| We don't know of any UK secondary school which has a club specifically for gay pupils, no doubt because of Section 28, and in 1989 the situation in the US was pretty much the same when exactly one American high school had a gay-straight alliance. Now over 1000 high schools do, and many of them are making headlines in Kentucky and Texas, where school authorities are desperately trying to shut the clubs down. Now these gay school societies have found their way into the pages of a book, called Geography Club which is now available in the UK through Amazon. Critics are already describing it as the best gay teen novel yet published. For OutUK, correspondent Joe Gable has been talking to author Brent Hartinger and we've an extract to give you a flavour of the book too. | |
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“It’s the story of a group of students who want to form a gay-straight alliance at
their high school,” said author Brent Hartinger. “Problem is, they don’t want anyone to know they’re gay. So they disguise the true nature of their club--and discourage anyone else from joining it--by giving it the most boring name they can think of - The Geography Club. Unfortunately, their disguise doesn’t last.” |
Author Brent Hartinger. Photo by Tim Cathersal.
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Hartinger’s novel is getting a much warmer reception than those gay-straight alliances
in Kentucky and Texas. Advance sales have been “terrific,” said Steve Fraser, Hartinger’s
editor at HarperCollins, the publisher of the book. “There’s already been interest in
the foreign rights, and in the movie rights too,” Fraser said.
“HarperCollins has been unbelievably supportive,” Hartinger said, pointing out that the publisher has already bought a Geography Club sequel, The Order of the Poison Oak, and two of the writer’s other novels. “That’s four books,” Hartinger said in amazement. “And that was before Geography Club had even been released!” | |
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Early industry reviews have been consistently good. The Bulletin for the Center for
Children’s Books called the book "a lively and compelling story" and praised its
“writty writing” and “heart-palpitating romance.” Horn Book Magazine called
Geography Club’s narration “pitch-perfect. GayWired's critic wrote
”The quality of gay books with teenager protagonists is notoriously spotty. That said,
Geography Club may be the best gay teen book ever." “Everything has worked out so well for this book,” Hartinger said. “Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.” With all the attention being paid to gay-straight alliances in high schools across the US, the timing for the book couldn’t seem to be better. |
Geography Club by Brent Hartinger is published by HarperCollins and is available direct from Amazon. |
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“I wish I could say it was because of some brilliant marketing strategy on my
part,” Hartinger said. “But the truth is, it’s just a coincidence. In fact, I
didn‘t even want to write the book, because I was convinced no publisher would
ever buy it.”
Hartinger said he was discouraged by the reaction to his first gay young adult book, which he wrote back in the early 1990s. “It won a couple of major writing awards,” he said. “But the reaction among publishers was indifference bordering on outright hostility. One editor told me outright that there was absolutely no market for a book about gay teens. If it hadn‘t been for my agent--a straight woman--I never would have written another gay teen book. She talked me into writing Geography Club, because she was convinced that the times had changed, and that the world was finally ready for just such a book.” For his part, Brent is just glad the book is drawing still more attention to the subject of gay school students. “I think most adults have no idea what gay school kids go through,” said Hartinger, who helped found a gay-support organization in his hometown of Tacoma, Washington, and who currently acts as an advisor to a gay-straight alliance at his old high school. “I think sometimes even some of us adult gay men and women forget,” he said. “We move to the big cities and start to think that the whole world is gay-tolerant. Hopefully, my book will remind people that some of the most courageous heroes in the gay rights struggle are still in their teens.” Geography Club by Brent Hartinger is published by HarperCollins and is available direct from Amazon. | |
