Picture Us In The Light - A Gay Artist (Who's a High School Senior and Asian) Unravels His Family's Secrets

Picture Us In The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Danny Cheng has always known his parents have secrets. But when he discovers a taped-up box in his father's closet filled with old letters and a file on a powerful Silicon Valley family, he realizes there's much more to his family's past than he ever imagined.

Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family's blessing to pursue the career he's always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny's lives are deeply intertwined and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can't stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan.

When Danny digs deeper into his parents' past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history and the carefully constructed façade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, Danny must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him.

This book was honored with a Stonewall Book Award - Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's and Young Adult Literature Award Honor! Add your review of "Picture Us In The Light" in comments!

Q & A (Queer and Asian Pacific-Islander) Space - Coming Out Stories!

This Q&A Space website is very cool. In their own words,

Q&A Space is the first ever coming out resource website specifically for LGBT Asian Pacific Islanders with multimedia stories, coming out advice, translated resources for parents, and more.

Q&A is a play on the common phrase "question and answer" and the term "queer and Asian."

The goal of this website is not to answer every question, but to provide support, advice, and resources for those seeking it.

Take a look, read the stories. Encourage others to add their own stories!

The more people willing to come out, the safer the world will be for others!

The stories, poems and videos on their site are brave and true, and well worth reading (and sharing!)

And I was excited to see their parent resource page has information translated into Simplified Chinese (簡體中文), Traditional Chinese (繁體中文), Farsi, Hindi, Bahasa Indonesia, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Urdu and Vietnamese!

Namaste,
Lee

Letters To Montgomery Clift - A Gay Teen Novel

By Noel Alumit

Bong Bong, as a child, is sent by his mother to Los Angeles to escape the chaos of his Philippine homeland.

And Montgomery Clift, a movie star on the TV, becomes his first American friend.

Through a long series of letters to his idol, Bong Bong chronicles his growing up, his sexual awakening, and maybe getting to a place where his life can finally begin.

I met the author, Noel Alumit, this weekend, and here's how he sold me on his book. (And yes, of course, I bought a copy!):




"Letters To Montgomery Clift" won a Violet Quill Award and the Stonewall Book Award. Add your review of this book in comments!