Who am I?
Mom claimed she never suspected I was gay.
Seriously, Mom?
But other times, she said she always knew. Hmm... Which would you believe?
High school was tough. It hurt a lot. I hated how I looked and who I was.
If you're in school now and having a hard time, know that you can get through it. I did, although there were moments I didn't think I'd be able to.
The pressures on LGBTQ teens can be overwhelming--to keep secrets, tell lies, deny who you are, and try to be who you're not.
Remember: you are special and worth being cared about, loved, and accepted just as you are.
Never let anyone convince you otherwise.
If you need to be reminded of that, check out my LGBTQ+ Resources for someone to connect with.
That's me, way back when.
I started out in Mexico City, born to parents of German-Mexican and Cuban heritage.
When I was five my family moved to Texas.
I grew up a multi-cultural immigrant kid, never completely sure where I fit in... and always feeling a little like an outsider.
While growing up, I sensed I was different from other boys... although I couldn't identify exactly how.
In middle school words like "queer" and "homo" began to take meaning, and my world crashed in.
After high school, I met openly LGBTQ people for the first time... I found my community.
In college I wrote my first children's book and went on to earn a master's in Guidance and Counseling.
For many years I worked as a youth and family counselor in the U.S. and overseas.
Rainbow Boys was my first published novel. Since then, I've written a heap of other stories. I hope you read and like them all. :-)
Thank you. Peace, Alex
Alex Sanchez has published ten novels, including the American Library Association “Best Book for Young Adults” Rainbow Boys and Lambda Award-winning So Hard to Say.
His novel Bait won the Tomas Rivera Mexican-American Book Award and the Florida Book Award Gold Medal for Young Adult fiction. You Brought Me the Ocean, his graphic novel from DC Comics, was illustrated by Julie Maroh. Alex's newest book, The Greatest Superpower, came out in 2021.
Alex has a master’s degree in guidance and counseling and worked for many years as a youth and family counselor. You can read a full bio below.
Find out about having me speak to your school, college, library, or conference, here.
And check out my videos!
Alex Sanchez - The Full Scoop (Extended Bio)
(You can also check me out on Wikipedia)
Alex Sanchez has authored ten novels for young people, including Rainbow Boys, his groundbreaking debut about a love triangle between three teenage boys. School Library Journal praised Rainbow Boys as “a book that can open eyes and change lives.” Publishers Weekly dubbed Alex a “Flying Start.” And the American Library Association honored the novel as a “Best Book for Young Adults.”
With the success of Rainbow Boys, Simon & Schuster published two sequels, Rainbow High and Rainbow Road. Both books were honored as Lambda Literary Award finalists.
Alex’s middle-grade novel for younger readers, So Hard to Say, about the friendship between a gay boy and straight girl, won the prestigious Lambda Literary Award.
His novel Getting It, a sort-of “Queer Eye for the straight teenage boy,” won the Myers Outstanding Book Award and was a runner-up for the International Latino Book Award.
The God Box, about Christian teens struggling to bring together sexuality and spirituality was honored by the New York Public Library as a “Book for the Teen Age.”
Alex’s novel Bait, tackling hard-hitting themes of male sexual abuse, won the Florida Book Award Gold Medal for Young Adult fiction and the Tomas Rivera Mexican-American Children’s Book Award.
His novel, Boyfriends with Girlfriends, explores the lives of bisexual teens. It was chosen as an ALA “Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers” and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist.
Alex's graphic novel about the teen superhero Aqualad coming of age, coming out, and discovering his superpowers, was published by DC Comics with illustrations by Julie Maroh.
The Greatest Superpower, released in 2021, focuses on twin thirteen-year-old boys whose dad comes out as transgender.
Alex’s anthologized short stories include "If You Kiss a Boy" in the collection 13: Thirteen Stories About the Agony and Ecstasy of Being Thirteen, selected by the Junior Library Guild. His story “The Secret Life of a Teenage Boy,” appeared in the anthology All Out: The No-Longer Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages.
In 2011 The Lambda Literary Foundation awarded Alex the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prize to honor his body of work.
He received an attribution in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language for the word “majorly.”
In 2017 Alex served as a judge for the National Book Award in Young People’s Literature.
Alex received his master’s in guidance and counseling from Old Dominion University and worked for many years as a youth and family counselor.
He was born in Mexico City to parents of German-Mexican and Cuban heritage and now lives in Rochester, New York.
CONTACT ME
Email: Alex [at] AlexSanchez [dot] com