19 Love Songs

David Levithan is the acclaimed author of several popular Young Adult novels, including Every Day, Two Boys Kissing, and Boy Meets Boy. Levithan is also a frequent collaborator of other popular YA novelists, writing Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green, as well as Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List with Rachel Cohn. Several of Levithan’s novels have been adapted for TV and film.

Beyond writing, Levithan is a publisher and editorial director at Scholastic, as well as the founder and editor of the PUSH imprint. On his website, Levithan writes that PUSH is “devoted to finding new voices and new authors in teen literature.” Levithan is also the co-editor of several anthologies, including The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities, which includes true stories from LGBTQ writers under the age of 23.

Over the course of his career, Levithan has worked tirelessly to add LGBTQ stories to the genre of YA literature. A gay man himself, Levithan wrote his first book, Boy Meets Boy, with the goal of writing the book he “dreamed of getting as an editor—a book about gay teens that doesn’t conform to the old norms about gay teens in literature.” Since then, Levithan has consistently and unapologetically prioritized LGBTQ narratives in his work, writing about characters of all sexualities and gender identities.

Levithan received the Lambda Literary Award for Children’s/Young Adult Literature three times, for Two Boys Kissing in 2013, The Full Spectrum in 2006, and Boy Meets Boy in 2003. He was a finalist for the award three additional times. Levithan also received the Stonewall Award for his collaboration with John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson. In 2016, Levithan received the Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring his lasting contribution to literature for teens, specifically his works The Realm of Possibility, Boy Meets Boy, Love is the Higher Law, How They Met and Other Stories, Wide Awake, and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. In a press release announcing the award, the American Library Association writes that Levithan “has given a voice to teens who often feel marginalized,” and that “his work has allowed readers to experience life and love from many different perspectives.” The ALA also praises Levithan’s ability to write stories with “high literary quality” that remain “accessible and engaging to everyone who reads them.”