Tessa Gratton, Aiden Thomas, and Romina Garber (Russell) discuss their brand new queer YA books!

Night Shine by Tessa Gratton
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Lobizona by Romina Garber (Russell)

Tessa Gratton is the author of adult SFF The Queens of Innis Lear and Lady Hotspur from Tor Books, as well as the YA series The Blood Journals and The United States of Asgard. Her most recent YA is the original fairy tale Strange Grace from McElderry Books and the upcoming Night Shine. Tessa’s novels and short stories have been translated into twenty-two languages, nominated twice for the Tiptree Award, and several have been Junior Library Guild Selections. Though she has lived all over the world, Tessa currently resides at the edge of the Kansas prairie with her wife. Find her on Twitter @tessagratton or at her website tessagratton.com

Aiden Thomas is a YA author with an MFA in Creative Writing. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. As a queer, trans, latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. Aiden’s special talents include: quoting The Office, Harry Potter trivia, Jenga, finishing sentences with “is my FAVORITE”, and killing spiders. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color. Their debut novel, CEMETERY BOYS, will be published September 1st, 2020.


ROMINA GARBER (RUSSELL) is a New York Times and international bestselling author whose books include LOBIZONA and the ZODIAC series. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and raised in Miami, Florida, Romina landed her first writing gig as a teen—College She Wrote, a weekly Sunday column for the Miami Herald that was later picked up for national syndication—and she hasn’t stopped writing since. She is a graduate of Harvard College and a Virgo to the core.

Panel: New Queer YA Books