I'm a Stonewall Honor Author with some shiny new book covers.
Reflecting on burnout, my debut year, and my goals as a queer kidlit author moving forward (since, ahem, my next book is out in September).
I was in grad school at NYU the first time I visited the Stonewall Inn in NYC, the site of the riots sparked on June 28, 1969 that were a key moment in the push for the LGBTQ Civil Rights Movement.
I didn’t go inside, even though I was over the age of 21, but when I realized how close it was to campus I took some time to make my pilgrimage there to spend some time there. I walked in and around Christopher Park across the street and reflected on the fact that I was standing in the same space where, nearly fifty years before, drag queens, trans women of color, lesbians and other members of the LGBTQ community took to the streets to fight against the unjust police raids on gay spaces in the city like Stonewall. All this to say, the first pride was a riot. Our community has a rich history of standing up against state-sponsored injustice and of protest against injustice.
Between 2017 and 2019, I went to several museum exhibitions commemorating and exploring the legacy of the Stonewall Riots, particularly in New York City. One piece that struck me in particular was this poster from the early-1970s for the Gay Liberation Front, an umbrella activist group.
Fashion aside (although, I don’t know—I see how the kids are dressing at NYU and I say this oh so lovingly), I couldn’t help but smile at how familiar the kids in this poster felt. How despite all the hurdles and obstacles our community has faced socially and politically in the now nearly 60 years since the Stonewall Riots (and even then way, way before), our identities make us a part of a lineage of protest, justice, and community.
I love learning about history and contemplating the role that I and my work as (right now, primarily) a children’s author writing about the importance of found family, community, and inclusion.
Another legacy of Stonewall are the Stonewall Book Awards, because storytelling is also ultimately a tool for revolution, the development of empathy, and community-building.
Last Sunday, I got the call from the Stonewall Award and Honor Committee that my debut middle grade novel in verse Murray Out of Water received a 2025 Stonewall Honor. I mistakenly thought that the calls went out on Friday, so thought, ah well. Better luck next time. I also sent the call to voicemail because I thought it was the pizza delivery guy. When I looked up the number, I wondered how it was possibly my pizza delivery guy was a youth librarian from Long Island (hi, Derek!). They called again 20 minutes later and left a voicemail while I was eating my then-delivered pizza. I stealthily snuck downstairs to have one of the weirdest, most wonderful and touching phone calls of my life.
Here is what Murray Out of Water will look like in retailers soon:
My book is receiving the Honor alongside:
Marley’s Pride by Joëlle Retener, illustrated by DeAnn Wiley
The Flicker by H.E. Edgmon
What I Must Tell the World: How Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice by Jay Leslie, illustrated by Loveis Wise
Lunar Boy, written and illustrated by Jes and Cin Wibowo, won the Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s Literature Award (I learned the children’s awards are named after a couple who was together for more than 40 years and lived in Nashville, Tennessee—Mike was a research nurse at the Vanderbilt/Meharry AIDS Clinical Trials Center and Larry worked at the Vanderbilt Library). I loved Lunar Boy and I’m so excited for them both!
Over in young adult, Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa won the Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Young Adult Literature Award, which is so, so well-deserved. I adored Jonny’s previous book Ander & Santi Were Here (which received a Stonewall Honor) and still need to read their debut, but I am so, so hype for Futbolista.
Rounding out the Stonewall Honors for Young Adult were:
Most Ardently: A Pride and Prejudice Remix by Gabe Cole Novoa
Navigating with You by Jeremy Whitley, illustrated by Cassio Ribeiro
Road Home by Rex Ogle
Time and Time Again by Chatham Greenfield
I have some serious book-buying and reading to do before we all come together at ALA in June. I hope you all do, too!
Debut Year Burnout
For those of you who are long-time subscribers, you will have noticed that this newsletter was so, so, so delinquent in 2024. Debut year blues and anxiety hit me hard. I’m also recovering from what I can see in hindsight was a year of me fighting against some pretty hefty burnout instead of acknowledging it and working through it. Instead of giving myself grace and communicating it better, I felt crushing guilt and beat myself up about not being able to work on projects that I love and turn them into my agent (hi, Maria!).
I have struggled for months to get my butt in the chair and focus and write if I’m not on a contractual deadline. This isn’t laziness or lack of ability. It’s just plain and simple executive dysfunction and anxiety.
Right now I’m working on doing a bit of a deep clean on my house post-holidays (not as a distraction, but to give myself a clear space and head to work) as well as setting up a desk area in my room and buying a desktop computer in the near future with enough screen space to toggle between everything I need to while I work instead of always being limited to my small MacBook Air screen.
I hope this helps, because I've been grinding the gears on three projects I’m really excited about. I just want to land in a place where I have the energy and focus to sit down and work on them.
The Stonewall Honor has helped, I’m not going to lie. I’ve been agonizing for months on whether Murray would be able to find her audience and falling into the pit of despair with the current administration’s attitude towards book bans (They’re not a hoax! They’re really harmful, especially queer, disabled and POC authors!). I have a glimmer of hope and want to try to use it to gain some momentum. I’ve got stories to tell and I’m also hoping to put one of these out a month, especially since I have a book out this fall.
Pasta Girls
My next middle grade novel from Quill Tree Books will be out tentatively on September 9, 2025.
Want to see the gorgeous cover? With incredible art by Caroline Garcia and design by Chris Kwon?
Here you go!
THE FORK, Y’ALL. The fork.
Pasta Girls is a Romeo and Juliet reimagining set at the Feast of San Gennaro in New York City. This book will make you hungry, it’s about two lesbian neurodivergent kiddos who love kissing, and it’s my first book in third-person prose (I know, right?). I wrote the first draft way back in 2019 (practically another lifetime) and it was my first ever middle grade project I tried to write (well, I did, and then I wrote it again and then a third time).
I can’t wait share more about this delectable, fun, and heartfelt book with y’all as we get closer to its release date. Stay tuned!
Come see me in Glen Rock, NJ and support Bergen County LGBTQ+ Alliance!
I can’t believe this, but thanks to the incredible folks at my local indie, The Curious Reader (Chris and Sally you’re the best!) I am going to be on a panel called “Community and the Creative Process” with Nicole Melleby and Jessie Sima on March 4, 2025 at 7pm at the Glen Rock Public Library. Don’t even come to see me; come for Nicole and Jessie. They’re both incredible role models of mine!
Our books (and you should buy all of them) will be for sale and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Bergen County LGBTQ+ Alliance.
Register here!
What I’ve Been Reading & Loving
I’ve read fourteen books so far this month. Here are my favorites!
Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet and the Secrets Behind the Systems We Use Every Day by Dan Nott
Lavash at First Sight by Taleen Voskuni
The Other Side of Tomorrow by Tina Cho and Deb JJ Lee
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K Reilly
We Could Be Rats by Emily Austin
Crushed by Melanie Conklin
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links for Bookshop.org, of which I would receive a small commission if you purchase from them.
First: CONGRATS again on the Stonewall Honor!!!!
Second: that cover is BEAUTIFUL!!!