Sera Milano has previously written two Kirkus-starred LGBTQ+ comic novels for younger readers, Boy Meets Hamster and Boy Meets Ghoul, under the name Birdie Milano. She earned a first-class honours degree in creative writing from St Mary’s University, London, and a MA with distinction in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, where she won the 2015 United Agents Prize for Most Promising Writing for Young People. This Can Never Not Be Real is her first young adult novel. She lives in Guildford, Surrey with her rescue dog, Moppet and wonky cat, Ziggy. She has written on the importance of LGBTQ representation in fiction for young people for the Daily Express.
(Photo Credit - Sera Milano. Reprint permitted for press/publicity purposes. )
Twitter: https://twitter.com/seramilano
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seramilano
“We call romance tropes cliché, until we realise that we’ve never seen two prom queens share a kiss, or the school football hero take off the nerdy boy’s glasses and tell him how gorgeous he looks.
Gay teens need mirrors, but straight teens need windows into experiences other than their own, too. Most of us understand what it’s like to feel different, and feeling different can often mean feeling alone. Stories with a broad spectrum of diverse characters only serve to show us how alike we are. Love is love.
“In future, lets hope romances where two girls kiss as climactic music swells or the male lead wins the heart of the boy next door in time for the happy ending can be considered just as cliché.”
THIS CAN NEVER NOT BE REAL
Egmont, Spring 2021
Acquisition announcement: https://www.egmontbooks.co.uk/egmont-acquires-extraordinary-unflinching-ya-from-sera-milano/
Buy Links: to come