Matthew Winner, Alex Gino, and Dr. Laura Jimenez chat about their "don't miss" LGBTQ-centered books of 2018 for kids and teens

The wonderful Matthew Winner, in the third installment of his 'Don't Miss' Books of 2018 podcast (episode #480 of The Children's Book Podcast) hosts a discussion about great LGBTQ kid and teen books published last year.

It's a lovely conversation between Matthew (an elementary school librarian and writer himself), Alex (the acclaimed middle grade author of George and the new You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P!), and Dr. Laura Jimenez (a lecturer at Boston University and the blogger of Booktoss, which uses a critical, social justice-oriented lens to talk about children's and teen literature.)

They bring up a lot of good points and book recommendations, including, I'm delighted to say, "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill" (by me!)

It's a lot of fun to listen to, and added some books to my to-be-read pile... I hope it does the same for yours!

Thanks, Matthew, Alex, and Laura!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee

Today's My Book Launch Celebration - All Day, All Over L.A.!

Hello Community!

It has been a quite a journey to get to this amazing moment, and I'm hoping you can join me at one or more of these events today, Saturday October 13, 2018, to celebrate the publication of my debut teen novel, "Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill".

The day will start at 10:30am-11:30am in West Hollywood, with a Teen Reads Week event at the West Hollywood County Public Library's West Hollywood Room. I'll talk a bit, read from the book, answer questions, and do a signing. Address: West Hollywood County Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90064.

Then at 1:00pm - 2:00pm in Pasadena I'll be part of the San Gabriel Valley Pride celebration with a time slot at the author's tent, where I'll once again talk a bit, read from the book, answer questions, and do a signing. Address: Pasadena Central Park, 275 S. Raymond Aveneu, Pasadena, CA 91105

The day's big finale is at 7:00pm-10:00pm, with a Party at Highways in Santa Monica. We have the entire theater for a talk, reading, Q&A, signing... and a BIG DANCE PARTY! There will be fruit, and desserts, and sparkling apple cider to toast to this book that is heading out into the world to make a difference in LGBTQ teen lives. Address: Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404.

If you're local, or are in Los Angeles, I'd love to see you!

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,


Lee

A cool opportunity for young writers: A new ficitonal short story anthology is looking for tales of "Being Queer"

Hey, teen and young adult writers!

Check out this call for submissions from Bold Strokes books for a new anthology, OMGQueer.




They're looking for fictional short stories about "being queer" from 14-24 year olds across the USA.

"Use the power of fiction to tell us about coming out (or not), about dating, about sex, about what "family means to you, etc."

Their deadline for submissions is October 15, so now you have a great goal for your summer writing. Good luck!

Namaste,
Lee

ps - My thanks to fellow writer Emily Jiang for sharing this with me so I could share it with you!