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CHRIS CRUTCHER is the author of such books as Deadline, Whale Talk, and Staying Fat for Sarah Bynes and has been awarded the NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award, the ALAN Award, the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award, the CLA St. Katharine Drexel Award, and Writer magazine’s Writers Who Make a Difference Award. His work as a teacher and alternative school director coupled with twenty-five years as a child and family therapist specializing in abuse and neglect has infused his literary work with realism and emotional heft. Crutcher makes his home in Spokane, Washington, and you can visit him online at www.chriscrutcher.com.
MAYRA LAZARA DOLE was born in Havana and raised in Miami. Her Americas Award Commended Title, Down to the Bone, received a starred ALA Booklist review and was nominated for the National Book Awards and ALA Best Books for YA. It made the following lists: Booklist’s Top Ten Novels, ALA Rainbow List, and CCBC Top Choices. Dole’s next YA novel is Spinning Off the Edge. Her essays, articles, Cuban dialect poems, and short stories have been published by Hunger Mountain: Vermont College Fine Arts Journal of the Arts, Cipher Journal: A Journal of Literary Translation, Palabra: A Magazine of Chicano and Latino Literary Art, and other paper and online magazines. Her bilingual picture books, Drum, Chavi, Drum!/¡Toca, Chavi, Toca! and Birthday in the Barrio/Cumpleaños en el Barrio, were critically acclaimed.
ZETTA ELLIOTT was born in Canada and moved to Brooklyn in 1994 to pursue her PhD in American Studies at New York University. Her poetry has been published in several anthologies, and her plays have been staged in New York, Chicago, and Cleveland. Her essays have appeared in Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, and Hunger Mountain. Her first picture book, Bird, won the Honor Award in Lee & Low Books’ New Voices Contest; it was named Best of 2008 by Kirkus Reviews, a 2009 ALA Notable Children’s Book, and won the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers. Elliott is the author of the young adult novels A Wish After Midnight and Ship of Souls. She is Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies at Borough of Manhattan Community College and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
KATE ELLISON grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where she took a lot of heat at school for wearing weird-o outfits and for just being, well, generally weird. She has a degree in acting from The Theatre School at DePaul University, has made a pilgrimage on foot across Spain, makes Shrinky-Dink jewelry, and can play two songs now, albeit poorly, on her three-quarter-sized guitar. She hopes to travel often and everywhere and to someday own a large dog. Her first novel is The Butterfly Clues.
BRENDAN HALPIN is a teacher and a writer. He is the author of several YA novels, both by himself and with co-authors Emily Franklin and Trish Cook, including Forever Changes, Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom, and Notes From the Blender. He lives in Boston with his wife Suzanne and their three children.
SHEBA KARIM was born and raised in Catskill, New York, where she never saw Rip Van Winkle but frequently crossed the bridge that bore his name. She is a graduate of New York University School of Law and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her fiction has appeared in 580 Split, Asia Literary Review, Barn Owl Review, Kartika Review, Shenandoah, South Asian Review, and Time Out Delhi, among others. Two of her stories have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her young adult novel, Skunk Girl, was published in the United States, Denmark, India, Italy, and Sweden. She was a 2009–2010 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar and is currently working on a historical fiction novel set in thirteenth-century India. Visit www.shebakarim.com.
JAMES LECESNE is an actor, writer, and activist. His Academy Award-winning short film, TREVOR, inspired the founding of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide twenty-four-hour crisis intervention and suicide prevention lifeline for GLBT and, Questioning teens (www.thetrevorproject.org). He has published two YA novels, Absolute Brightness and Virgin Territory, and written for TV and theater including his own one-man show, Word of Mouth, which was awarded both a NY Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award.
LISH MCBRIDE is the author of Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, which was a top ten BBYA pick, nominated for the Morris Award, and winner of the Washington State Book Award. This makes her feel fancy. It also makes her a little obnoxious at times. Her follow-up book is Necromancing the Stone. You can find her on the Internet at LishMcBride.com. You can find her in real life in Seattle, possibly under a rock.
ELIZABETH MILES is a journalist and the debut author of Fury. She lives in Portland, Maine, with her boyfriend and two cats, and she just may have a magical defense mechanism of her own. Learn more at www.elizabethmilesbooks.com or www.thefuryseries.com.
