In this episode, host Katie Bausler chats with Lucian Childs, author of Dreaming Home, a powerful collection of six linked short stories on the outing of a gay teenager by his younger sister, his father’s violent reaction and how that trauma ripples through the course of four decades. The stories, set in Texas, the San Francisco Bay Area and Florida, deftly weave issues like conversion therapy, Queer Youth homeless, combat veteran PTSD, and the AIDS pandemic. Since its summer 2023 release Dreaming Home has made the best books lists of the New York Times, The Globe and Mail, LAMBDA Literary Review and more.


Please subscribe and follow the 49 Writers Active Voice podcast on Apple, Spotify and 49writers.org. And help spread the word by liking it on podcast platforms or sharing with friends and family. This conversation was recorded at KTOO Juneau. Music by Liz Snyder and Alex Kotlarz.