Contemporary Author Blog #2

 

Becky Albertalli

Young adult fiction and former psychologist Rebecca Albertalli was born on November 17, 1982. She is best known for her 2015 debut novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda." aside from that she has another 8 books “The Upside of Unrequited”, “Leah on the Offbeat”, “What if it's Us”, “Yes No, maybe so”, “Love, Creekwood”, “ Kate in Waiting”, “Heres to Us”, “Imogen, Obviously”. She also has her own website “https://www.beckyalbertalli.com/books” for her fans and readers to find her quickly. She has all her books there, Q&A, events, news, etc on her website so everyone can be up to date with her. She was born and raised in the Atlanta metropolitan area with her reform Jewish family household and still lives there currently with her husband Brian, and two sons, Owen and Henry. Before writing she attended Wesleyan University majored in psychology and got her doctorate at George Washington University. She worked with the LQBTQ teens and nongender confirming children as a psychologist. Then when she had her first son in 2012, she started writing a novel. In August 2020, Becky came out as bisexual in response to those who criticized her for writing about gay characters while she was presumed heterosexual.

"I'm bi," she wrote in an essay released Monday. "Sorry, it took me so long to get here. But then again, at least the little red coming-out book I needed was already on my shelf (in about thirty different languages). I think I finally know why I wrote it." (1)

Becky's best-seller "Simon vs the Homosapien" is a coming-of-age story about protagonist Simon Spier, a high school closeted gay boy who is forced to come out after a blackmailer discovered Simons e-mails written to another closeted classmate that Simon had fallen in love with. It also is a "funny, emotional and celebratory tale of love and self-acceptance that ushered in a wave of queer teen love stories." (2) This book got Becky a lot of attention and won the William C. Morris Award and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize) and when receiving the adaptation "Love Simon" is a romantic comedy and a coming-of-age story and also a mystery as Simon tries to discover the identity of the online pen pal he has grown to love. The film, opening March 16, is based on Becky Albertalli's 2015 young adult novel, "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" (3) The LQBTQ audiences were very glad to finally see a movie that reflected their lives and experiences. 

In the past there wasn't a lot of LGTBQ representation since it wasn't really allowed. But now since they have been normalized and accepted by the majority there have been lots of different representations to show and reflect the lives of the LQTBQ. They are now finally able to be themeselves and not have to hide it. many are loving it for example:

- "Forgive the personal aside, but this is the type of movie I've been looking for since I was growing up - my first encounter was a small, tragic gay character in "Pump Up the Volume", from 1990 - and I'm sure I'm not alone." - (3) The New York Times
- "I think it's so cool that you guys are committing to making a movie like this". He also said, "I'm sort of surprised that one doesn't already exist." - (3) The New York Times

People now can fully express themselves however they want compared to 40-50 years ago. People really couldnt do so, without it ending badly. Its really good to see that people are now more openminded and able to accept others for who they are and not be so judgey about it. It lets other to feel good about themselves.

After researching Becky Albertalli I am very pleased. Im glad I got too do research on her, without it I wouldn’t have discovered “Love Simon” had its sequels “The Upside of Unrequited” and “Leah on the Offbeat.” I originally picked this author because of the movie, I am a very huge fan of the movie. I saw how controversial Becky's sexuality was, everybody was questioning Becky's sexuality since she kept writing stories about the LGBTQ community but married to a man. They were trying to cancel her at a point because of it til she came out as bisexual, and still, people did not believe it but stopped caring over time. I personally myself think she is a great advocate for the community. In every book she written she has demostrated and written amazing characters representng the community in great ways compared to how other movies and books in the past represented them. To anyone who likes reading romance books, Becky is the way. 

Work Cited:
1)  Outtravler staff.“'Love Simon' Author Comes Out, Draws Attention to Important Issue September 1, 2020. 
2) Anabel Gutterman. Comment on Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda: 100 Best YA Books of All Time | TIME The Times on August 11, 2021 at 7:36 am EDT
3) A Romantic Comedy About a Gay Teenager? What Took So Long? - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Accesed March 4, 2024

4) Albertalli, Becky. “https://www.beckyalbertalli.com/books” Acessed March 15, 2024