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Casey McQuiston

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Casey McQuiston
McQuiston at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
McQuiston at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born (1991-01-21) January 21, 1991 (age 33)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.[1]
OccupationNovelist
LanguageEnglish
Alma materLouisiana State University
GenreRomance
Years active2019–present
Notable worksRed, White & Royal Blue
Website
caseymcquiston.com

Casey McQuiston is an American author of romance novels in the New adult fiction genre, best known for their New York Times best-selling debut novel Red, White & Royal Blue, in which the son of America's first female president falls in love with a prince of England, and sophomore book One Last Stop.[2] McQuiston made their debut in the young adult fiction genre with their book I Kissed Shara Wheeler which was released on May 3rd, 2022.[3]

Personal life

McQuiston was born on January 21, 1991[4] and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.[5][6]

They attended Louisiana State University and received a degree in journalism.[7] Prior to publishing their first book, McQuiston waited tables, freelanced[8] and worked extensively in magazine publishing.[7]

McQuiston is queer.[2][9] They are non-binary and use any pronouns.[8][10][11] McQuiston has expressed that they write romantic comedies about queer people because they grew up attending a conservative evangelical Christian school and they want to write books that would have made them feel less isolated as a queer teenager.[12]

Additionally, McQuiston is open about having ADHD and how it affects their writing.[13] They describe their writing process as "impulse-driven" and frequently write scenes nonlinearly.[13] After losing their dad in 2014 and struggling with mental health in 2015, McQuiston turned to writing as a way to cope.[13]

McQuiston previously lived in Fort Collins, Colorado[6] but currently lives in New York City, New York[14] with their poodle mix, Pepper.[15]

Career

McQuiston is currently represented by Sara Megibow at KT Literary.[14] Additionally, they were a 2020 recipient of the Alex Awards for their debut book Red, White & Royal Blue.[16][17]

Red, White & Royal Blue

Main article: Red, White & Royal Blue

Red, White & Royal Blue is a contemporary queer romance that follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, a fictionalized First Son of the U.S., as he develops romantic feelings for Henry, an English prince, following an altercation that forces them to fake a friendship for damage control and PR purposes.[18][19]

McQuiston first came up with the idea for what would become Red, White & Royal Blue in early 2016 as they followed the 2016 American presidential elections.[20] While watching a season of the HBO comedy series Veep and reading both a Hillary Clinton biography by Carl Bernstein, A WOMAN IN CHARGE: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, McQuiston found themself intrigued by the extravagant, high-profile lifestyle of the royals and wanted to write their own take on a story featuring a royal family.[20] Some additional inspirations behind Red, White & Royal Blue include All the Truth is Out by Matt Bai and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.[15]

McQuiston describes Red, White & Royal Blue as a queer romcom and says that they write queer fiction "for the same reason straight people write straight fiction," meaning that they draw from their own experiences.[20] For protagonist Alex's realization that he's bisexual, they were inspired by their own experience.[2] The character of the fictional American president Ellen Claremont in the novel was inspired by American politician Wendy Davis, whose filibuster McQuiston watched in 2013 and found themself moved by.[21]

As part of their research for Red, White & Royal Blue, McQuiston used websites such as whitehousemuseum.org to study both past and present White House interiors that would be incorporated into the novel.[13]

In April 2019, Amazon Studios acquired the film rights to the novel at auction, with Ted Malawer attached as writer and Berlanti Studios as producer.[22][23]

Red, White & Royal Blue was published by St. Martin's Griffin in May 2019 and debuted on the New York Times Paper Trade Fiction bestseller list, at number 15.[24] It was received favorably by critics, earning a starred review from Publishers Weekly,[25] Kirkus,[26] Booklist,[27] Vogue[28] and Vanity Fair.[29]

It has been published and translated in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Sweden, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Spain, and Uruguay.[30]

Red, White & Royal Blue won the Best Debut Novel and Best Romance Novel categories in the 11th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards, making it the only novel to win in two categories in 2019.[31][32]

In interviews, McQuiston has expressed hopes that Red, White & Royal Blue, along with their future novels, will help push queer romance into the spotlight.[33] When asked about their writing process for this book, Mcquiston said they knew from the get-go that they wanted to write a queer-romance but didn't plan out each character before they began writing.[33] For example, both Henry and Alex were eventually written as cisgender boys, even though that wasn’t necessarily the plan from the beginning.[33] Additionally, many of the characters in Red, White & Royal Blue were inspired by different political ideologies and archetypes instead of real-life people.[33] In interviews about this novel, McQuiston likes to say that “no real royals or first families were harmed in the making this book”.[33]

One Last Stop

Main article: One Last Stop

McQuiston's next book, One Last Stop, came out on June 1, 2021.[4] The book is "pitched as a queer Kate & Leopold, in which a 23-year-old realizes her subway crush is displaced from 1970's Brooklyn, and she must do everything in her power to help her - and try not to fall in love with the girl lost in time - before it’s too late."[34] McQuiston was inspired to make the setting of this book on a subway because when using this public transportation you get a glimpse of another person's life. [35]

