Quote by David Levhan: “I've always known I was gay, but wasn't nf...”

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Wh Boy Meets Boy, I basilly set out to wre the book that I dreamed of gettg as an edor – a book about gay teens that don’t nform to the old norms about gay teens lerature (i. Has to be about a gay uncle, or a teen who gets beaten up for beg gay, or about outsts who e out and fd they’re still outsts, albe outsts wh their outstedns mon. Of Boy Meets Boy, the reviewer at Booklist wrote: “In s blhe acceptance and celebratn of human differenc, this is arguably the most important gay novel sce Annie on My Md and seems to reprent a revolutn the publishg of gay-themed books for adolcents” – which pretty much blew me away when I read .

A different kd of llaboratn is The Full Spectm: A New Generatn of Wrg About Gay, Lbian, Bisexual, Transgenr, Qutng, and Other Inti, an anthology I -eded wh my bt iend Billy Merrell. My sixth novel, Wi Awake, starts wh the electn of the first gay Jewish print, and is about two boyiends who mt go to Kansas when the electn rults are threatened. It was wrten right after the 2004 electn, and published right before the 2006 electn, which ma me hope that a gay Jewish print was a closer realy than I might have thought.

It’s about a straight girl and a gay boy who’ve been bt iends forever... It was spired by many thgs – a story I had wrten for an anthology entled How Betiful the Ordary that was narrated by the AIDS generatn of gay men, lookg at the Inter generaton; the te story of two NJ boys who broke the world rerd for longt ntuo kiss 2011; and some ls happy stori of gay teens who found tougher obstacl at about the same time.

“I've always known I was gay, but wasn't nfirmed until I was was my teacher who said so. It was right there on my krgarten report rd: PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF. The Seventi saw many women's rights, gay rights, and environmental movements.

Boy Meets Boy, a “dippy happy gay teen book” as Levhan lik to scribe , featur an openly gay ma character named Pl who fac his sophomore year of high school and all of the drama that go wh (). Levhan wrote this book wh the purpose of creatg gay characters who break the stereotyp of past lerature; he do this by featurg gay teenagers livg normal, satisfyg liv whout dwellg upon their social abe. Often LBGTQ lerature, gay characters are fed by the way their social abe affects them, but Levhan aims to fe his characters based on who they are whout nflict.

Dpe many rears’ unrstandable assumptn that Levhan himself has a homosexual orientatn, he is very ambiguo about his sexualy and will not adm to beg eher gay or straight. In his latt book the LBGTQ genre, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2011), Levhan creat a gay character who is by no means perfect. Levhan was asked how he, as an thor, als wh the cricism that he may be feedg to a stereotype of gay men.

The Full Spectm: A New Generatn of Wrg About Gay, Lbian, Bisexual, Transgenr, Qutn.

Levhan is openly gay and an avid dphile, often wrg characters who share the experienc and terts. When New York Tim btsellg thors John Green and David Levhan cid to wre a young adult novel, swchg off wrg duti for each chapter, they had no ia would bee so gay-centric.

They also had no ia would bee the first gay-centric book to make the New York Tim childrens btseller list. Will Grayson, Will Grayson follows two boys -- one gay, one straight -- who live two different worlds, sharg only one thg: the exact same name. We ught up wh the two thors to chat about the spiratn behd the book, where they me up wh their characters, and what means to make gay lerary history.