Published in 2024, Keepers of the Stones and Stars by Michael Barakiva is a fantasy YA novel about a group of five teens chosen by magical gems to save the world.
With this third novel, and in particular with the character of Arno, Barakiva has become a prolific writer of Queer Armenian characters and themes in YA fiction, having previously published One Many Guy and Hold My Hand.
Barakiva is a writer, director, and producer and current Artistic Director of the Cleveland Playhouse (as of this writing). He was the founding Artistic Director of The Upstart Creatures, a not-for-profit theatre company based in New York City. His novel One Man Guy was named to the Rainbow List, Equality Family Council Reading List.
Reed is leading his best life: he’s just kissed the boy of his dreams, his band is finally taking off, and he’s a shoo-in to getting elected as next year’s Student Council president. But he’s ready to give it all up when his suspiciously aristocratic guidance counselor tells him he has been chosen to go on the adventure of a lifetime.From the book description
An interview with Linda Cheng on Fierce Reads
Keepers of the Stones and Stars is as ecstatic as first love and as urgent as its own speeding comet. It revels in the joy of giving voice and spirit to the queer voices and spirits we rarely read in YA Fiction. And Barakiva remains the soulful vanguard of Queer Armenian youth. Here are beauties which pierce the heart like cold sapphire and burn bright like rubies.
J.P. Der Boghossian, founder of the Queer Armenian Library and host of the podcasts This Queer Book Saved My Life and The Gaily Show.
If available, please consider buying a copy at Abril Books. This book may also be available for purchase through the Queer Armenian Library’s shop at Bookshop.org. If you purchase a copy through Bookshop.org we will receive a commission.
Otherwise, please use Indiebound’s bookstore finder to find a copy at your closest independent bookstore.
ISBN: 978-0-374314408. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
