Made in Italy: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

 Aiden Thomas’ Cemetery Boys, regardless of edition or language, is a powerfully evocative book, perfectly snaring its readers amongst a carefully woven web of teenage love, witty humor, and the intense need to be seen that all queer youth have at one point felt. 

A coming of age story at its heart, the book—which keeps its English title in its Italian edition—follows teenage Yadriel, a trans boy determined to prove himself to his Latinx community, all of whom are gifted with the ability to see spirits. When his cousin suddenly dies, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is not his cousin. It's Julian Diaz, the resident bad boy of his high school, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death.

Aiden Thomas is a New York Times Bestselling author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, Oregon. As a queer, trans Latinx, Aiden advocates strongly for diverse representation in all media. 

The Italian edition was translated by Martina Del Romano (she/they), one of Mondadori’s freelance translators. Del Romano has also translated Alice Oseman’s Radio Silence and Loveless. Alongside their work with novels, Del Romano is also a freelance comic translator. 

Cemetery Boys was originally published in September 2020 by Swoon Reads, an imprint of Fierce Reads (under Macmillan), with the Italian edition being released by Oscar fanstatica (Mondadori) in October 2021. 

One of the interesting things Mondadori’s Oscar Vault (which Oscar fantastica is under) does with its queer books is involve relevant queer flags. The back cover of Cemetary Boys features the trans flag, along with a a series of hashtags that give a sneak-peak into the tropes a reader can expect to find. For this edition, Oscar Vault included the hashtags “fantasy,” “hate at first sight,” “disaster gays,” “opposite attract,” and “own voices.” 

Thomas’ next book, The Sunbearer Trials, is the first in a duology and is forthcoming September 2022 under Feiwel & Friends, another Macmillan imprint. Del Romano’s next work is the Italian translation of and Kacen Callender’s Felix Ever After, forthcoming May 17th 2022 under Oscar fantastica.