'Idlewild' helped author James Frankie Thomas discover his own transgender identity

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We revisit host Deepa Fernandes’s conversation with author James Frankie Thomas about his novel “Idlewild.” It centers around the friendship of two teens at a Quaker high school in the early 2000s.

Workshopping the book at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop revealed to Thomas the transgender nature of one of his characters as well as himself. “Idlewild” comes out in paperback on Sept. 10.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.