October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

Author(s): Leslea Newman

Young Adult

A masterful poetic exploration of the impact of Matthew Shepard's murder on the world. On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Leslea Newman, discussing her book "Heather Has Two Mommies." Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew's murder. "October Mourning, "a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard's life.


Product Information

Written with love, anger, regret, and other profound emotions, this is a truly important book that deserves the widest readership, not only among independent readers but among students in a classroom setting, as well. Most importantly, the book will introduce Matthew Shepard to a generation too young to remember the tragic circumstances of hisdeath.
--Booklist (starred review)

Leslea Newman is the author of more than sixty books for children and adults, including the groundbreaking children's classic "Heather Has Two Mommies." A former poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, she has received poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Foundation. She lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

General Fields

  • : 9780763658076
  • : Candlewick Press
  • : Candlewick Press
  • : 0.272
  • : July 2012
  • : 229mm X 137mm X 15mm
  • : United States
  • : December 2012
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : 111
  • : 811.540
  • : Hardback
  • : Leslea Newman