The Letter Q Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves

by Moon, Sarah; Lecesne, James

• ISBN13: 9780545399326
• ISBN10: 0545399327
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-05-01
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books

Summary

Life-saving letters from a glittering wishlist of top authors. 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 the bully who is making your life miserable will one day become so insignificant that you won't remember his name until he shows up at your book signing? In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.

Author Biography

Sarah Moon is a teacher, writer, and translator. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. James Lecesne is an actor, writer, and activist. His Academy Award–winning short film, Trevor, inspired the founding of The Trevor Project (www.thetrevorproject.org).

Excerpts

David Levithan
"I have no idea if there's such a thing as retroactive gaydar, but I'm pretty sure now that Mr. Jones is not in fact gay. And you, indeed, are.

I'm still not entirely sure whether I use the word irony correctly, but I believe there's something exquisitely ironic about making fun of your non-gay teacher for being gay, and then going home and listening to Barbra Streisand's Broadway Album over and over again."

Sarah Moon
"Just between you and me, we both know that the weirdest thing about coming out on your first day of high school in this tiny cow-town is that you haven't even kissed a girl, yet. All you're going on is that feeling in your stomach when you see those pictures of the Spice Girls. It feels a little strange to go around proclaiming that you're a lesbian when you're not even sure that, you know, you'll like it. That quiet fear that this isn't the right thing, that you're going through all of this trouble for nothing, that if you had Angelina Jolie right there in front of you, you wouldn't know what to do with her, it's very scary. I have good news for you: The trouble is worth it, and you'll learn what to do; and that will be fun."

Michael Cunningham
"As you're nearing thirty, you'll say, screw it, maybe I'll never be recognized, but I still want to write. It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do. So I'm going to start writing about the people who matter most to me, the people I know best. I'm going to stop trying to court the New Yorker with tales of adultery and divorce in Connecticut. I'm going to write about gay people. I can live with the idea that no one will ever publish me. When I'm the oldest living bartender, I'll try to keep those errant hairs plucked.

And that's when your writing career will take off. Try to believe me."