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So far Vee has created 251 blog entries.

The “Acceptance” Narrative in Trans YA

By |2020-03-28T13:41:17-05:00September 30th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: , |

by Vee S. Transgender people, like most marginalized groups, have continuously had their stories taken from them. Throughout the years, they’ve been told that the feelings of their oppressors are more valid and important than their own. Their stories have been repositioned to put cisgender people in the center of them. This happens in real life-- the opinions of cisgender people on trans issues are prioritized above those of transgender people—and in fiction. In this post, I focus on the fictional aspect, and how it relates to real life. In fiction, a narrative has come forth that centers [...]

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My Big Gay Sequel

By |2020-03-28T13:41:34-05:00June 23rd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: , , , |

by Casey Lawrence This past May my first book, Out of Order, was published through Dreamspinner Press’s YA branch Harmony Ink. My first foray into queer YA has been, on the one hand, a whirlwind of excitement, and on the other, a huge let down. My book will never be a New York Times Bestseller, and I’ve made my peace with that. It will never win awards, sit on Indigo shelves, be translated into a dozen languages. This isn’t because my main character is a biracial, bisexual teenaged girl or because my writing style is still growing, still [...]

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Queer YA Scrabble: The Auction Opens! (plus an Excerpt)

By |2020-03-28T13:41:34-05:00June 10th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Fun Things|

The Queer YA Scrabble Giveaway is now over... but the auction is just starting! You can still get all of the fabulous prizes in Team Dragon's Prize Box-- plus some fabulous critique opportunities with editors and agents. All of the proceeds will go to the amazing organization Stonewall UK. The auction closes on June 14th-- start bidding now, and get your friends involved, too! We're hoping to raise a really solid amount to donate to Stonewall UK to help support the amazing work they're doing. Go here to bid, and take a look at all the amazing prizes you'll [...]

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A Special Queer YA Scrabble Giveaway

By |2020-03-28T13:41:37-05:00June 7th, 2015|Categories: Archive|

We had a great day of Queer YA Scrabble yesterday... today we're thrilled to bring you a special giveaway of a SIGNED copy of Undone by Cat Clarke! You do not need the solved anagram to enter this giveaway... this post is however one of the seven that contains a hidden letter! Find letter hidden in this post (it will be in green), and you’ll be one step closer to solving our anagram and having a chance to win a FABULOUS box of books. :) Undone by Cat Clarke (Quercus, 2013) Jem Halliday is in love with her gay [...]

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Give Your Characters an Online Presence

By |2020-03-28T13:41:38-05:00May 30th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Writers on Writing|Tags: |

by Steve Berman There was a time when you could be all alone even when surrounded by dozens, even hundreds, of people. I'm talking about high school and the time before the Internet and smart phones. Everyone feels isolated now and then, but true isolation, being ignored while the rest of the world goes about its day, is something teenagers face. Especially LGBT teens. We're the outsiders, after all. Different. Sometimes special, but very different. Where we look we see a world that was built for heterosexuals and cisgendered people. Seeing a film, watching a commercial, noticing a [...]

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Review: Hold Still by Nina LaCour

By |2020-03-28T13:41:39-05:00May 29th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: , , |

reviewed by Marie Hagen of MarietheLibrarian Hold Still by Nina Lacour Hold Still | Nina LaCour | 231 pages | Paperback | With illustrations Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic fiction Themes: Death, friendship, loss, suicide Goodreads rating: 3.99 Synopsis: Hold Still tells the story of Caitlin who recently lost her best friend Ingrid, to suicide. Ingrid and Caitlin shared everything together, and Caitlin is facing an unknown life without her best friend to laugh, cry and share her secrets with. One day Caitlin finds Ingrids journal under her bed, and through her journal, Caitlin gets to [...]

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Reasons Writers Exclude Queer Characters: Debunked!

By |2020-03-28T13:41:39-05:00May 25th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Writers on Writing|Tags: |

by Libertad Araceli Thomas As an aspiring writer, over the past year I’ve heard and read perhaps a dozen reasons why some writers are reluctant to incorporate queer narratives in their work in progresses. I mean, I get it, writing characters outside of your comfort zone isn’t always easy. What do they always tell us, write “what you know”. As unreal as it sounds a lot of people don’t know any Queer people personally and want to hold onto that excuse but in order to unlock something deeper from your writing, I think it can be a learning experience [...]

Searching the Aisles for Girls Kissing Girls

By |2020-03-28T13:41:39-05:00May 23rd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Fun Things|Tags: , |

by emily m. danforth It’s nearly summer, and for me that always means more time to read and write: long mornings spent at my desk followed by endless hammock-afternoons spent with a stack of novels and a pitcher of iced coffee kept close. But in our house, summer also means movie nights. Lots and lots of movie nights. (I tend to indulge my love of horror films in the summer—I save them up all year and binge in June, July, and August. Usually my wife will not watch these particular movies with me, which means I end up [...]

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Let’s Take Queer YA Out of the Closet

By |2020-03-28T13:41:40-05:00May 22nd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: , |

by Vee S. Authors, editors, and readers are important to the Queer YA community, but there’s another group that matters too: reviewers. We are lucky that there are so many fantastic reviewers reading, loving, and reviewing Queer YA books. But a growing number of reviewers have adopted a “code of silence” around queerness in the YA books they review.  They are well meaning, but that code of silence is putting queer YA in the closet. thingslucyreads posted this excellent video on what she calls Booktube's "code of silence." Luce says in her video that she's noticed that in reviews [...]

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Never Sellout Your Heart

By |2020-03-28T13:41:40-05:00May 21st, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: , |

by Adam Silvera When my agent and I went on submission with More Happy Than Not, I expected editors to reject the book. I wasn’t wrong. I’m not some pessimist who believed publishers would pass on my book simply because it was my book. This certainly isn’t the case for all the editors, but a couple of them—their names and houses to remain unnamed—didn’t think the character’s homosexuality was really the best move for this book and essentially wanted me to rewire my narrator’s heart. More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (SoHo Teen, June 2015) [...]

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