Ask the Author: David Kingston Yeh
Answered Questions (4)
David Kingston Yeh
Hi Shen, try ordering though your local book retailer - or try by contacting my publisher directly at: https://www.guernicaeditions.com/contact. Good luck! Please let me know how it goes :) DKY
David Kingston Yeh
Right now, I'm working on editing the manuscript for the third final instalment in my Boy at the Edge series that began with A Boy at the Edge of the World (2018) and Tales From the Bottom of My Sole (2020), about boyfriends Daniel & David and their eccentric family and friends. This third novel, The B-Side of Daniel Garneau, is scheduled for release in the fall 2023. These are characters that surprise me at every turn, often acting and speaking contrary to my best-laid-plans and expectations. Yet I've grown to love them dearly. I hope you do too. - DKY
David Kingston Yeh
My first novel, A Boy at the Edge of the World (2018) introduces our main character Daniel Garneau who moves to Toronto with his best friend Karen to attend university. In the big city, he navigates a series of misadventures in dating and relationships, before meeting his boyfriend David Gallucci. Tales From the Bottom of My Sole (2020) and The B-Side of Daniel Garneau (2023), complete a three-book series following Daniel's tragicomic explorations of queer desire, intimacy, sex and love – the Boy at the Edge Trilogy.
My writing is inspired in part by my own life experiences moving to Toronto, and my work as an LGBTQ+ counsellor. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with hundreds of young queer and trans men, from all walks of life – sharing stories of awkwardness and confusion, joy and discovery. At the heart of all these experiences is the search for family and belonging.
Toronto itself plays a central role in this narrative, offering spaces and opportunities unique to this city. Nowhere else can you find such a diversity of people, cultures and communities. Toronto’s ramshackle neighbourhoods, dive bars and hipster cafes, theatres and clubs form a backdrop that is both quintessentially Canadian and universal.
In media and culture, too often the camera pans away from moments of gay intimacy. It was important for me to offer a literary realism that stayed the course - one that was affirming, honest and revelatory. By also keeping to a minimalist, documentary language, I hoped to actively engage readers in creating the story, one enlivened by their own personal, subjective meaning.
In structuring these novels, I observed how people share their lives through Facebook and Instagram. What if I were to translate this form of story-telling into narrative prose? So Daniel’s adventures are recounted in the first person, and begin with his statement: “I could remember that moment as easily as turning a page in a photo album..."
I’ve called Daniel’s story a “confabulated memoir.” Of course, the autobiographical works of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs were also influences. But what was most important to me was to capture the adventure, levity and wonder of young adulthood. (There is enough gay-themed literature that is grim, sardonic or tragic.) I hope you may love Daniel's story as much as I do, and join him on his strange and beautiful self-discovery... at the edge of the world. ~DKY
My writing is inspired in part by my own life experiences moving to Toronto, and my work as an LGBTQ+ counsellor. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of speaking with hundreds of young queer and trans men, from all walks of life – sharing stories of awkwardness and confusion, joy and discovery. At the heart of all these experiences is the search for family and belonging.
Toronto itself plays a central role in this narrative, offering spaces and opportunities unique to this city. Nowhere else can you find such a diversity of people, cultures and communities. Toronto’s ramshackle neighbourhoods, dive bars and hipster cafes, theatres and clubs form a backdrop that is both quintessentially Canadian and universal.
In media and culture, too often the camera pans away from moments of gay intimacy. It was important for me to offer a literary realism that stayed the course - one that was affirming, honest and revelatory. By also keeping to a minimalist, documentary language, I hoped to actively engage readers in creating the story, one enlivened by their own personal, subjective meaning.
In structuring these novels, I observed how people share their lives through Facebook and Instagram. What if I were to translate this form of story-telling into narrative prose? So Daniel’s adventures are recounted in the first person, and begin with his statement: “I could remember that moment as easily as turning a page in a photo album..."
I’ve called Daniel’s story a “confabulated memoir.” Of course, the autobiographical works of David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs were also influences. But what was most important to me was to capture the adventure, levity and wonder of young adulthood. (There is enough gay-themed literature that is grim, sardonic or tragic.) I hope you may love Daniel's story as much as I do, and join him on his strange and beautiful self-discovery... at the edge of the world. ~DKY
David Kingston Yeh
Write what you would want to read. Dig deep into the emotional core of a scene; If you start to feel vulnerable, embarrassed or scared, then you've struck gold-- keep on going! Remember to breathe. Write as if you were the last person on earth.
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