Will I as a queer person be able to live openly, boldly, and out of the shadows?
Today we meet Jake Stepansky and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green. And David joins us for the conversation!
Jake Stepansky is a culture and care worker based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the co-founder and board president of the QT Library – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to bring a brick-and-mortar LGBTQIA+ library and substance-free community space to Boston. Jake is the Producer of Festival Presentations for the Under the Radar Festival, and works with private clients as a professional organizer and decluttering coach. Jake honed his skills as an arts worker and educator at Forklift Danceworks, Marty Pottenger’s Art At Work, Pomegranate Arts, the Office for the Arts at Harvard, and more.
David Levithan is an award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of many books for teens, including Boy Meets Boy, Wide Awake, Love Is the Higher Law, and (with Rachel Cohn) Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. He also works as an editor and, in his free time, takes way too many pictures.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson is about two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage.
Connect with Jake and David
Instagram: @jakebookplantsky
QT Library: qtlibrary.org
David's Facebook: facebook.com/davidlevithan
Our Bookshop
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Buy your copy of Will Grayson, Will Grayson here: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780142418475
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Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, Sean Smith, and Karsten Vagner
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Quatrefoil Library
Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
