SATA

PERSONAL

Children: a daughter.

ADDRESS

CAREER

Writer, journalist, and educator. Boston Globe, Boston, MA, columnist; Huffington Post, blogger. Boston Conservatory, associate professor of playwriting; has also worked as a writing instructor at Tufts University.

WRITINGS

• NONFICTION:
• OTHER
• Spin Me Right Round (young-adult novel), Bloomsbury YA (New York, NY), 2022
• Brighter than the Moon (young-adult novel), Bloomsbury YA (New York, NY), 2023
• (As David Valdes Greenwood) Homo Domesticus: Notes from a Same-Sex Marriage, Hachette (New York, NY), 2006
• (As David Valdes Greenwood) A Little Fruitcake: A Childhood in Holidays, Hachette (New York, NY), 2007
• (As David Valdes Greenwood) The Rhinestone Sisterhood: A Journey Through Small Town America, One Tiara at a Time, Crown (New York, NY), 2010
• (As David Valdes Greenwood) Revengers (novel), Pandamoon Publishing (Austin, TX), 2017
• ,

Author of stage plays, including Last Catastrophist; Up the Ladder, Down the Slide; Downtown Crossing; The Mermaid Hour; Mermaid Hour: ReMixed; Wandaleria; Raggedy And; Full Code; Bully Dance; Vow Keepers; Mambo Beans; and Brave Navigator.

SIDELIGHTS

David Valdes is former journalist who is also a writer of nonfiction, young-adult fiction, and stage plays. Valdes worked as a columnist with the Boston Globe and as a blogger with the Huffington Post. He serves as a writing instructor at the Boston Conservatory and Tufts University. His nonfiction works include Homo Domesticus: Notes from a Same-Sex Marriage, The Rhinestone Sisterhood: A Journey Through Small Town America, One Tiara at a Time, and A Little Fruitcake: A Childhood in Holidays.

In an interview in Pine Reads Review, Valdes discussed his writing process. He shared: “I do a lot of pre-writing on my characters and getting to know them first. When I know them well enough to draw them (weird, I know) then I can start writing. As for plot, I always have a rough plot map in mind to follow, knowing that characters might lead me somewhere else—and when they do, I re-map. I never fully pants it.”

In the young-adult novel Spin Me Right Round, Cuban American teenager Luis wishes to be named prom king along with his boyfriend. Unfortunately, the Antic Springs Academy follows an oppressive Christian code of conduct, where even holding hands is not allowed. After failing to convince the prom committee to be more accepting of same-sex couples, he is knocked into the past. He realizes that he is at the academy in the year 1985. He meets Chaz, who died under mysterious circumstances around the time his own parents were attending the academy. Chaz had been bullied for his sexuality. Luis believes he could help Chaz but it might come at the expense of his future self.

In an interview in We Need Diverse Books, Valdes talked about his inspiration for writing Spin Me Right Round. Valdes admitted that the reason he wrote a novel featuring a gay Cuban American character that time-travels was because he identifies as “a gay Cuban-American kid who loved time travel! I never saw characters like me in books when I was growing up but now that I’m a writer, I can make sure those characters appear and are the leads.”

Writing in School Library Journal, Amanda MacGregor called it “an immersive story offering a unique look at second chances, acceptance, and progress.” MacGregor pointed out that Valdes’s “engaging read is full of honesty, vulnerability, and truly funny moments.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor lauded that “the solid pacing and pleasant, fluid prose make this a page-turner.” The same reviewer called Spin Me Right Round “a great read offering entertainment, encouragement, and plenty to reflect upon.”

In an interview in We Need Diverse Books, Valdes talked about his inspiration for writing Spin Me Right Round. Valdes admitted that the reason he wrote a novel featuring a gay Cuban American character that time-travels was because he identifies as “a gay Cuban-American kid who loved time travel! I never saw characters like me in books when I was growing up but now that I’m a writer, I can make sure those characters appear and are the leads.”

Writing in School Library Journal, Amanda MacGregor called it “an immersive story offering a unique look at second chances, acceptance, and progress.” MacGregor pointed out that Valdes’s “engaging read is full of honesty, vulnerability, and truly funny moments.” A Kirkus Reviews contributor lauded that “the solid pacing and pleasant, fluid prose make this a page-turner.” The same reviewer called Spin Me Right Round “a great read offering entertainment, encouragement, and plenty to reflect upon.”

Valdes told SATA: “When I was a little kid, I loved to read. I would max out the number of books the library would give me. And I think I just wanted to try out what I had seen!

“I have a desire to see more intersectional work out in the world. As a teen, I would have given anything to see a Cuban kid in a book or a gay kid as the lead, and the idea of both in one would have seemed impossible. Both in my novels and in my plays now, queer characters and characters of color fill the world.

“Once an idea seizes me, I do lots of note taking, research if that makes sense, jot down story ideas and character backstories, and start letting my mind entertain all kinds of possibilities (many of which will not be acted upon). This is quirky, but I know I’m ready to write when I can draw pictures of my characters. Once I can do that, I make a rough map of what I need to get done and start following it. (That is, right until characters surprise me and then I re-map!)

“You have to write what you love (not what you’re told to write) and then you have to submit it! Let rejections slide off you: by putting your work into the world, you are making your path forward possible (and you never know who has seen your work and liked it, even though you didn’t realize it at the time).

“2022’s Spin Me Right Round is a very upbeat, plot-driven novel, and that scratches my joy itch. But Brighter than the Moon, coming out in 2023, is much quieter, more contemplative, as its characters wrestle with questions of identity, and that also reflects an important side of me.

“Every morning, during my gratitudes, I say ‘Let my words be an instrument of change for whoever may see them.’ By that, I mean changes big (maybe helping someone who harbors prejudice of some kind rethink their stance) or small (help a reader see a behavior of their own that serves them or harms them). I’m no nihilist—I believe our lives matter and by reading my stories, I want people to feel more joy, hope, or growth.”

BIOCRIT

PERIODICALS

• Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2021, review of Spin Me Right Round.

• School Library Journal, January 1, 2022, Amanda MacGregor, review of Spin Me Right Round, p. 79.

ONLINE

• Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ (January 4, 2022), Deborah Kalb, author interview.

• David Valdes website, https://www.davidvaldeswrites.com (July 9, 2022).

• Geeks Out, https://www.geeksout.org/ (November 21, 2021), Michele Kirichanskaya, author interview.

• Nerd Daily, https://thenerddaily.com/ (December 28, 2021), author interview.

• Pine Reads Review, https://www.pinereadsreview.com/ (March 18, 2022), Ami Jones, author interview.

• We Need Diverse Books, https://diversebooks.org/ (December 10, 2021), JoAnn Yao, author interview.