Published in 2011, Swimming to Chicago by David-Matthew Barnes is the first [*] YA novel featuring a gay Armenian-American protagonist, Alex Bainbridge.
David-Matthew Barnes (“Wren”) is an author, playwright, poet, and screenwriter. He writes in multiple genres, primarily young adult, romance, and horror. He is the author of twelve novels, five produced screenplays, three collections of poetry, and more than sixty stage plays.
To date, David-Matthew has written more than fifty stage plays that have been performed in three languages in eleven countries. His scripts and monologues are available from Blue Dasher Press, Brooklyn Publishers, Drama Notebook, Performer Stuff, Playscripts, and Smith and Kraus.
Summer started like a seduction. They saw glimpses of it in late May, peeking through the windows and dancing across every lawn in Harmonville. It snuck into their lives, flirting and tempting them with freedom from school, boredom, and homework. It was thick with promises of excitement, and hot possibilities of romance and sex.
Swimming to Chicago, David-Matthews Barnes
Class and culture clash in the Southern town of Harmonville, Georgia. A town where it seems everyone is struggling to either get out, find some way to accept their lot, or to hide. A town where your past self clings to you, always finding a way to keep one claw hooked into your skin. A town where Alex, his boyfriend Robby, and his best friend Jillian, understand that to get out will take all three of them working together.
Barnes is not Armenian, but he does his due diligence. He works in dialogue in Hayeren (Armenian). Each section opens with the month it takes place in, with the Armenian translation next to it (e.g., June/Hunis; July/Hulis). And he captures some of the realities of what it means to live in the diaspora.
But above all else, Swimming to Chicago is a series of love stories. For a young Queer/LGBT Armenian that is reason enough to dive in.
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: 978-1-60282-572-7. Published by Bold Strokes Books.
