All of my friends have heard me ramble about nature and mental health, especially LGBTQ mental health. I’ve long believed that nurturing another living thing is one of the best ways to show care to yourself.
My new novel is out! I read from it below and you can find it most anywhere books are sold. I wrote this wanting to marry spiritual depth with awkward teen comedy -- and I'm so glad I picked a lighthearted story for 2019-20. I started this long before the pandemic hit, but was still editing it last spring. Working on humor and theology turned out to be a perfect combination for 2020. I hope you'll agree! Check out this story summary and then scroll down a bit more for a video of me reading part of the first chapter: The summer before her senior year, Emma Synclair decides to find her true love: either a girl or God. Since she has a crush on her best friend—and on her best friend’s girlfriend—Synclair figures she’ll have better luck with God. Which God? How will she know? Wicca, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity? Her atheist parents are out of the country for three months, so Synclair has the space to try some religions in peace. Or so she thinks, until her friends decide that her house is the party house—that is: the dinner party house! How can she tell them no? She sneaks away to start her
Hi! As you can see from the dates on these posts, I’ve been away from my website for a while—teaching LGBTQ Literature at Macalester. (More about that in a future post). I did pick the wildest semester to start teaching college with a global pandemic in the middle of it. And also I live in Minneapolis, which is hopefully ground zero for the revolution, so let me formally start this post saying: Black Lives Matter My recent novel, In the Silences, is about a white teen learning to be a good ally, to see their implicit bias and to talk to other white people about implicit racism. It includes much of what I have to say on the topic and I’ll repeat some of it below. (This is primarily about the anti-blackness component of racism in the US. I know racism is broader than that and will write about it more broadly in the future. This post focuses on anti-black racism.) First, here are some of the books I read that I recommend specifically to other white people: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo – Great basic primer. You can jump to chapters on topics you have the most questions
After taking the summer off the social internet, I've come back to a month of wow! In the Silences won the silver medal at the 2019 Moonbeam Children's Book Awards for Pre-Teen - Mature Issues. I love this book and I'm so glad it already has an award. (And I dorkily feel like my characters won the award rather than me, though in truth I should split it with my amazing team of beta readers, consultants and editor.) Jae interviewed me on her site (which has many great author interviews). Along with the interview, we're doing a book giveaway of In the Silences that you can enter by leaving a comment on the interview. Click here to read the interview! I will be at two book festivals in October: Oct. 12: Twin Cities Book Festival — from 3 - 3:45pm I'll be on the panel "Never Too Young for the Tough Stuff" with Lana Wood Johnson and Kirstin Cronn-Mills, talking about race, gender, sexuality, grief and more. We'll be on the teen stage! Oct. 19: Boston Book Festival— from 1:30 - 2:45pm I'm on the panel "YA: Love and Relationships" on the stage at BPL Teen Central 700 Boylston St, Boston. Below is the whole description and here's a link
This year Stephanie Burt and I have the same publication date! So we made a video talking about our books. Hers is Don't Read Poetry: A Book About How to Read Poems, and mine is In the Silences. You can find out more about both in this video (and see below the video for the transcript): Key moments in the video (in case you're looking for something specific): 2:17 — Rachel describes her novel, In the Silences 5:30 — Rachel's cat Seeley interrupts the video and Stephanie insists they keep this footage in. (Rachel's note: my older cat had three canines removed and is now nicknamed "Captain Holepunch" for his one remaining canine; this cat is not Captain Holepunch.) 6:23 — Stephanie describes her book, Don't Read Poetry 11:54 — Stephanie talks about why writing about poetry felt like writing about comic books 16:06 — Rachel and Stephanie talk about de-centering whiteness, fighting implicit/systemic racism, and white people talking to white people about racism. For more info about Rachel's launch events, check out this post. For more info about Stephanie's launch events, follow her on Twitter: @accommodatingly. And stay tuned for more information about both of us being at the Boston Book Festival in October! Video Transcript Rachel Gold: Stephanie Burt, [pointing to self] Rachel Gold, we have been friends since 2012. We met
