Guest Blogs – Page 9

M.E. Kerr and Deliver Us from Evie

By Helen|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 12th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Book Review, Guest Blogs|Tags: classics, Queer Girls|

by Sara Zarr I knew about M.E. Kerr long before I read her. When I was growing up in the seventies and making regular visits to our neighborhood library, there was a beat-up paperback on the spinning rack of “teen fiction” that caught my eye: Dinky Hockey Shoots Smack by M.E. Kerr (HarperCollins Publishers, 1989) DINKY HOCKER SHOOTS SMACK! How could I not notice a title like that? The cover image had the title spray-painted across a brick wall like graffiti. At age nine or ten I made a mental note to myself to read that [...]

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How To Make Your Library a Safe Place for Queer Teens

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 11th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Advocacy, Allies, Library|

by Angie Manfredi Last year, I chose Alex London’s YA dystopian thriller Proxy as my teen book club’s selection. This meant my library would purchase multiple copies, many teens would read it, and then we would Skype with Alex to talk about it. Why did I choose Proxy? Well, partially because it’s superb YA: a well-written, engaging, fast-paced read that asks interesting questions about debt and income inequality. But I also partially chose it because it has a gay, biracial lead character and the author is a gay man. I wanted my teen readers to experience a swashbuckling [...]

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Tanuja Desai Hidier’s “Dimple Lala/ GayYA Bday Party Playlist”

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:49-05:00May 7th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Fun Things, Guest Blogs|Tags: Intersectionality, Minor Queer Characters, Other Media, PoC, Queer Girls, Realistic, South Asian|

4 original songs from Tanuja’s ‘booktrack’ albums When We Were Twins (songs based on her first novel, Born Confused) & Bombay Spleen (songs based on her new novel, sequel Bombay Blues) to celebrate GayYA’s 4th birthday! And for now, and always, I knew: Love had to be allowed in wherever, whenever, and in whatever form it took. We didn’t have to shrink to fit it, box it to casket. And even then, when we found it dying, could opt for ashing down rather than burial, scatter it to all five corners of the earth and ether. Whatever could [...]

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Booktube Needs You!

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:49-05:00May 5th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: Book Community|

by Danika Leigh Ellis If you're a bookish person, and especially if you're a fan of YA, you should be exploring the wonderful world of Booktube by now. Booktube is the bookish community of Youtube. Hundreds of people make videos about books, from reviews to bookish tags to provocative discussion topics. It's similar to the book blogosphere, but feels more interconnected. Being able to see people's faces as they discuss book they're passionate about makes it a much more personal interaction, and you quickly begin to feel like you really know the people you follow. Booktube is also [...]

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I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It but not in a Vapid Katy Perry Way

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:00-05:00May 2nd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: Bisexual, Queer Girls|

by Justina Ireland The first time I kissed a girl I was fifteen. It was at one of those awkward boy/girl house parties where everyone wants something (beer, weed, sex) but the parents are too near to properly get at it. We played spin the bottle, since this was before the Internet and that’s what we did for fun in the old days, and mine happened to land on a girl I barely knew. For a moment we hesitated, while everyone in the room collectively held their breath. Then I shrugged. “We don’t have to if you don’t [...]

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Writing an Intersex, Agender Character

By Katie|2020-03-28T13:42:03-05:00March 23rd, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Guest Blogs|Tags: agender, Intersectionality, Intersex, LGBTQIA, Speculative|

“...before you go on, yes, most likely whatever you’re about to ask is very rude. If you’re wondering about what’s under my clothing, it’s very rude. If you’re wondering about my genetics, my hormones, my biology… there’s a pretty damn short list of people for whom any of that is actually relevant. Having said that, for the sake of simplifying things: you and I would not be able to have children together, for example, unless we were to adopt or employ some extremely invasive medical science...” Ellis’ face showed that ey was unperturbed, perhaps familiar with impolite questions, [...]

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Women In Love

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 24th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Bisexual, lesbian, Queer Girls, Representation, Romance|

Make sure to check out the Twinja Book Reviews Diversity Month, where they feature interviews and guest posts from all sorts of great bloggers and authors-- it's happening now! I’m catching up on Orange Is the New Black as we speak. As a long-time Netflix basher, I finally caved in and became a subscriber. Even though I'd bought the first season on DVD, I couldn't wait to finally watch season two, to see all these interesting stories about women unfold. Orange is the New Black (Netflix series created by Jenji Kohan) I saw relationships end and start. [...]

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On Queer Characters of Color

By Shelly|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 17th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Teen Voices|Tags: Black, Intersectionality, PoC, Representation|

Black Lives Matter Series: Day 3 – Previous Posts: Black Lives Matter, But Where Are We? - I Was Made To Believe There Was Something Wrong With Me – Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series by Aleah Things have grown and changed drastically in the literary world over the years, leading authors to write characters with more racial and sexual freedom. As a straight African-American young woman in support of Gay Rights, I love to see YA novels featuring intertwined sexual and racial diversity. Sadly, while the publication of LGBTQ books is constantly on the rise, those featuring teens of color are few. (When [...]

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Black Lives Matter But Where Are We?

By Shelly|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 15th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|

Black Lives Matter Series: Day 2 - Previous Posts: I Was Made To Believe There Was Something Wrong With Me – Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series by Aliya As a black girl, when I was younger I rarely saw myself. Whether it was in books, on TV, or in movies, I noticed that girls like me were always the sidekick, the supporting character, or the antagonist. I felt like they were all the same character just in a different story line, that they were two-dimensional characters that were loud but never really had much to say. Whenever I did [...]

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I Was Made to Believe There’s Something Wrong With Me: Why #BlackLivesMatter in YA Lit

By Shelly|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 14th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Black, Intersectionality, PoC, Queer Girls, Representation, Trans|

Black Lives Matter Series: Day 1 - Previous Posts: Introduction to Black Lives Matter Series by Nakiya I’ve been reading LGBTQ YA fiction for almost five years and I’ve never read a book focused on a black LGBTQ woman. When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite books was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. In middle school two of my favorite series were The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin and Animorphs by K. A. Applegate, both of which had a central black female character. I grew up in a town that [...]

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