Mel won the Kipper Clothiers campership this time around, and you’ll know why when you see her amazing style. A third-time camper and longtime reader, she talks about Toronto, working at a hotel, her Filipino family, and (duh) A-Camp.

“I think the thing that’s hot about transmasc people is there’s no encouragement to be transmasc. In order to have our identity, we have to be as in touch with our real selves as possible.”

“To me, showbiz means the spotlight is on you. And not only is the spotlight on you, but you’re feeling the light. You’re feeling the light and then you’re giving the light.”

“I’m still not sure how any of it happens.”

“We never learned to write books, we only learn how to write the book that we’re writing.”

Writer Blair Braverman talks preppers, survival, queer love, and her gripping new novel, Small Game.

“When one is trying to write about sex, if you’re doing it right, something happens in the prose that is unpredictable and kind of wild.”

“I really want it to feel like you fell down a rabbit hole into this world, because that’s how I felt. That was the reality of the experience for me.”

Author Jeanna Kadlec talks about her new memoir Heretic, the loss of leaving a life, gay Bible stories, and more.

“Ain’t nobody trying to slow down! Life is fun. Keep doing it.”

Poet and musician Sadie Dupuis talks new collection Cry Perfume, scent and memory, and using autocorrect as a co-writer.

“I would imagine a lot of the same things draw to advice columns that draw everyone, which is just that same impulse to run outside if somebody says there’s a fight.”

The author discusses her new memoir “The Red Zone,” which chronicles her experiences with premenstrual dysphoric disorder and provides a kaleidoscopic view of how people feel about their periods.

Say hi to Brooklyn – she’s a campership winner Texan trans* girl who spoke openly and honestly about her unsupportive family, being homeless and the importance of having a loving community to fall back on.

“It feels really good and kind of dreamlike that this was my debut role.”

“The thing that gets me about a lot of people’s just criticisms of Fifty Shades of Grey is, as a romance novel, as a ravishment novel, it’s a lot closer to real SM, real sexy pulp, than most.”

DonnaSue Johnson describes herself as a “big, black, beautiful, Bohemian, bougie, Buddhist butch.”

“When I was diagnosed, and realizing how it affected me outside of the way that I eat, it’s these processes throughout my day or the way that my personality functions. It isn’t that disruptive, but having the framework helped. Finding kink, having the words for it, helped contextualize the sex that I like to have, the friendships that I like to have, the dynamics that I like to have and the relationships in general.”

Autostraddle Managing Editor Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya’s debut book — Helen House, a queer horror novelette — comes out October 18.

“I want to read stories about dykes not acting right. I want to read about people being messy. So I want to write about that too.”