WPS Author Interview Day 7: Paul Coccia

WPS Author Interview Day 7: Paul Coccia

Welcome to day 7 of the Wonderland Pride Spotlight author interviews! Today I am interviewing Paul Coccia. To see all of the spotlight posts created by my lovely community, head over to the hashtag #wonderlandpridespotlight over on Instagram! 

Paul's Books

• Leon Levels Up
• Recommended Reading (I can personally attest that this one is lovely)
• On the Line
• The Player
• Cub
• Here & Now Volume 1 (part of this anthology)
• Here & Now Volume 2 (part of this anthology)
• The Annethology (part of this anthology)

The Interview

1. Are you LGBTQ+? If so, how?

"I’m gay, although use it interchangeably with queer. I’m also a bear."

2. What books of yours have LGBTQ+ representation, and what rep do they have?

"All my books have queer rep in them. I include a broad spectrum of queerness too, so some characters are gay, others bi or pan, lesbian, questioning, curious or sexually-fluid, and others are still simply growing up and figuring themselves out and haven’t worked out their specific labels. I tend to include body-positivity in my books, so rep the bear/chub community, and I love to include drag performers, as well as characters who would fall into the demi and sapiosexual spectrums.

My most recent, Recommended Reading (YA) has gay, pan, lesbian, chub, and drag queen characters included in it."

3. Why do you think LGBTQ+ rep in books is important?

"LGBTQ+ rep opens up discussions that benefit everyone. It destigmatizes sex, sexuality, and desire, things we all experience, as well as helping people simply be who they are, a hard thing to do. Representation also creates a document that validates and legitimizes not only our existence, but our history."

4. What got you into writing?

"I always loved stories. Usually, my mom would read to me. My dad, who is not a reader, would read me comic books when I was quite young. I saw them and knew I wanted to make them. I am not skilled enough to illustrate, but I can write a story, and maybe one day I will try to write a graphic novel because I still love comic books."

5. Who is a queer figure you look up to?

"My brother, who is a drag queen. I think he’s incredibly brave. What he does is subversive and transformative. I’m so proud of him and find his courage and artistic expression inspiring.

Outside of my immediate family, I love Divine for her irreverence and boldness, plus the John Waters’ movies and awesome music catalogue. She was an unlikely icon, but all the things that shouldn’t have worked came together perfectly."