Linas Alsenas

{{short description|American writer}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}}

{{Infobox writer

| name = Linas Alsenas

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1979}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.

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| occupation = Writer, editor

| education =

| alma_mater = Harvard University

| period = 21st century

| genre = Picture books, nonfiction, LGBT literature

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| awards = American Library Association

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| website = {{URL|http://linasalsenas.com}}

| portaldisp = Literature

}}

Linas Alsenas (born 1979 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a gay Lithuanian-American author and book illustrator. After attending Harvard University, where he was an illustrator for the campus newspaper, he moved to New York City and worked as an editor for Interior Design magazine and then at Abrams Books for Young Readers. In 2006, Scholastic released his first picture book, Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation, which he wrote and illustrated. In 2007, Scholastic released Peanut, followed by Hello My Name Is Bob in 2009.

Alsenas is also the author of Gay America: Struggle For Equality, published by Amulet Books in 2008, the first gay history textbook written for teens.{{cite web |last=Lau Whelan |first=Debra |date=November 12, 2008 |title=Gay America |url=http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6613800.html |url-status=dead |work=School Library Journal |access-date=May 1, 2010 |archive-date=December 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205035503/http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6613800.html }} The book was an American Library Association's Stonewall Book Awards Children's and Young Adult Literature Award Honor Book in 2010.{{cite web |date=January 19, 2010 |title=Stonewall book awards for 2010 announced |url=http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/january2010/stonewall_pio.cfm |url-status=dead |work=American Library Association |access-date=May 1, 2010 |archive-date=October 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025075700/http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/january2010/stonewall_pio.cfm }}

Alsenas lived in Stockholm, Sweden with his husband, Jan Wilhelmsson. He moved to London in 2013 and works at Scholastic.