My debut novel,
Cemetery Boys, is the first fiction book about a trans character written by a trans author to ever hit the
New York Times bestseller list. It’s taken far too long for that to happen, and it’s certainly not going to be the last.
A common question I got asked when I entered publishing was, “When was the first time you saw yourself in a book?” There was always a moment of panic where I’d race to think of a book that had one aspect of my identity that I could use as an answer.
The sad truth is that according to media, people like me (Latinx, transgender,
and queer) didn’t exist. When I was growing up, I thought there wasn’t a place for me in publishing. I never saw Latinx characters in books, let alone ones that were queer, and certainly not trans. While there’s still a huge need for more diverse stories in the world, finally having books that reflected parts of my identity (
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova being a huge one) is what made me think I could finally write a book like
Cemetery Boys, and people would want to read it...