Casey McQuiston

McQuiston grew up in southern Louisiana, U.S.[2]

She has a degree in journalism from Louisiana State University.[3] Prior to becoming an author, she worked in magazine publishing.[2]

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling are her favorite books of all time.[4]

McQuiston is openly bisexual and often also refers to herself as queer.[1][5] She uses both 'she' and 'they' pronouns[6] and describes herself as "very left-leaning politically."[7]

She lives in New York City, New York.[2]

Red, White & Royal Blue follows Alex, a fictionalized First Son who finds himself in a fight with Henry, an English prince, and is forced to befriend him for PR reasons, developing romantic feelings for him along the way.[8][9]

McQuiston first came up with the idea for what would become Red, White & Royal Blue while following the 2016 American presidential elections.[4] While watching a season of the HBO comedy series Veep and reading both a Hillary Clinton biography by Carl Bernstein, A WOMAN IN CHARGE: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, she found herself intrigued by the extravagant, high-profile lifestyle of the royals and wanted to write her own take on a story featuring a royal family.[4]

McQuiston describes Red, White & Royal Blue as a queer romcom and says that she writes queer fiction "for the same reason straight people write straight fiction," meaning that she draws from her own experiences.[4] For protagonist Alex's realization that he's bisexual, she was inspired by her own experience.[1] The character of the fictional American president Ellen Claremont in the novel was inspired by American politician Wendy Davis, whose filibuster McQuiston watched in 2013 and found herself moved by.[7]

In April 2019, Amazon Studios acquired the film rights to the novel at auction, with Ted Malawer attached as writer and Berlanti Studios as producer.[10][11]

Red, White & Royal Blue was published by St. Martin's Griffin in May 2019 and debuted on the New York Times Paper Trade Fiction bestseller list, at #15.[12] It was received favorably by critics, earning a starred review from Publishers Weekly,[13] Kirkus,[14] Booklist,[15] Vogue[16] and Vanity Fair[17]

Red, White & Royal Blue won the Best Debut Novel and Best Romance Novel categories in the 11th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards, making it the only novel to win in two categories in 2019.[18][19]