Will Kostakis’ new YA novel is the featured book for this month’s YA Book Club, and we’re delighted that Will himself is joining us on the night. Come along to Readings St Kilda on Wednesday 20 April and make sure to bring your very best questions.

Here, children’s bookseller Isobelle Moore asks Will a few questions about The Sidekicks.

The Sidekicks is set in a Catholic school, with the school administration taking a very conservative stance on LGBTQIA+ lives. Was this inspired by your own experiences in high school?

My high school experience was mostly ‘stay quiet and wait to grow out of it’. There wasn’t a top-down approach from the school administration to manage LGBTQIA+ lives. It’s as simple as – I knew my peers used ‘gay’ as another word for ‘crap’. The Catholic school in The Sidekicks wasn’t a reflection of my own school, but rather, it was inspired by what I’ve seen in schools since graduating – the teachers who are fearful to disclose the gender of their partners to anyone they work with, the schools that hand out marriage equality pamphlets like the kind we saw last year, but mostly, the schools that ask ‘openly’ gay speakers, or writers who have written about gay characters, to erase any gay themes from their talks.

After The First Third’s release, I was invited to speak to a group of Year 10 girls that had studied the text. Before the Q&A, I was quickly asked not to raise the gay character Lucas in discussions, even though he appears in 80% of the narrative, and the girls had read and analysed the text. I was blindsided, and I awkwardly agreed not to raise him. I felt ashamed, like I had let my younger self down. But thankfully, when I asked the girls who their favourite character was, they named Lucas. When I asked which scene they liked best, they said they loved the scene where he opened up about losing his virginity. I was curious as to why – one girl said it made her understand her gay friend better.

The Sidekicks is not a political book. This is Ryan’s story. I wanted to explore the barriers to coming out that still exist – even if they have supportive friends and supportive family, even when the world celebrates coming out videos on YouTube, why do some people hesitate? The culture of a school that erases and hides queerness is one of those barriers for Ryan.

A regularly cited point of contention among parents is that queer content in YA is inappropriate for younger teenagers. As a YA author, what do you say to these parents?

If a boy can kiss a girl, and the book is okay for readers, why is a boy kissing a boy in a similar way inappropriate for those same readers? There’s nothing else that needs to be said.

What role do you think LGBTQIA books play in inspiring teen readers?

I remember the first time queerness was raised in an English class. I don’t remember many Year 9 classes, but I remember that. We read Shakespeare’s A Woman’s Face. Shakespeare had written a sonnet about a man. This was a revelation for a teenage me who thought being gay would somehow limit his creative career. Sure, it may have been commissioned by another man, Shakespeare may not have believed in the words he wrote, but he could have. And the world opened up to me a little. If Shakespeare could have been same-sex attracted and become Shakespeare, perhaps I could be too…

LGBTQIA+ representations show us we’re real, that our experiences have value, and that we have futures. There appears to be a fear that exposing teens to LGBTQIA+ texts and ideas will convert them, I mean, when all they do is reflect LGBTQIA+ lives to LGBTQIA+ people, and allow those who don’t identify as such to understand them better.

What LGBTQIA+ books do you recommend for readers?

• Two Weeks With The Queen by Morris Gleitzman: This was my earliest gay text, I probably read it before I questioned my own sexual identity. My big qualm was Queen Elizabeth wasn’t in it, despite the title. I didn’t even get the Queen pun. Proof that if you’re not ready for it, you’ll just read past it.

• Pink by Lili Wilkinson: This novel explores teen identity and sexuality with an Australian voice.

• Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli: I arrived shamefully late to this one, but I loved it.

And as a teenager, what books inspired you?

I always come back to The Whole Business With Kiffo and the Pitbull by Barry Jonsberg. I know it isn’t a gay book, but it was the first Australian YA novel I read. The voice was arresting. Calma spoke my language, and she spoke it directly to me.

Personally,