Kyle Lukoff

Kyle Lukoff is a children's book author, school librarian, and former bookseller. He is most known for the Stonewall award-winning When Aidan Became a Brother and for Call Me Max, which gained attention when parents in Texas complained about the book being read in an elementary school classroom and a Utah school district canceled its book program after the book was read to third graders.

Personal life
Lukoff is a transgender man, who transitioned in 2004 while an undergraduate at Barnard College, a historically women's college. Much of his work centers on transgender children. He is Jewish.

Education
Lukoff went to Edmonds-Woodway High School then graduated from Barnard College in 2006. While at Barnard, he was a member of Columbia University's Philolexian Society. He earned his Master's degree in library science from Queens College in 2012.

Career
Lukoff was a school librarian at the Corlears School in New York City until he quit his job to write full time in 2020. His first book, A Storytelling of Ravens, was published in 2018 by House of Anansi Press and illustrated by Natalie Nelson. His second book, When Aidan Became a Brother, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita, is a story about a transgender boy awaiting a new sibling. The book was published by Lee & Low, an independent publisher known for works by unpublished authors and illustrators of color.

Lukoff's Max and Friends series was released in November 2019 with Call Me Max, illustrated by Luciano Luzano. In April 2020, he published Explosion at the Poem Factory and was illustrated by Mark Hoffman. In 2021, he published Too Bright to See, which won the Stonewall award and a Newbery Honor, and was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. He also wrote Different Kinds of Fruit

Books

 * A Storytelling of Ravens, 2018
 * When Aidan Became a Brother, 2019
 * Explosion at the Poem Factory, 2020
 * Too Bright to See, 2021
 * Different Kinds of Fruit, 2022
 * If You're a Kid Like Gavin, 2022, with Gavin Grimm
 * Awake, Asleep, 2023
 * There's No Such Thing as Vegetables, 2024
 * I'm Sorry You Got Mad, 2024
 * Just What to Do, 2024

Book Series

 * Max
 * Call Me Max, 2019
 * Max and the Talent Show, 2019
 * Max on the Farm, 2020
 * Mermaid Days
 * Mermaid Days #1: The Sunken Ship, 2022
 * Mermaid Days #2: The Sea Monster, 2022
 * Mermaid Days #3: A New Friend, 2023

Essays

 * "Taking up Space" in Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation
 * "Evaluating Transgender Picture Books; Calling for Better Ones" in School Library Journal.
 * "Second Trans on the Moon" in YA Pride.
 * "A letter to trans writers who are thinking about trying to get published."

Awards

 * 2022 Winner: Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature for Too Bright to See
 * 2022 Honor: Newbery for Too Bright to See
 * 2021 Finalist: National Book Award, Young People's Literature for Too Bright to See
 * 2020 Winner: Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature for When Aidan Became a Brother
 * 2020 Honor: Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children.