By Lucille Stutesman | FāVS News Reporter
Award-winning journalist and author Nico Lang will visit Moscow and Pullman this week as part of a national book tour for “American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era.”
Lang, a nonbinary writer and founder of Queer News Daily, has reported extensively on transgender issues and worked closely with families of transgender youth across the United States. The book, released in fall 2024, profiles eight transgender and nonbinary teenagers, highlighting their daily lives, challenges and hopes amid a national climate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
The tour includes stops at churches, faith-based settings, bookstores, libraries and community centers nationwide. Lang will visit St. John’s Cathedral in Spokane on Monday (Sept. 29) before heading to the Palouse.
The first Palouse event will be held Tuesday (Sept. 30) at Unitarian Universalist Church in Moscow starting at 6:30 p.m. Washington State University student Olivia Pavek, an LGBTQ+ mentor, will join Lang to host a discussion about the book. Pavek is on the UU Church Social Justice Committee and hosted a trans inclusion workshop over the summer.
“It’s not an opportunity that I was expecting to get,” she said. “I’m very happy to get to be the local representative, kind of taking what they have done nationally and kind of interpreting it for our area.”
Local groups will table at the event, including Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays and Dragonfly Counseling. The event is sponsored by Inland Oasis, a Palouse-area activist group.
Lang will appear the next day (Oct. 1) at the LGBTQ Center in the Compton Union Building on the WSU campus. That event starts at 6 p.m.
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