KIRSTEN MILLER grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. At seventeen, she hit the road and moved to New York City, where she lives to this day. Kirsten is the author of the Eternal Ones series, as well as the acclaimed Kiki Strike books, which tell the tale of the delinquent girl geniuses who keep Manhattan safe.
MATTHUE ROTH is the author of the Orthodox Jewish punk-rock novel Never Mind the Goldbergs and the screenplay 1/20, currently in production as a feature film. His newest book, Automatic, is a Kindle single about falling in love and falling into a coma. He keeps a secret diary at www.matthue.com.
DAVID YOO is the author of the YA novels Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before and Girls for Breakfast, along with a middle grade novel, The Detention Club. His first collection of essays for adults is The Choke Artist: Confessions of a Chronic Underachiever. He teaches in the creative writing program at Pine Manor College and at the Gotham Writers’ Workshop. David lives in Massachusetts with his wife and son, where he still plays soccer. Visit www.daveyoo.com.
Dedications
JAIME ADOFF: This one’s for the kids that live this every day.
RHODA BELLEZA: To Jasy, for being a braver, better person than I could ever hope to be.
JOSH BERK: This story is dedicated to all the crazies I’ve made music with over the years and every kid in every garage who picks up a guitar and finds a way to turn their suffering into art. Rock on.
JENNIFER BROWN: For the mooed-at, the punched, the teased, the humiliated. For the ones sitting by the trash cans at lunch and hoping for invisibility in the hallways. For those who endure bullying with grit and determination. Because you’re worth it.
MAYRA LAZARA DOLE: Ricky, they killed you but not your spirit. You’ll always be my shooting star. To LGBT’s being bullied. Millions are fighting for you. We love you. Don’t give up. Reach out: 866-488-7386.
ZETTA ELLIOTT: “Sweet Sixteen” originated as a play that I developed in the New Perspectives Theater’s Women’s Work Lab. I dedicate this story to all the women and girls who dare to speak their truth from dim margins and shadowy corners.
KATE ELLISON: To the real Jean-Carlos, whom I do not know, and who left a stack of classmate-apology cards in the snow outside of his elementary school one winter day out of which this story was born. I hope, wherever you are, you are surrounded by people who are kind, and, if still they are not, I hope you are strong, and I hope you are loved.
BRENDAN HALPIN: To Suzanne, my favorite troublemaker.
SHEBA KARIM: To my Albany Academy for Girls crew, Annsunee, Jane, and Katie, who eased the pain of high school with their cooking, humor, and generosity, and reminded me I was never alone.
JAMES LECESNE: For my girls.
LISH MCBRIDE: To my brothers, Darin, Jeremy, and Alex. You kept bullies at bay, gave me a safe place and continued support. Thanks for letting me grow up weird.
ELIZABETH MILES: To Laura, Laura, and Jackie, who all have superpowers.
KIRSTEN MILLER: To the person who made freshman year hell. You’re lucky we grew up before YouTube came along.
MATTHUE ROTH: For my favorite Russian gangster.
DAVID YOO: Just about everyone gets bullied at some point in their lives, and just about everyone at some point bullies someone else. The only way to stop the cycle is to start with yourself. Fact is, there’s nothing good to gain from bullying someone. Remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, “When I do good, I feel good; when I
do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.”
Do you dare to speak the truth?
FEW THINGS ARE MORE FRIGHTENING than facing the truth about yourself. Fitting in can be as difficult as understanding why you stand out, and the heart wrenching excitement of it is all a part of coming into one’s own. Truth & Dare: 20 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness features stories from such unapologetic and honest authors as Cecil Castellucci, Emma Donoghue, A. M. Homes, Gary Soto, and Ellen Wittlinger.
TRUTH & DARE:
20 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness
978-0-7624-4104-4
• • •
Check out our other Running Press YA anthologies:
BRAVE NEW LOVE
978-0-7624-4220-1
CORSETS & CLOCKWORK
978-0-7624-4092-4
THE ETERNAL KISS
978-0-7624-3717-7
KISS ME DEADLY
978-0-7624-3949-2