This book follows two young adults who were never supposed to meet as they have a chance encounter because one is lost in time.[36] August, the protagonist, doesn’t believe in love and happily ever afters. She believes that living her life alone is the only way until she meets Jane, the time-traveling love interest, on the subway. The subway quickly becomes August’s favourite part of her day and she realizes that she needs to do everything in her power to help return Jane back to her own time before it’s too late.[36] McQuiston wanted to explore this story within the Romantic comedy genre because they wanted to ensure the characters would get happy endings. [37]

In an interview for Time (magazine), McQuiston expressed that they wanted to create a queer story that centered around a queer cast. McQuiston finds it strange that in many narratives there is only one queer character while the rest of the cast of characters is heterosexual and Cisgender. McQuiston states “I always thought it was silly and unrealistic, the idea that some straight people have, that it is statistically unlikely for more than one gay person to exist in the story.” [38]

One Last Stop has been placed sixth on the Bookpage top ten romance novels of 2021. [39] The book has also been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards for best romance of 2021.

References

  1. ^ "Red, White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston - Author Biography". LitLovers. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Walker, Savanna (May 14, 2019). "Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - Interview". BookPage. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  3. ^ Noble, Barnes &. "I Kissed Shara Wheeler|Hardcover". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  4. ^ a b McQuiston, Casey (January 21, 2021). "casey mcquiston ⚡️ preorder ONE LAST STOP". Twitter. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  5. ^ Taroy, Daniel (August 27, 2019). "Why Red, White, and Royal Blue Was Everywhere This Summer". Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  6. ^ a b No First Families or Royals Were Harmed in the Making of This Debut Rom-Com, by | Booklist Online.
  7. ^ a b Megibow, Sara (February 1, 2018). "Welcome to our newest client, Casey McQuiston! – kt literary". Archived from the original on February 5, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  8. ^ a b McQuiston, Casey. "casey mcquiston ⚡️ preorder ONE LAST STOP (@casey_mcquiston)". Twitter. Archived from the original on January 7, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  9. ^ Nicolaou, Elena (May 17, 2019). "What If The Prince Of England Fell In Love With The Son Of The President Of The United States?". Refinery29. Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  10. ^ Scribd [@Scribd] (November 12, 2020). "Who are other trans or non-binary authors we should amplify?" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ McQuiston, Casey [@casey_mcquiston] (October 30, 2020). "nonbinary bisexuals live each day with every chaos meter turned up to eleven and for me it is ✨ sensational ✨" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "Casey McQuiston Is Writing the Queer Rom-Coms She's Always Wanted to Read". Time. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  13. ^ a b c d "SPINE-Casey McQuiston on Writing Red, White & Royal Blue". SPINE. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  14. ^ a b McQuiston, Casey. "CMQ". CMQ. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  15. ^ a b "Interview With an Author: Casey McQuiston". www.lapl.org. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  16. ^ "2020 Alex Awards Virtual Celebration". The Hub. June 3, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.
  17. ^ "2020 Alex Award Winners | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
  18. ^ "Spring 2019 Announcements: Romance & Erotica". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  19. ^ "Hypable staff picks: Our most anticipated fandom moments of 2019". Hypable. January 1, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  20. ^ a b c "An exclusive interview with Casey McQuiston". shereads.com. May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  21. ^ "Making Politics Loving Again: PW Talks with Casey McQuiston". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  22. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (April 10, 2019). "Amazon Studios, Berlanti Productions Win Casey McQuiston Novel 'Red White & Royal Blue'". Deadline. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  23. ^ Valby, Karen (July 19, 2019). "Why Have Novels About Royalty Stormed the Y.A. Best-Seller Lists?" – via NYTimes.com.
  24. ^ "Paperback Trade Fiction Books - Best Sellers". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  25. ^ "Red, White & Royal Blue". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  26. ^ RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  27. ^ Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  28. ^ "In This Escapist Masterpiece, America Has a Woman President, and Her Son Is in Love With a Prince". Vogue. May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  29. ^ "Red, White & Royal BlueIs a Romance Perfectly Tailored for Viral Success". Vanity Fair. August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  30. ^ "FAQ". CMQ. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  31. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Debut Novel!". Goodreads. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  32. ^ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Romance!". Goodreads. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  33. ^ a b c d e "Author Interview - Casey McQuiston, author of Red, White & Royal Blue". BookPage.com. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  34. ^ "casey_mcquiston". Twitter. Retrieved July 1, 2020.
  35. ^ "Casey McQuiston Is Writing the Queer Rom-Coms She's Always Wanted to Read". Time. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  36. ^ a b Inc, Indigo Books & Music. "One Last Stop". indigo.ca. Retrieved February 1, 2021. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  37. ^ Fulop, Olivia Harrison,Lily. "Casey McQuiston Is As Attached To Their Characters As You Are". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved November 22, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  38. ^ "Casey McQuiston Is Writing the Queer Rom-Coms She's Always Wanted to Read". Time. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
  39. ^ "Best Romance of 2021". BookPage | Discover your next great book!. November 16, 2021. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
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