Lydia Conklin

Discussing "Rainbow Rainbow," short stories.

media release: In this delightful collection of prize-winning stories, queer, gender-nonconforming, and trans characters struggle to find love and forgiveness, despite their sometimes comic, sometimes tragic mistakes. In one, a young lesbian tries to have a baby with her lover using an unprofessional sperm donor and a high-powered, rainbow-colored cocktail. In another, a fifth-grader explores gender identity by dressing as an ox—instead of a matriarch—for a class Oregon Trail reenactment. Meanwhile a nonbinary person on the eve of top surgery dangerously experiments with an open relationship during the height of the COVID crisis. With insight and compassion,  debut author Conklin takes their readers to a meeting of a queer feminist book club and to a convention for trans teenagers, revealing  both the dark and lovable sides of their characters and resulting in stories that make you laugh and wince, sometimes at the same time.