Creator Spotlight: Emery Lee

(Image from author’s site)

Emery Lee writes, draws, and makes YouTube videos about middle grade and YA lit. Eir YA rom-com debut Meet Cute Diary releases on May 4, 2021 from HarperCollins and Quill Tree Books.

Emery currently lives in a place with palm trees and comes from a multiracial and cultural background (Black, Asian, and Latinx). E hosts Meet Cute Mondays, a series on eir YouTube channel, A Break From Realitea, where e talks with fellow kidlit/YA authors like Julian Winters and Gabriela Martins about their upcoming novels and other kidlit related topics. Eir other YouTube series is called Spill the Tea with Emery Lee. There’s one episode for now, which focuses on pitch contests. Eir’s other videos include talking about NaNoWriMo, Pitch Wars, and Latinx representation in kidlit.

(Art by the author)

Eir debut Meet Cute Diary is described as Felix Ever After meets Becky Albertalli. The story follows Noah Ramirez, a multiracial (Black, Japanese, and Puerto Rican) trans boy, who writes about real life trans romance on his blog Meet Cute Diary. But those romantic stories are fabricated, and Noah’s audience sees them as a beacon of hope. When an internet troll catches on to him, Noah has to find a way to convince his readers that the stories are true. So he takes the chance after meeting Drew. The two agree to fake-date to save Noah’s blog, but then he realizes that romance isn’t the same as the stories he writes. I’m especially excited to read this novel. More YA books with trans and nonbinary characters are coming out later this year and forward, and I know that their target audience is going to enjoy them.

Emery also does traditional and digital art, including fan art, mock book covers, and sketches. E is available for virtual panels and interviews (details here).

My review of Meet Cute Diary is coming soon!

You can read more about Black creators and their works on the Geekiary here.

Author: Bradda M.

Bradda M. currently lives in Virginia. He teaches ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) at a public school and spends his free time reading and watching movies each night with his partner. For The Geekiary, he writes about webcomics and SFF media.

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