Alex Gino (born October 1, 1977) is a

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

American children's book writer. Gino's debut book, ''

Melissa Melissa is a feminine given name. The name comes from the Greek language, Greek word μέλισσα (''mélissa''), "bee", which in turn comes from μέλι (''meli''), "honey". In Hittite language, Hittite, ''melit'' signifies "honey". Meliss ...

'', was the winner of the 2016

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

and the 2016

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

in the category of LGBT Children's/Young Adult.

Works

''Melissa'' (2015)

Gino is best known for their 2015 debut novel ''

'', a middle grade novel featuring a young

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

girl, which they first began work on in 2003. The working title of the novel was ''Girl George'' (a reference to

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

), but Scholastic changed it to ''George'' during the editing process. Gino expressed some regrets about deadnaming their character with this title, and in 2021 announced that they were renaming the novel ''Melissa's Story''. With regards to requests for a sequel to ''Melissa,'' Gino stated in 2016 that "they will NOT be writing a transition story for a largely cis audience more interested in trans bodies than trans people." The novel received starred reviews from ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

'', ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'', ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'', and ''

Shelf Awareness Shelf Awareness is an American publishing company that produces two e-zines focused on bookselling, books, and book reviews: ''Shelf Awareness'' is aimed at general consumers, while ''Shelf Awareness Pro'' caters for industry professionals. ...

''. However, it has remained controversial to some parents and teachers, leading it to be listed on the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

's list of the 10 Most Challenged Books of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (topping the list in 2018, 2019, and 2020). It ultimately became the fifth-most banned book between 2010 and 2020. Common reasons for challenging the book include its sexual references and conflict with "traditional family structure," with some saying schools and libraries should not "put books in a child's hand that require discussion."

''You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!'' (2018)

In 2018, Gino released another middle grade novel, ''You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!'' It focuses upon

Deaf culture Deaf culture is the set of social beliefs, behaviors, art, literary traditions, history, values, and shared institutions of communities that are influenced by deafness and which use sign languages as the main means of communication. When used as ...

and the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

movement, and it received

starred reviews A starred review is a book review marked with a star to denote a book of distinction or particularly high quality. A starred review can help to increase media coverage, bookstore placement and sales of a book. Outlets that published starred review ...

from ''

'', ''

'', and the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

''.

''Rick'' (2020)

Their 2020 novel, ''Rick,'' is a standalone follow-up to ''Melissa'' and is about a student coming to terms with his

asexuality Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or Sexual desire, desire for Human sexual activity, sexual activity. It may be considered a sexual orientation or the lack thereof. It may also be categori ...

. The book received starred reviews from ''

'', ''

'', and ''

''.

''Alice Austen Lived Here'' (2022)

In 2022, Gino published the young adult novel, ''Alice Austen Lived Here'' about Sam and TJ, two nonbinary seventh graders in Staten Island conducting research on

Alice Austen Elizabeth Alice Austen (March 17, 1866 – June 9, 1952) was an American photographer working in Staten Island. She is best known for her street photography and her intimate depictions of women's lives and relationships in the Victorian era ...

, a nearly forgotten 19th-century lesbian photographer. The book included themes on queer history and the fat liberation movement.

Awards and honors

In 2015, ''

'' named Gino a "Flying Start" author. That year, ''

'' included ''Melissa'' on their list of the year's best children's books. ''

'' included it on their "Top 10 First Novels for Youth" list.

Publications

Anthology contributions

* "Essay" in ''How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation'', edited by

Maureen Johnson Maureen Johnson (born February 16, 1973) is an American author of young adult fiction. Her published novels include series leading titles such as ''13 Little Blue Envelopes'', ''The Name of the Star'', '' Truly Devious,'' and ''Suite Scarlett''. ...

(2018) * "Body Sovereignty: This Fat Trans Flesh Is Mine" in ''The (Other) F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce'', edited by Angie Manfredi (2019) * "The Purr-cle of Life" in ''This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us'', edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby (2021) * "Fat Out Loud" in ''Body Talk: 37 Voices Explore Our Radical Anatomy'', edited by Kelly Jensen (2020)

Novels

* ''

'', originally published as ''George'' (2015) * ''You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P!'' (2018) * ''Rick'' (2020) * ''Alice Austen Lived Here'' (2022) * ''Green'' (2023)

Personal life

Gino was born and raised in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, but over the years they have lived in such locations as

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

;

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

;

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

;

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence, Massachusetts, Florence and ...

; and

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. They have also spent time living in an RV and driving around the country. Gino is

and uses ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

'' pronouns and the

gender neutral Gender neutrality (adjective form: gender-neutral), also known as gender-neutralism or the gender neutrality movement, is the idea that policies, Gender-neutral language, language, and other social institutions (social structures or gender roles) ...

honorific Mx.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gino, Alex American children's writers American non-binary writers Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature winners Living people Writers from Staten Island Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century American novelists Stonewall Book Award winners 21st-century American LGBTQ people 1977 births