None of the Above(74)

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away named New Hartford, New York, Robert Evans and Marilyn Morgan nursed the fragile writer within me. Thank you to Bridget Madsen for never doubting that I would see my words in print. At Penn, Karen Rile was an inspiration, and at Yale, Richard Selzer allowed me to believe that someday I really could mesh my writing with my medical career. A million thanks to Jacqueline Woodson, Beth Kephart, and Kristin Elizabeth Clark for alleviating my blurb anxiety, and for modeling the types of writers (and people) I want to become.

Thank you to my parents and my grandparents for instilling a passion for reading in me when I was very young. Thank you to the Gregorio and Roberts families for giving me my pen name, and for supporting my craft with food, babysitting, and a general love of literature. Thank you to Olivia and Gabriel for putting up with Mommy on days when she had to lock herself into her office, coming out only for hydration and trail mix.

And then there’s Joe: my first reader, my copyeditor, my publicist, and my best friend. Thank you for rooting for me every second of this crazy ride.

Last but most certainly not least, thank you to the intersex women of the AIS Support Group and Inter/Act Youth for embracing me so warmly as I told their story. I hope that I did it justice.

Stealing their signoff:

XOXY



ABOUT THE AUTHOR


PHOTO BY MOLLY DWYER

I. W. GREGORIO is a practicing surgeon by day, masked avenging YA writer by night. After getting her MD, she did her residency at Stanford, where she met the intersex patient who inspired None of the Above, her debut novel. She is also a founding member of the We Need Diverse Books team. A recovering ice hockey player, she lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two children. You can find her online at www.iwgregorio.com.

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