David Levithan (born September 7, 1972) is an American young adult fiction author and editor. He has written numerous works featuring strong male gay characters, most notably Boy Meets Boy and Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List. Six of Levithan's books have won or been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making him the most celebrated author in the category.
Early life and career
Levithan was born and raised in the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey, to a family of Jewish background, graduating in 1990 from Millburn High School. At nineteen, Levithan received an internship at Scholastic Corporation where he began working on The Baby-sitters Club series. Levithan still works for Scholastic as an editorial director. Levithan is also the founding editor of PUSH, a young-adult imprint of Scholastic Press focusing on new voices and new authors. PUSH publishes edgier material for young adults and is where Patricia McCormick got her start with 2002's Cut.
In an interview with Barnes & Noble, Levithan said that he learned how to write books that were both funny and touching from Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. He continues to work as both a writer and editor saying, "I love editing just as much, if not more than writing".
Three of Levithan's novels have been made into films. His first collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, was published in 2006 and adapted for the big screen in 2008. Levithan's 2012 novel of the same name was adapted into Every Day, a romantic fantasy drama, released in 2018. His second collaboration with Rachel Cohn, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, was published in 2007 and adapted into a film of the same name in 2015.
Levithan has been a resident of Hoboken, New Jersey.
In 2016, Levithan won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for The Realm of Possibility, Boy Meets Boy, Love Is the Higher Law, How They Met and Other Stories, Wide Awake, and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
Works
Novels
The Lover's Dictionary (2011)
Young adult novels
Disaster Zone series: In the Eye of the Tornado (1998) In the Heart of the Quake (1998)
Likely Story series (with David Ozanich and Chris Van Etten; as David Van Etten): Likely Story (2008) All That Glitters (2008) Red Carpet Riot (2009)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson series: Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010), with John Green Hold Me Closer: The Tiny Cooper Story (2015)
Dash & Lily series, with Rachel Cohn: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares (2010) The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily (2016) Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily (2020)
Every Day series: Every Day (2012) Another Day (2015) Someday (2018)
Stand-alones: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) The Mummy (1999), with Stephen Sommers Survivor (2000), with David Benjamin, The Sixth Sense: Secrets from Beyond series #1 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) Boy Meets Boy (2003) The Perfect Score (2004) The Realm of Possibility (2004) Are We There Yet? (2005) Marly's Ghost (2005), illustrated by Brian Selznick Wide Awake (2006) Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006), with Rachel Cohn Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (2007), with Rachel Cohn Love is the Higher Law (2009) Every You, Every Me (2011) Two Boys Kissing (2013) Invisibility (2013), with Andrea Cremer You Know Me Well (2016), with Nina LaCour Dear Diary (2017) Sam & Ilsa's Last Hurrah (2018), with Rachel Cohn The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. (as Told to His Brother) (2021) Take Me With You When You Go (2021) with Jennifer Niven. Answers in the Pages (2022)