Inside and Out
Inside and Out was The Center for Fiction’s Pride Month 2020 series designed to offer solace and affirmation to the LGBTQ+ community during a time of isolation from trusted social groups and support networks. Featuring a phenomenal line-up of authors whose books center the unique experiences of queer characters, conversations explored how sexuality and gender identity intersect with race, class, religion, and nationality.
We invite you to explore the series below, which reflects our ongoing celebration of Pride and commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.
Featured
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LGBTQ Caribbean Pride: Nicole Dennis-Benn on Patsy with Roxane Gay
The paperback launch celebration of Nicole Dennis-Benn’s character-driven novel Patsy, which... -
Finding Your Place in Safe Spaces with Brandy Colbert and L.C. Rosen
What happens when the places or people we consider safe prove otherwise? Recent middle-grade books by Brandy Colbert and L -
Zaina Arafat on You Exist Too Much with Zibby Owens
Zaina Arafat’s highly anticipated debut novel You Exist Too Much is a candid story about a young...
Featured
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The Gender Question: Kacen Callender and Alex Gino on Nonbinary and Transgender Stories
What if being who you are isn’t so simple? How do you know who to trust to help you as you try to figure out what that means? -
Metamorphosis and TRANSformation with Jackson Bird and Jamia Wilson
Most of us are assigned a gender at birth and raised that way. What happens when that gender doesn’t fit? For Jackson Bird... -
LGBTQ Storytelling: Mental Health, Joy, and Intersecting Identities with Las Musas
We are proud to partner with Las Musas, a collective of women and non-binary (identifying on the female spectrum) Latinx Picture Book, Middle...
Featured
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Story Time
Daisy Eagan Reads Jacob's New Dress by Sarah and Ian Hoffman
Tony Award-winning actress Daisy Eagan reads Jacob’s New Dress, a heartwarming story from Sarah and Ian Hoffman that speaks to... -
Story Time
Daisy Eagan Reads Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
Tony Award-winning actress Daisy Eagan joins us once again to share Julián Is a Mermaid by Jessica Love. Mesmerizing and full of heart... -
Story Time
Daisy Eagan Reads Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack
Tony Award-winning actress Daisy Eagan shares this modern fairy tale about a noble prince and a brave knight coming together to defeat a terrible...
National Teen Storyteller Contest
We are so pleased to announce the winners of the National Teen Storyteller Contest, presented in partnership with the student-led and founded Decameron Project! We invited creative writers to share a flash fiction story that thoughtfully explored LGBTQ themes.
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1st Place
Floor MeditationsDominique de Castro, 11th Grade
Dust clouds hung in the air. Sun rays wove between each particle in an intricate lattice, covering the study in a blanket of buttery light. In the middle of the study laid the only person who had borne witness to such a magical display in many decades. Katrina appeared to melt into the floorboards not only because her cocoa brown complexion matched the bronze tones of the wood, but because she laid perfectly still, only allowing her chest to rise and fall in time with the lingering dust above her.
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2nd Place
Skeleton LoveJoseph Caluya, 12th Grade
The stares of the cruel eyes penetrated through me, transmitting a notion that my body was some sort of anathema that threatened the normality of society. I didn’t care, because plenty have already told me that. I was immune to those verbal attacks; I’ve heard it all before. I didn’t care, because the sight of their eyes, in particular, melted all the ache away.
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3rd Place
16 SiroccosMary Lawrence Ware, 10th Grade
My mother says menopause is full of pain. Hot flashes, anger, despair, insomnia, a surge of untameable emotions and a condition that only those of a certain group can really understand. I guess I can’t understand and am happy to resign to assuming it’s like a period but with no blood and everything else is much worse. I’m not sure if that’s medically ignorant or emotionally insensitive but that’s really all I can offer as a self-explanation at this point.
