Meredith Russo (born circa 1986/1987)[1] is an American young adult author from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Meredith Russo | |
|---|---|
 Meredith Russo | |
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 2016–present |
| Notable work | If I Was Your Girl |
| Awards | Stonewall Book Award 2017 |
Personal life
Russo is a transgender woman who transitioned in late 2013.[2] Her debut young adult novel If I Was Your Girl is the first widely distributed young adult book about transgender teens written by a transgender woman. It was inspired by Russo's life events.[3] She wanted to write a book about a transgender character with a happy ending. In addition to her literary efforts, she campaigns heavily for HIV awareness and de-stigmatization.[4]
Career
Russo's debut young adult novel, If I Was Your Girl, published in 2016 by Flatiron Books.[5] If I Was Your Girl is about a trans girl going to a new school and falling in love with a boy.[6] If I Was Your Girl won the Stonewall Book Award for the Young Adult category in 2017[7] and the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature in 2017.[8] It also received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews,[9] Publishers Weekly,[10] and Booklist.[11]
Her next young adult novel, Birthday, was published by Flatiron Books in 2019 and is a follow-up to her award-winning debut If I Was Your Girl, following two teenagers whose lives intersect starting from both their 13th birthdays.[12]
Russo also contributed several short stories and essays to anthologies published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,[13] Vintage,[14] and Algonquin.[15]
The different characters of her stories are based on people she met during her life or from her own personal experience.[16]
In an interview, she said that she has been inspired by a lot of comics, manga[17] as well as fictions[18]
Bibliography
Novels
Young adult
Short stories and essays
- in Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times, edited by Carolina Ee Robertis (Vintage, 2017)
- in (Don't) Call me Crazy, edited by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin Books, 2018)
- in Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet, edited by Jennifer L. Armentrout (HMH, 2018)
- Horror Stories from Meredith Russo's website[19]
- Meltdown from Meredith Russo's website[19]
Awards
Won
2017
- Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)
- Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)
Nominations
2017
- Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)
- Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)[20]