In celebration of LGBT History Month, author M. E. Kerr shares insight into the importance of writing her novel Night Kites, and the impact it had on her life during a time when she was losing friends to the AIDS epidemic in the early 80s.
“When I wrote Night Kites in the early 80s there was no book—hardcover or paperback—featuring gay men with AIDS. There were a few about blood transfusions and the early belief in a Haitian connection, but Night Kites was the first book to deal with AIDS transmitted by homosexual men. I felt frightened and brave writing it, and I know my editors felt the same way. I had already lost several close friends and my story was important to me: that I tell it well and hope it would be received that way. Ultimately it was, but it took awhile for people to realize that we would lose friends and loved ones, that AIDS would change us all, one way or another.” —M. E. Kerr
{buybutton id=12602/}Night Kites by M. E. Kerr
What do you do when your whole world is blown apart? A 17-year-old confronts love, betrayal, and his brother’s illness in this brave, deeply compassionate novel.
M. E. Kerr was born Marijane Meaker in Auburn, New York. Her interest in writing began with her father, who loved to read, and her mother, who loved to tell stories of neighborhood gossip. Unable to find an agent to represent her work, Meaker became her own agent, and wrote articles and books under a series of pseudonyms: Vin Packer, Ann Aldrich, Laura Winston, M. E. Kerr, and Mary James. As M. E. Kerr, Meaker has produced over 20 novels for young adults and won multiple awards, including the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime contribution to young adult literature.
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