On Friday, May 31, 2019, Parnassus Bookstore will be hosting an event featuring author Meredith Russo. Russo, who is transgender, was born, raised, and lives in Tennessee, where she writes young adult (YA) fiction. Russo will be reading from her newest release, Birthday, and signing books at 6:30 p.m.
Russo’s debut novel, If I Was Your Girl, was the winner of the ALA Stonewall Book Award and was a Walter Dean Myers Honor Book and a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her new novel, Birthday, gives readers a glimpse into the lives of two very different kids once a year on their shared special day.
The premise of the book is simple: In a forgotten Tennessee town where football reigns supreme and no one ever leaves, two babies are born in the same hospital, on the same day, during a freak blizzard: Morgan and Eric. From that moment, their lives are intertwined. They grow up doing everything together, from sleepovers to football practices to shared birthday celebrations.
But on their shared thirteenth birthday, Morgan’s frustration that no one around her, not even Eric, sees her for who she truly is bubbles over. Over the next six years, their relationship reshapes itself as they grow up and grow apart, share as many secrets as stony silences, and, ultimately, discover how much fate has in store for them.
A stunning, heart-wrenching slice-of-life romance, Birthday is the story of one trans teen’s long journey to coming out, and a universal story of first love, and first heartache.
Russo herself started living as her true self in late 2013 and has never looked back. Both her novels—If I Was Your Girl and Birthday—were partially inspired by her experiences as a trans woman. Like some of her characters, Meredith is a gigantic nerd who spends a lot of her time obsessing over video games and Star Wars.
To learn more about Meredith Russo, and to hear excerpts from Birthday, head out to Parnassus on Friday, May 31, 2019, at 6:30 p.m. Copies of Russo’s books will be available for purchase at the event. Check our her website and Twitter account!