{"id":897,"date":"2019-11-13T19:41:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T19:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-english\/?post_type=profile&#038;p=897"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:14:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:14:03","slug":"rachel-gold","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/facultystaff\/rachel-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Raised on world mythology, fantasy novels, comic books and magic, Rachel Gold is the author of five queer and trans young adult novels. Their debut novel, <em>Being Emily<\/em>, was the first young adult novel to tell the story of a transgender girl from her perspective. Their latest novel tells the story of two teens who unravel gender identity and confront racism using their love of comic book superheroes.<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s diverse writing career includes seven years as a reporter for a regional LGBTQ newspaper and fifteen years in corporate marketing. They teach classes (that are also games) for teens at the Loft Literary Center. As a marketing strategist, they have developed brands and messaging for businesses across the U.S. and has won awards for their writing, ideas and \u201cgenius marketing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Areas of Study<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fiction writing: especially young adult and middlegrade<\/li>\n<li>LGBTQ+ Literature<\/li>\n<li>Comic book literature<\/li>\n<li>Game narratives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Spring 2026 Course<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ENGL 105-01: LGBTQ2S+ Literature in America: Identities and Differences in U.S. Literatu<\/p>\n<p><strong>Awards and Honors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Winner 2019 Moonbeam Children\u2019s Book Award silver medal in Pre-Teen Fiction \u2013 Mature Issues<\/p>\n<p>The Best Transgender Books for Kids, Em &amp; Lo, 2019<\/p>\n<p>Winner 2016 Golden Crown Literary Award in Young Adult<\/p>\n<p>Winner 2015 Golden Crown Literary Award in Young Adult<\/p>\n<p>Huffington Post: The 21 Best Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Books for Kids<\/p>\n<p>Winner 2013 Moonbeam Children\u2019s Book Award in Young Adult Fiction \u2013 Mature Issues<\/p>\n<p>Winner 2013 Golden Crown Literary Award in Dramatic \/ General Fiction<\/p>\n<p>Finalist 2013 Lambda Literary Award<\/p>\n<p><strong>Novels<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Curious Minds.<\/em>\u00a0Bella Books, 2023.<\/p>\n<p><em>Synclair.<\/em>\u00a0Bella Books, 2020.<\/p>\n<p><em>In the Silences.<\/em> Bella Books, 2019.<\/p>\n<p><em>Being Emily (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Ed).<\/em> Bella Books, 2018.<\/p>\n<p><em>Nico &amp; Tucker.<\/em> Bella Books, 2017.<\/p>\n<p><em>My Year Zero.<\/em> Bella Books, 2015.<\/p>\n<p><em>Just Girls.<\/em> Bella Books, 2014.<\/p>\n<p><em>Being Emily.<\/em> Bella Books, 2012.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Interviews and Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cKissing Kate Bornstein,\u201d in <em>Queer Voices: Poetry, Prose, and Pride<\/em>, ed. Andrea Jenkins, John Medeiros, Lisa Marie Brimmer. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRefreshing a pioneering transgender YA novel,\u201d by\u00a0Kate Tuttle,\u00a0Globe Correspondent. Boston Globe, August, 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Importance of Transgender Literature,\u201d interview by Michele Karlsberg for SF Bay Times, July 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c#SJYALit: The X-Men and the social justice of diverse brains (Or, Don\u2019t let anyone tell you you\u2019re not a hero), a guest post by Rachel Gold,\u201d School Library Journal, June 2017.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRachel Gold On Her New YA Book About A Non-Binary Teen: Nico And Tucker,\u201d by Nell Minow, Contributor, HuffPost, May 2017.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Presentations<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCreating Diverse Stories Without Tokenism\u201d and \u201cBreaking into Book Publishing for Aspiring Writers,\u201d panels at Clexacon. Las Vegas, NV, April 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSex and Gender: Past, Present, Future,\u201d St. Cloud Technical and Community College, St. Cloud, MN, April 2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet a Grip! Minding Your Mind in Teen Literature,\u201d panel at Trinity Episcopal Church. Excelsior, MN, Nov. 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrans Representation in Media\u201d panel with Kate Bornstein, Andrea Jenkins, and Quinn Villagomez. Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, Oct. 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Evolution of LGBTQ+ Young Adult Lit: From Sad-Eyed Loners to Superheroes,\u201d with Christine Jenkins, Quatrefoil Library, Minneapolis, MN, Oct. 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGender in 50 Minutes or Less,\u201d keynote presentation at the Golden Crown Literary Society annual conference, Las Vegas, NV, July 2018.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAstonishingly Beautiful: Descriptions that Reveal Character,\u201d class with Anna Villeneuve at the Golden Crown Literary Society annual conference, Washington, DC, July 2017.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Trans Stories in Science Fiction &amp; Fantasy&#8221; with Stephanie Burt, Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, Philadelphia, PA, June 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Digital Gender Frontier: Trans Experiences in Computer and Video Games,\u201d presented with Lydia Neon. Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, Philadelphia, PA, June 2013.<\/p>\n<p>BA: Macalester College<\/p>\n<p>MFA: Hamline University<\/p>","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":898,"template":"","class_list":["post-897","profile","type-profile","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2929,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/897\/revisions\/2929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/english-and-creative-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}