You can buy my new novel starting today! The official publication date is May 21, but my publisher, Bella Books, has made copies available early on their site (click here!). The launch party will be June 1 at the Roseville Barnes & Noble, HarMar Mall, 2100 Snelling Ave N, Roseville, MN 55113. You can RSVP to the Facebook event here or just show up! I'll read from the new book and have special guests with me to talk about the beta reading process, plus we'll take audience questions. I will sign books and happily geek out about comic books and gaming with anyone who wants to. I will also have copies available at the Reclaim booth at Twin Cities Pride on Saturday, June 22. (There might still be copies on Sunday, June 23 also, but I won't be there to sign them for you.) You can get a copy with a donation of $15 or more to Reclaim, which is a great organization that connects queer and trans you to therapy and other services (check them out). Wondering what people are saying about my new novel? My publisher posted it to NetGalley and here are some of the early reviews it's received: goodreads Lex Kent’s Reviews
In three weeks, my new novel will be shipping. This one's targeted for slightly younger ages, like Being Emily, focusing on ages 14-15 for the main characters. What's it about? Fourteen-year-old Kaz Adams just wants to read comic books and spend every day with Aisha Warren. And maybe get up the nerve to ask her out, if Kaz turns out to be a gender that Aisha’s into. Kaz had always expected to be targeted for gender nonconformity, but loving Aisha opens Kaz’s eyes to the prevalence of racism in their town. Trouble is, none of the other white people are seeing it, even when Kaz points it out. By the time they reach sophomore year, Aisha is fighting on all fronts and their school system is crushing her. Kaz’s gender expression was something the two of them could tackle together in private. The issues Aisha is up against are different and there’s no place they can hide. Kaz can’t magically undo centuries of systemic racism—but must find a way to change minds at school and among their friends before Kaz loses the sweetest, smartest, comic-book-reading girl in the world. You can pre-order it from my publisher, other online bookstores, or your local brick-and-mortar store.
This spring and summer I'll be at three conventions: ClexaCon in April, WisCon in May and GCLS in July. I'm very excited to be on two panels for ClexaCon: Breaking into Book Publishing for Aspiring Writers, with Catherine Lundoff, Andi Marquette, and Kim Turrisi. Creating Diverse Stories Without Tokenism, with Victoria Stagg Elliott, Karen Shoffner, and CB Lee. For more info check out the panels list on the ClexaCon site: https://clexa-con.com/programming/2019-panels-workshops/ Warning: you might end up buying a ticket if you don't already have one. And while you're clicking links, check out feminist science fiction/fantasy convention WisCon, whose guests of honor this year are G. Willow Wilson and Charlie Jane Anders. In July, Malinda Lo is keynoting at the Golden Crown Literary Society conference. I'm on a couple of panels there and will update soon! Stay tuned for info about my new book that will be out in May, launch events, and more!
I'm excited to be participating in three great events in the Twin Cities area for October and November: Oct. 24: The Evolution of LGBTQ+ Young Adult Lit: From Sad-Eyed Loners to Superheroes 7 - 9 PM Quatrefoil Library 1220 East Lake Street Minneapolis, MN, 55407 Discover exciting trends in young adult literature, expand your reading list, and play a trivia game with prizes! Christine Jenkins, co-author of Representing the Rainbow in Young Adult Literature, will take you on a whirlwind tour of five decades of this exciting and now booming genre. Author Rachel Gold will read from the new edition of her groundbreaking novel, Being Emily, and explore the future of YA literature with queer and trans content. Reception to follow. Books will be for sale and authors will be available for signing! More info or to RSVP via Facebook: https://thelspot.lgbt/upcoming/2018/10/5/talking-lgbtq-ya-literature-rachel-gold-amp-christine-jenkins https://www.facebook.com/events/1043243145836634/ Oct. 30: Save the date! Details on this event will be posted later this week, but if you love talking about trans rep in all sorts of media, then block out your calendar this evening from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 4: Get a Grip! Minding Your Mind in Teen Literature 3 – 6 PM Trinity Episcopal Church 322 2nd St, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331 Mental health is more than mental illness. Mental health is important to everyone. It’s finding constructive
The week before I read at Harvard Book Store, the Boston Globe ran a great profile focused on the new edition of Being Emily, which you can find on their site. Here's my favorite quote: Echoing [Stephanie] Burt’s introduction, Gold added, she intends the new edition to be a book "where trans girls really see themselves, see themselves being loved, see themselves in a positive light, overcoming problems. I think there’s still not enough of that in the world in terms of trans identity