0.15. Malinda Lo and Queer YA Historical Fiction
History is Gay
Leigh Pfeffer
4.6 • 536 Ratings
🗓️ 24 October 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Another interview episode for you all in the feed today, this time Leigh sat down with author Malinda Lo about her writing, her interest and research into queer history, and the trajectory of queer literature since her first published book in 2009. Her award-winning novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a queer historical fiction coming-of-age story set in 1954 San Francisco, following Chinese-American teenager Lily Hu as she discovers her queer identity, falls in love with classmate Kath Miller, and sneaks out to the Telegraph Club, a lesbian bar humming with life and new experiences. We dive into the research and real-life queer San Francisco scene Lo explored to create the world of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, as well as her newest book, A Scatter of Light, a companion novel set against backdrop of the first major Supreme Court decisions legalizing gay marriage.
A Scatter of Light released October 4, 2022-- go check it out!
Where To Find Malinda Lo Online:
- www.malindalo.com
- @malindalo on twitter
- @malindalo on instagram
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We've always been here every single year |
| 0:07.0 | From ancient gays right up to today's see history is queer |
| 0:14.0 | Some think it's a new way |
| 0:18.0 | But we've got something to say. |
| 0:22.8 | History is very, very, very, very, very gay. |
| 0:30.2 | Hey, everyone, Lee here for a fun bonus episode of History is Gay today. I am very excited because I am bringing you a |
| 0:41.6 | conversation with someone who has been one of my favorite authors for many years, and I'm so |
| 0:48.3 | excited that I get to talk to her about queer history stuff. I am talking to Melinda Lowe today. |
| 0:57.1 | I'm very excited. I was a tiny queer reading things like Ash and Huntress and finding wonderful queer YA stories. And she has |
| 1:05.9 | been writing some really wonderful books that have started dipping into a lot of really great queer historical fiction. |
| 1:13.0 | So I'm really excited for us to have a conversation. |
| 1:16.8 | Melinda is the New York Times bestselling author of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, |
| 1:21.7 | which is the winner of the National Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award, |
| 1:25.1 | and the Asian Pacific American Award for literature, as well as the |
| 1:28.8 | Michael L. Prince and Walter Dean Myers honors. And she is here today to chat about last night at the |
| 1:36.8 | Telegraph Club, but also her new book coming out on October 4th, A Scatter of Light. So hi, Melinda. How are you? |
| 1:44.0 | Hi, Lee. Thank you for having me. I'm so happy to be here. |
| 1:47.9 | Thank you. I'm excited. Could you tell folks who are listening just a little bit more about you and what you do beyond a tiny little bio? |
| 1:57.6 | Well, gee, let me see. Start at the beginning. |
| 2:01.4 | At the beginning. |
| 2:03.0 | Well, I've been on, I don't know if this is the beginning, but I have been on the internet |
| 2:06.5 | for a long time because in the early days, before I wrote novels, I was an entertainment |
... |
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