Why ‘Free Lunch’ Matters: LISTEN
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Out author Rex Ogle’s masterful memoir of growing up poor and gay, Free Lunch, came out a year ago and is as relevant as ever.
Ogle wrote on social media: “Today is my first novel’s book birthday. Free Lunch is about my middle school journey struggling with poverty and domestic violence. While my story takes place almoat 30 years ago, it’s still relevant today. Over 30 million children are currently on the Free & Reduced Lunch Program, and worse, 1 in 6 children experiences violence at home. I truly hope my story helps open the conversation so we can eliminate things that can hurt our next generation.”
Ogles recently spoke to Zibby Owens on her podcast, which you can listen to below.
“A mighty portrait of poverty amid cruelty and optimism.”—Kirkus(starred review)
Publisher Norton Press says, “Free Lunch is the story of Rex Ogle’s first semester in sixth grade. Rex and his baby brother often went hungry, wore secondhand clothes, and were short of school supplies, and Rex was on his school’s free lunch program. Grounded in the immediacy of physical hunger and the humiliation of having to announce it every day in the school lunch line, Rex’s is a compelling story of a more profound hunger—that of a child for his parents’ love and care. Compulsively readable, beautifully crafted, and authentically told with the voice and point of view of a 6th-grade kid, Free Lunch is a remarkable debut by a gifted storyteller.”
Rex Ogle was born and raised mostly in Texas. He says, “I was one of the poorest kids at a school for the children of the wealthy. I was on the subsidized lunch program, and mocked endlessly. This is my middle school experience, but I think it’s an important story to tell.”
A former children’s book editor in New York City, Rex and his partner now enjoy much nicer weather in the Los Angeles area.
Photo: Author Ogles reading at Book Soup.
