Manuel Betancourt

Manuel is a writer, editor, and critical thinker. A pop culture enthusiast and an eternal Buffy fan, he mostly writes about queer and Latinx media and culture.

He's the Film & TV editor at Remezcla, a contributing editor at Film Quarterly and a regular contributor to Electric Literature. He has a regular monthly column ("Movie-Made Gay") over at Catapult and his work has been featured in The New York Times, BuzzFeed Reader, Film Comment, Esquire, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Review of Books and Vice, among others.

He's one of the writers of Chad Sell's critically acclaimed and Eisner Award-nominated graphic novel The Cardboard Kingdom (Knopf Books for Young Readers), a New York Times Summer Pick.

He's also the author of Judy at Carnegie Hall (Bloomsbury Press, 2020), a 33 1/3 book on the 1961 Grammy award-winning double album. Pre-Order Now!

Featured Writing

For the New York Times:

A Very Special Episode, But Maybe Not So Precious

One Day at a Time and other recent sitcoms just say yes to episodes confronting drug use — and consciously try to avoid their corny trappings.

For BuzzFeed Reader:

Julia Roberts Is Done Being America's Sweetheart

The actor's performances in Homecoming, Ben is Back and other recent projects push back against the image that has defined the American actress for much of her career.

For The Atlantic:

RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Art of Self-Love

The reality show’s emphasis on the survival stories of its contestants reveals how performance can be empowering. Ru and her queens epitomize the power of self-love in a community that continues to struggle with self-acceptance.

For Electric Literature:

‘Call Me By Your Name’ Made Me Realize What the Closet Stole From Me

A personal essay on how both novel and movie are perfect expressions of unabashed gay teenage love.

Featured Projects

Judy at Carnegie Hall

The 145th volume of Bloomsbury Academic Press's 33 1/3 series focuses on Judy Garland's live recording of her 1961 Carnegie Hall concert. By looking at her song choices, her stage banter, the album's cultural impact, and her place in the gay pantheon, this book argues that Judy's palpable connection with her fans is precisely what her Capitol Records' two-disc album captured.

The Cardboard Kingdom

The Cardboard Kingdom is a graphic novel about kids, creativity, and cardboard! Created and illustrated by Chad Sell, and co-written with 9 other writers, the book follows a variety of children who all live and play in the same neighborhood — throughout the many chapters, you see each child's story unfold, overlap with other kids' adventures, and finally converge upon an epic final quest before summer's end!