Eliot Schrefer

Eliot Schrefer (born November 25, 1978) is an American and British[3] author of both adult and young adult fiction, and a two-time finalist for the National Book Award in Young People's Literature.[4][5] Schrefer's first novel Glamorous Disasters was published by Simon & Schuster in 2006. He is most known for his young adult novels Endangered (2012) and Threatened (2014), which are survival stories featuring young people and great apes. He is currently on the faculty of the Creative Writing MFA Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Eliot Schrefer
Schrefer at the Miami Book Fair International, 2014
Schrefer at the Miami Book Fair International, 2014
Born (1978-11-25) November 25, 1978
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationWriter, teacher
EducationB.A. with Highest Honors in Literature
Alma materHarvard University
Notable worksEndangered, Threatened
Notable awards
Website
www.eliotschrefer.com

Career

In reviewing his novel Endangered, The New York Times praised the depth of his characters, saying "As riveting as the action is, it’s the nuanced portraits of the characters, human and ape, that make the story so deeply affecting."[6] Dennis Abrams of Publishing Perspectives, also discussed in his review of Threatened, the way in which Schrefer "even makes his chimpanzees ... into living breathing characters."[7]

In drawing parallels between the bonobo apes and human characters in these novels, Schrefer says that writing about the bonobos "allowed me to address more nakedly the feelings—jealousy, loyalty, anger, sorrow—that we all experience."[8]

Schrefer withdrew from the 2021 Plum Creek Literacy Festival at Concordia University Nebraska after observing that books with LGBT characters, including his book The Darkness Outside Us, had been excluded from the festival and that the religious University had a discriminatory policy toward LGBT students. Other authors withdrew following Schrefer, and the festival was cancelled.[9]

The Darkness Outside Us, an LGBT young adult science fiction novel by Schrefer, was published in 2021 by Harper Collins.

Personal life

Born in Chicago to a British mother and an American father,[3] Schrefer identifies as gay.[10]

List of works

The Ape Quartet
  • Endangered (Scholastic, 2012)
  • Threatened (Scholastic, 2014)
  • Rescued (Scholastic, 2016)
  • Orphaned (Scholastic, September 25, 2018)

The Lost Rainforest
  • Mez's Magic (Katherine Tegen Books, January 2, 2018)
  • Gogi's Gambit (Jaden Tegen Books, February 5, 2019)
  • Rumi's Riddle (Katherine Tegen Books, February 4, 2020)

Spirit Animals
  • Spirit Animals book 6: Rise and Fall (Scholastic, 2014)
  • Spirit Animals (Fall of the Beasts) book 1: Immortal Guardians (Scholastic, 2015)

Other work
  • Glamorous Disasters (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
  • The New Kid (Simon & Schuster, 2007)
  • Hack the SAT (Gotham Books, 2008)
  • The School for Dangerous Girls (Scholastic, 2009)
  • The Deadly Sister (Scholastic, 2010)
  • Greek Fantasy Novel (Scholastic, 2011)
  • The Darkness Outside Us (Harper Collins, 2021)
  • Queer Ducks (and Other Animals) (Harper Collins, 2022)

References
  1. "Previous Award Recipients: Northland College". Archived from the original on 8 December 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  2. "Green Earth Book Award". The Nature Generation. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. "About Me". Eliot Schrefer. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  4. "National Book Awards-2012". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  5. "2014 National Book Awards". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  6. Croke, Vicki Constantine (9 November 2012). "Adapt and Survive: Endangered by Eliot Schrefer". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  7. Abrams, Dennis (24 February 2014). "With Latest, Eliot Schrefer Takes YA to Endangered Africa". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  8. "2012 National Book Award Finalist-Young People's Literature". National Book Foundation. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  9. Dunker, Chris (September 23, 2021). "Plum Creek Literacy Festival cancels events after authors pull out over 'discriminatory' Concordia policy". Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  10. Schrefer, Eliot [@EliotSchrefer] (August 10, 2021). "I realized I was gay when I started lingering over the Fruit of the Loom ads in my brother's Rolling Stone. I was 11. The first thing I did after was look up "homosexuality" in the Encyclopædia Britannica (because nerd)" (Tweet). Retrieved December 22, 2021 – via Twitter.
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