Rebecca Bendheim is an author and middle school teacher. She holds her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and types poems across the country with the Typewriter Rodeo poetry troupe. She lives in Austin with her partner, an orange cat, and a chorgi (chihuahua-corgi) puppy. Rebecca has bungee jumped, skydived, and swam with sharks, but the bravest thing she’s ever done is put all her deepest and gayest emotions into books. Rebecca can be found on social media @RebeccaBendheim.

I had the opportunity to interview Rebecca, which you can read below.

First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself?

Thank you! Excited to be here. I’m Rebecca Bendheim. I write queer books, mostly for kids and teens. I also teach middle school English and type poems on vintage typewriters with a poetry troupe called Typewriter Rodeo. 

What can you tell us about your work, When You’re Brave Enough. What was the inspiration for this?

When You’re Brave Enough is about an introspective 13-year-old named Lacey who’s moving from Texas to Rhode Island and, for the first time, will get to define herself away from her over-eager, worm-obsessed lifelong best friend, Grace. At first, she’s killing it; she finds a rabbi to help her prep for her bat mitzvah, gets a lead role in her new school’s musical, and makes new “cool” friends. But then she learns about her school’s longstanding student-led tradition: the co-leads always kiss for real in the final performance. She has two boy co-leads, and suddenly, she’s under a ton of pressure to choose. But maybe she’d rather kiss her girl co-lead. And maybe her feelings for Grace are more complicated than she thought…

Growing up without many queer role models, I didn’t want to admit to myself, let alone anyone else, that I was a lesbian. Having a crush on my best friend was a nightmare, especially as a teenager. I wanted to write a book where this happens, but instead of ending in disaster as my teenage crushes did, it’s this beautiful, life-affirming thing. 

As a writer, what drew you to the art of storytelling, especially middle grade?

I’ve always loved telling stories, from writing plays that I forced my siblings to act in to a short stint trying to be a songwriter in LA. When I wrote my first middle grade novel, it felt like home. I love getting to spend so much time with my characters at this pivotal time in their lives and building an entire world around them specifically engineered to make them struggle and help them grow into themselves.

Queer middle grade is an extra special genre, because studies show many people realize they’re queer in early adolescence, so I get to tell the story of waking up to this new, sometimes scary, sometimes exciting reality and create representation for readers who need it like I did.

How would you describe your creative process?

It’s different every time! For When You’re Brave Enough, I first came up with a scene of two sisters, one who was introducing a new boyfriend to the family for what felt like the millionth time, and her younger sister, who wanted romance too, but felt totally confused by it all. I wrote the whole thing as a novel in verse before rewriting it in prose.

For my next book, How to Take a Risk, I got this picture in my mind of a young girl at the top of a cliff over the ocean, not scared of jumping, but afraid of some emotional truth. I had to figure out who she was, how she got there, and what she was so afraid of. 

I usually start with a situation or “what if?” that intrigues me and spend a lot of time with the characters to figure out what they want and need and how they’re going to change.

What are some of your favorite elements of writing? What do you consider some of the most frustrating and/or challenging? 

I love when a book idea first comes to me, and I find myself thinking about it nonstop, waking up in the middle of the night to jot down a plot point, and explaining the story to my friends as if it were a weird dream. The second, third, and fourth drafts are also fun, because I know the characters well, but I get to add new layers and twists. I struggle with first drafts. Mine are very messy. I’ve forgotten an entire sibling halfway through before. But you can’t revise a blank page.

As an author who or what would you say are some of your greatest creative influences and/or sources of inspiration in general?

My biggest inspiration is Jandy Nelson; the way she evokes emotion and weaves plotlines together amazes me. The middle grade authors I most admire are Christopher Paul Curtis and Rebecca Stead. Their characters feel like real people to me, people I care about deeply. I also get inspiration from my students and the unpredictable, heartwarming, and hilarious things they do and say.

Aside from your work, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?

I want readers to know that I’m a member of Authors Against Book Bans and feel passionately that kids in all states, including Texas, where I live, should have access to books that represent all backgrounds and identities. 

What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet but that you wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?

Because When You’re Brave Enough is a theater-themed book, I want someone to ask me what musicals are mentioned. So, here they are: Bye Bye Birdie, Wicked, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Come From Away, Shrek the Musical, Frozen, Cinderella, Rent, Hamilton, Aladdin, The Wizard of Oz, Dear Evan Hansen, Annie, Holes, The Lion King, Legally Blonde, and Seussical (some are mentioned very briefly, but I love them all!)

What advice might you have to give for aspiring writers out there?

Journal! Write messy sentences just for yourself. I have journals going back to when I was six, and they’re my most prized possessions. They’ve helped me develop my writer’s voice, and I am constantly reading back to see how I felt in certain moments in my life.

Are there any other projects you are working on and at liberty to speak about?

I’m currently working on my second queer middle grade novel, How to Take a Risk, which will be out in 2027. It’s about a 12-year-old adrenaline junkie, Reagan, who does a list of dares each summer with her best friend, Zander, around their coastal Maine town. But when Zander asks her to be his girlfriend and her mom gets pregnant after a past miscarriage, Reagan starts taking increasingly scary physical risks to avoid dealing with the emotions bubbling up inside. 

Finally, what books/authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT? 

For fans of When You’re Brave Enough, I recommend these recent books:

• The Queen Bees of Tybee County by Kyle Casey Chu: An 8th grade basketball star tries drag for the first time while staying with his grandma for the summer.
• Crushing It by Erin Becker: Two soccer players and ex best friends realize they have feelings for each other.
• Spells to Mend Broken Hearts by Marissa Macy (out Fall 2026): Two girls perform magic together, which gets complicated when one wants to use it to get back together with her ex-boyfriend.

Some recent queer YA or adult books I’ve loved:

• Woodworking by Emily St. James: a trans teacher and a trans student help each other through 2016 in small-town South Dakota
• Come Home to My Heart by Riley Redgate: Popular girl Gloria and outcast Xia fall for each other when Gloria is kicked out for being a lesbian
• Cold Girls by Maxine Rae: When her best friend(/maybe more?) dies in a car crash, Rory has to deal with the fallout and the secrets she left behind. This one will make you cry! 

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Photo Header Credit Liz McGuire