Eliot Schrefer

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Eliot Schrefer
Schrefer, Eliot -MBFI.jpg
Schrefer at the Miami Book Fair International, 2014
Born (1978-11-25) November 25, 1978 (age 45)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationWriter, teacher
EducationB.A. with Highest Honors in Literature
Alma mater Harvard University
Notable worksEndangered, Threatened
Notable awards
Website
www.eliotschrefer.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

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.

Contents

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. In 2024, Elliot Page's production company Page Boy Productions optioned the rights to adapting the novel. [10]

Personal life

Born in Chicago to a British mother and an American father, [3] Schrefer identifies as gay. [11]

List of works

The Ape Quartet

The Lost Rainforest

Spirit Animals

Other work

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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. Archived from the original on 10 March 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "About Me". Eliot Schrefer. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  4. ↑ "National Book Awards-2012". National Book Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  5. ↑ "2014 National Book Awards". National Book Foundation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Croke, Vicki Constantine (9 November 2012). "Adapt and Survive: Endangered by Eliot Schrefer". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Abrams, Dennis (24 February 2014). "With Latest, Eliot Schrefer Takes YA to Endangered Africa". Publishing Perspectives. Archived from the original on 2 October 2014. 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. Archived from the original on November 12, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Elliot Page Developing Sci-Fi Novel 'The Darkness Outside Us' as Feature (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . April 19, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  11. ↑ 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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