Today we’d like to introduce you to Bil Wright.
Hi Bil, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a novelist, playwright and director. The common denominator is storytelling. I was one of those kids who hid stories I was writing when I was supposed to be doing algebra homework. But I didn’t understand the actual business of publishing until I was a teen. (There are times I still don’t understand the actual business of publishing!) I was first published as a poet and short-story writer.
At the same time, I was writing plays and performing. My first story to be published in a major collection was in the anthology Men on Men 3 which has become a gay literary classic short story collection. I subsequently published four Young Adult novels, awarded the American Library Association Stonewall Award, a GLAAD nomination for my musical, “This One Girl’s Story,” a LAMBDA Literary Award, and others. I’m glad that kid writing stories instead of doing Algebra kept writing! Now what I worry about is my name being spelled correctly with one L instead of two.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
What comes to mind immediately is that my last novel, Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy, which won an American Library Association Stonewall Award is on a list of 850 books to be banned in the public school system in Texas, proposed by Texas lawmaker Matt Krause. A struggle along the way? More like a roadblock by a tank that threatens to stop the freedom of speech by writers throughout the country.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I write about the experience of BIPOC people living in America. Some of them, like the one Rep. Krause is attempting to ban, Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy have LGBTQ characters as protagonists. As a writer of color who is also a gay man, these are the subjects most important to me at this time. Also, as I age (I’m over sixty), my writing, particularly my playwriting has focused on older people.
I have a new play, The Music Sounds Different to Me Now that will be presented as part of the La Jolla Playhouse WOW Festival on April 23 and 24th. I’m so thrilled to be able to say my cast ages from late fifties to seventy-five. It’s about seven people who have been performers for thirty, forty, fifty years — actors, singers, dancers. It’s been life-changing, truly. The cast is so brilliant, funny, poignant, they inspire me and confirm how important it is to recognize seniors as vibrant artists and people.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
For me as an artist, I encourage other artists, old or young to keep creating in whatever way your heart and soul lead you. Although being smart and clever have their own importance, the heart and soul are key.
Contact Info:
- Email: bilwright11@gmail.com
