The Chattanooga Times Free Press is reporting that Chattanooga native Meredith Russo has just won the literary lottery: a six-figure book deal from Flatiron Books, an imprint of MacMillan. Russo’s debut novel, If I Was Your Girl, is aimed at a YA audience and features the story of a transgender teen. As Times Free Press reporter Lynda Edwards notes,
“Russo hopes her novel—which was bought by Flatiron after Russo submitted the first third of it to the publisher—will help transgender youth who feel alone and not accepted in any community by giving them a relatable heroine who is fun, interesting and empowered.”
Russo, who is transgender herself, notes that Flatiron editor Sarah Barley was intrigued by her voice and the setting of the novel: “The heroine even gets a happy ending, which is a rarity for transgender fictional characters,” Russo told Edwards.
No word yet on the publication date for If I Was Your Girl, but Russo is overjoyed to be experiencing her own happy ending.
To read the full report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, click here.
For more updates on Tennessee authors, please visit Chapter 16’s News & Notes page, here.
Tagged: Fiction
