As a teen, James Frankie Thomas modelled a prom dress and smooch-proof makeup in a 2004 issue of TEEN PEOPLE magazine. Now, he's the author of a compelling novel, IDLEWILD, published by The Overlook Press.

James spoke with me about crafting this novel at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and how he navigated the highs and lows of getting a book into the world. Plus: find out why James jokes that he and Elliot Page are like "two ships in the night", and why it's hard to read (and write) about big events like 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Podcast notes:

James' book list:

The Family Chao, by Lan Samantha ChangEighty-sixed, by David B. Feinberg (not to be confused with 86'd, by Dan Fante)A Dream of a Woman, by Casey PlettDetransition, Baby, by Torrey PetersDarryl, by Jackie EssNevada, by Imogen BinnieI'm Supposed to Protect You from All This: A Memoir, by Nadja SpiegelmanAll This Could Be Different, by Sarah Thankam MathewsThis Other Eden, by Paul HardingPageboy: A Memoir, by Elliot Page

Music:

Franz Joseph Haydn, 'The Heavens Are Telling' (The Creation), St. Matthew's Choir, 2010. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Frédéric Chopin, ‘Berceuse Op. 57’, Christine Hartley-Troskie. CC BY 2.5 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5), via Wikimedia Commons.

Hear my first interview with James: www.soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/frankie

Thanks to Stephanie Palumbo, Christian Westermann, and Andrew Gibeley at Abrams Books for sending me a review copy of IDLEWILD and securing permissions to excerpt IDLEWILD in this episode! Buy IDLEWILD here: www.abramsbooks.com/product/idlewil…_9781419769146/.

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Find James on Twitter at james_f_thomas and online at www.jamesfrankiethomas.com. Find me on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePod and online at www.annasoper.ca.

Advocacy resources related to banned and challenged books from the American Library Association and Ontario Library Association:

www.ala.org/advocacy/bbookswww.freedomtoread.ca

Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.