If you want to read a love story about an uptight princess and a chaotic future lord forced to get along, then "Gwen And Art Are Not in Love" by Lex Croucher is the book for you.
What was your inspiration behind your most recent book?
I wrote "Gwen And Art Are Not in Love" after spending the first few months of 2020 devouring books, catching up on all the YA I'd missed and discovering that things were very different in the genre from when I was a teenager. I wanted to write something that gave me the same swept-up, swoony feelings as those books, and to be honest, I wanted to have fun and distract myself in lockdown! The characters occurred to me first and everything fell into place after that.
What does "Reading Rainbow" mean to you?
It means people of all ages having access to stories that they can see themselves in — something that was missing when I was a teenager, and that would have honestly changed my life — and it also means being able to see LGBTQ+ characters in all genres of books. I want to read books about characters discovering themselves, but I also want to read books about LGBTQ+ princesses, outlaws, aliens!
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Books reflect our world and our experiences, and despite what the vast majority of books published since the invention of the printing press might have you believe, there are a hell of a lot more experiences out there than the perspectives of straight, cis, white people.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
"Gwen and Art Are Not in Love" is a medieval romcom about an uptight princess and a chaotic future lord who have been betrothed since birth and have hated each other for almost as long; when they're forced to spend the summer together at Camelot ahead of their upcoming nuptials, they discover that they're both queer, and make a pact to cover for each other. I wrote it because it's exactly the sort of book I would have loved to read when I was a teenager and there were literally no LGTBQ+ books available that I was aware of — it is partially about discovering who you are, but it's mostly about these teenagers in a very high pressure environment learning how to be better friends to themselves and each other.
What can fans expect from your book?
Sword fighting! Flirting! Jousting! Secret cults! A timeshare cat! Kissing! Jokes that I think are funny, so your mileage may vary!
What's up next for you in the bookish world?
I'm really excited to be writing more in this area, because it's so fun to take elements of British myths and legends and play around with our perceptions of those characters and periods of history.
