David LaRochelle (born October 26, 1960)

DAVID LAROCHELLE, a former elementary school teacher, is author and illustrator of numerous middle-grade readers and picture books, including The End, which received four starred reviews. David lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

"I was born in Minneapolis on October 26th. I grew up in New Brighton, Minnesota, where I spent way too much time watching TV (which is strange because I never watch television now).

When I wasn’t watching reruns of “Gilligan’s Island” or “The Brady Bunch,” I enjoyed reading, drawing, acting out make-believe stories with my neighbor LuAnn, and annoying my older sister Debbie.

Some of my favorite gifts as a kid included a tank of helium (I wanted to become a balloon man), Spirograph, and packs of brightly colored construction paper. I could spend hours making things out of construction paper. My childhood hero was Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, and if I couldn’t become a balloon man, I wanted to become a cartoonist.

I had various pets growing up, including rabbits, turtles, goldfish, and a white rat left over from a school science project. But for those of you who have read The Best Pet of All, it will come as no surprise that my favorite pet was our dog, Caesar.

I loved making up silly poems, and created my own magazine, Rhyme Time, which also featured the comic strip adventures of Mighty Man. In high school, a horror story of mine titled “Miss Phillip’s Sixth Grade Class Goes to the Museum” (too gruesome to describe!) was published in a magazine for teens, which was the first time I was ever paid money for one of my stories. Art and English classes were always my favorite subjects.

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Source: http://www.davidlarochelle.net/

Further Readings:

Absolutely Positively Not (Sid Fleischman Humor Award) by Mr. David LaRochelle
Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (June 1, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0439591090
ISBN-13: 978-0439591096
Amazon: Absolutely Positively Not

There is one thing Steven knows for sure: He's absolutely, positively NOT gay.

Steven's a 16-year-old boy with two obsessions: sex and getting his driving license. The problem is, Steven's not thinking girls when he's thinking sex. Could he be -- don't say it -- gay? Steven sets out to get in touch with his inner he-man with Healthy Heterosexual Strategies such as "Start Hanging Out with the Guys," and "Begin Intensive Dating." But are Steven's tactics going to straighten him out, or leave him all twisted up?

Absolutely hilarious. Positively sidesplitting. But absolutely, positively NOT GAY!

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Karin Boye & Margot Hanel

Karin Maria Boye (26 October 1900 – 24 April 1941) was a Swedish poet and novelist.

Boye was born in Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden and moved with her family to Stockholm in 1909. She studied at Uppsala University from 1921 to 1926 and debuted in 1922 with a collection of poems, "Clouds" (Swedish: Moln). During her time in Uppsala and until 1930, Boye was a member of the Swedish Clarté League, a socialist group in those days very anti-Fascist.

In 1931 Boye, together with Erik Mesterton and Josef Riwkin, founded the poetry magazine Spektrum, introducing T. S. Eliot and the Surrealists to Swedish readers. She translated many of Eliot's works into Swedish; she and Mesterton translated "The Waste Land".

Boye is perhaps most famous for her poems, of which the most well-known ought to be "Yes, of course it hurts" (Swedish: Ja visst gör det ont) and "In motion" (I rörelse) from her collections of poems "The Hearths" (Härdarna), 1927, and "For the sake of the tree" (För trädets skull), 1935. She was also a member of the Swedish literary institution Samfundet De Nio (chair number 6) from 1931 until her death in 1941.

Boye's novel "Crisis" (Kris) depicts her religious crisis and lesbianism. In her novels "Merit awakens" (Merit vaknar) and "Too little" (För lite) she explores male and female role-playing.


Karin Boye (©17)

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karin_Boye

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher