug Wright
Melandie Braverman
Brian Selznick
Stacey D'Erasmo
Adam Haslett
Terrence McNally
Erik Orrantia
Jennifer Camper
Martin Moran
Armistead Maupin
Arthur Levine
Malinda Lo
Maurice Vellekoop
Michael Nava
Larry Duplechan
Ali Leibegott
Paul Rudnick
Linda Villarosa
J.D. McClatchy
Anne Bogart
Eric Orner
Lucy Jane Bledsoe
Tony Valenzuela
Carole DeSanti
Gregory Maguire
Christopher Rice
Jewell Gomez
Bill Clegg
Erika Moen
Sarah Moon
Bruce Coville
LaShanda Katrice Barnett
Howard Cruse
Bil Wright
Michael DiMotta
Carter Sickels
Diane DiMassa
Brent Hartinger
Mayra Lazara Dole
Benoit Deizet-Lewis
Susan Stinson
Marc Wolf
Lucy Knisley
Nick Burd
Ray Daniels
James Lecesne
Paula Gilovich
Colman Domingo
Richard McCann
Marion Dane Bauer
Lucy Thurber
Randall Kenan
Paige Braddock
Jaye Maiman
David Leavitt
David Ebershoff

Wow, huh?


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Namaste,
Lee