I had the pleasure, several years back, of interviewing writer Kirk Read on the event of the publication of his coming out/coming of age book “How I learned to snap”.

 In the book Kirk tells the story of his growing up as an openly gay high school student in Virginia.  I found it to be a wonderful, funny story.  

 Here are some remarks readers left at Amazon dot com:

“…he gives us the coming-of-age story that makes all of those coming-out stories just look silly.”  “His swish side is offset by his tough soccer playing and ability to beat up the homophobic bullies…”  “I constantly found myself breathless from laughter…”  “Ok, so i didn't grow up in the 80's, but i'm growing up now, so i can't speak as anything but a teenager.  but as a teenager…read the book.”

So why a diary now, about a book that came out in 2003?  I'll let Kirk explain after the fold (there's more)

Greetings Friends and Co-Conspirators,
 
I’m working to place my book How I Learned to Snap in 1300 high schools, LGBT college resource centers, public libraries and LGBT youth groups across the United States. I’d love your help. For less than $10 a copy, we can get the book into hundreds of schools and libraries. This sounds very Sally Struthers but stay with me.
 
My book How I Learned to Snap is a memoir about being openly gay in a small Virginia high school. The book was named an Honor Book by the American Library Association and was a finalist for the Virginia Book Award and a Lambda Literary award. Over the past five years I’ve received thousands of letters and emails from teenagers and educators saying the book was helpful to them. Since the book was released in paperback, the remaining hardcover copies have been in my publisher’s storage unit. Typically, the fate of hardcover editions is to get recycled after the paperback comes out. I am a compulsive double Aquarius, so I came up with a sunnier, more creative solution.
 
I’ve assembled a mailing list of high school gay straight alliances, LGBT youth organizations and campus queer resource centers. I’ll be working with organizations like Campus Pride, GLSEN and P-FLAG to make sure the books are well-placed. I just donated 50 copies to an LGBT student leadership summer camp and am preparing a huge mailing to queer youth drop-in groups all over the country.
 
The cost of the books, packing, shipping and storage comes to around $8 per book. I want to raise $10,000 to cover my costs. Please consider sending $10, $20,  $50, $100, whatever you can.
 
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
 
Please send donations to:
 
Snap Into Schools
c/o Kirk Read
2261 Market St. #125
San Francisco, CA 94114
 
Please make checks payable to Kirk Read. For donations $250 and above, contact me first and I can set you up to get a tax deduction if you need one.
 
For credit card donations, go to www.paypal.com http://www.paypal.com/  and send it to my account, which has the username  SnapIntoSchools@sbcglobal.net
 
If you know of a town or place that would be a good home for a book, please send along the address and contact person. Maybe your hometown library or high school or college alma mater!
 
Please share this email widely. I appreciate it.
 
Much love,
 
Kirk Read
www.kirkread.com
kirkread@earthlink.net