Meredith Russo
{{short description|21st-century American author}}
{{pp-pc|small=yes}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Meredith Russo
| image = MeredithRussoPortrait.jpg
| caption = Meredith Russo
| occupation = Author
| years_active = 2016–present
| notable_works = If I Was Your Girl
| awards = Stonewall Book Award (2017)
| website =
}}
Meredith Russo (born c. 1986/1987){{cite news|url=http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life/entertainment/story/2015/jan/27/going-girl-local-transgender-woman-lands-100000-book-deal/284681/|title=Chattanooga transgender woman lands $100,000 book deal|date=2015-01-27|work=timesfreepress.com|accessdate=2017-07-01}} is an American young adult author from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Personal life
Russo is a transgender woman who transitioned in late 2013.{{cite news|url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/meredithrusso/|title=Meredith Russo {{!}} Authors {{!}} Macmillan|work=US Macmillan|accessdate=2017-07-01}} Her debut young adult novel If I Was Your Girl is the first widely distributed young adult book about transgender teens written by a transgender woman. It was inspired by Russo's life.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/author-meredith-russo-just-wants-a-book-where-good-things-happen-to-transgender-people/2016/06/24/c3f1d944-397e-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html|title=Author Meredith Russo just wants a book where good things happen to transgender people|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-11-23}} She wanted to write a book about a transgender character with a happy ending. In addition to her literary efforts, she campaigns heavily for HIV awareness and de-stigmatization.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/opinion/what-it-feels-like-to-use-the-wrong-bathroom.html|title=Opinion {{!}} What It Feels Like to Use the Wrong Bathroom|newspaper=The New York Times |date=24 May 2016 |access-date=2018-11-23|language=en|last1=Russo |first1=Meredith }}
Career
Russo's debut young adult novel, If I Was Your Girl, published in 2016 by Flatiron Books.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/jun/19/if-i-was-your-girl-meredith-russo-review|title=If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo – review|last=Wren|date=2016-06-19|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-11-23}} If I Was Your Girl is about a transgender girl going to a new school and falling in love with a boy.{{Cite news|url=https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=teens-review-meredith-russos-if-i-was-your-girl-and-more|title=Teens Review Meredith Russo's|work=School Library Journal|access-date=2018-11-23}} If I Was Your Girl won the Stonewall Book Award for the Young Adult category in 2017{{Cite news|url=http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2017/01/2017-stonewall-book-awards-announced|title=2017 Stonewall Book Awards Announced|last=Jamundsen|date=2017-01-24|work=News and Press Center|access-date=2018-11-23|language=en}} and the Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature in 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://www.booklistreader.com/2017/01/19/book-awards/march-book-three-wins-2017-walter-dean-myers-award/|title=March: Book Three Wins 2017 Walter Dean Myers Award|date=2017-01-19|work=The Booklist Reader|access-date=2018-11-23|language=en-US}} It also received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews,{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/meredith-russo/if-i-was-your-girl-russo/|title=If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us}} Publishers Weekly,{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-07840-7|title=Children's Book Review: If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo. Flatiron, $17.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-250-07840-7|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-11-23|language=en}} and Booklist.{{Cite book|url=https://www.booklistonline.com/If-I-Was-Your-Girl-Meredith-Russo/pid=8223854|title=If I Was Your Girl, by Meredith Russo {{!}} Booklist Online|via=www.booklistonline.com|access-date=2018-11-23}}
Her next young adult novel, Birthday, was published by Flatiron Books in 2019 and is a follow-up to If I Was Your Girl, following two teenagers whose lives intersect starting from their 13th birthdays.{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/book-deals/article/71842-book-deals-week-of-october-24-2016.html|title=Book Deals: Week of October 24, 2016|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-11-23|language=en}}
Russo also contributed several short stories and essays to anthologies published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.de/search?q=meet+cute+publishers+weekly&oq=meet+cute+publishers+weekly&aqs=chrome..69i57.2775j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8|title=meet cute publishers weekly – Google Search|website=www.google.de|language=en|access-date=2018-11-23}} Vintage,{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-525-43513-6|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times by Edited by Carolina De Robertis. Vintage, $15.95 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-525-43513-6|work=PublishersWeekly.com|access-date=2018-11-23|language=en}} and Algonquin.{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kelly-jensen/dont-call-me-crazy-jensen/|title=(Don't) Call Me Crazy by Kelly Jensen {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us}}
The different characters of her stories are based on people she met during her life or from her own personal experience.{{Cite web|title=Meredith Russo|url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10963089.Meredith_Russo|access-date=2021-05-04|website=www.goodreads.com}}
In an interview, she said that she has been inspired by a lot of comics, manga,{{Citation|title=Speak on It {{!}} Meredith Russo| date=5 August 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k58eeKcM-0|language=en|access-date=2021-05-04}} and fiction.{{Cite web|last=sibookdragon|date=2016-04-21|title=Author Interview: Meredith Russo [in Shelf Awareness]|url=https://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/author-interview-meredith-russo-shelf-awareness/|access-date=2021-05-04|website=BookDragon|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-05-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504155620/https://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/author-interview-meredith-russo-shelf-awareness/|url-status=dead}}
Bibliography
= Novels =
== Young adult ==
= Short stories and essays =
- in Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times, edited by Carolina De Robertis (Vintage, 2017)
- in (Don't) Call me Crazy, edited by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin Books, 2018)
- in Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet, edited by Jennifer L. Armentrout (HMH, 2018)
- Horror Stories from Meredith Russo's website{{Cite web|title=FREE STORIES|url=https://www.meredithrusso.net/free-stories|access-date=2021-04-22|website=Meredith Russo|language=en|archive-date=2021-04-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422194413/https://www.meredithrusso.net/free-stories|url-status=dead}}
- Meltdown from Meredith Russo's website
Awards
= Won =
== 2017 ==
- Stonewall Book Award in the Children's and Young Adult Literature category for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)
- Walter Dean Myers Award for Outstanding Children's Literature for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)
= Nominations =
== 2017 ==
- Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016)
- Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction for If I Was Your Girl (Flatiron, 2016){{Cite web|date=2017-03-14|title=29th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced|url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2017/03/29th-annual-lambda-literary-award-finalists-announced/|access-date=2021-04-22|website=Lambda Literary|language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Meredith}}
Category:Transgender women writers
Category:LGBTQ people from Tennessee
Category:Novelists from Tennessee
Category:Writers from Chattanooga, Tennessee
Category:American LGBTQ novelists
Category:Stonewall Book Award winners
Category:Transgender novelists
Category:American transgender writers
Category:American HIV/AIDS activists
Category:American transgender women
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
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