YA Pride

How to Build a Safe Space for LGBTQIA+ Teens via Books

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00November 10th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Teachers & Librarians|

I wasn't planning on posting this resource this week. And then, well, this election happened. As a queer teen, I am more scared than I have ever been in this country. And I'm white. My friends who are LGBTQIA+ and people of color... they're terrified. We need safe spaces now more than ever. I know this election has been a wake up call for many people that we need to do better, so I hope this post can help give some direction to that energy. Teachers, librarians, booksellers, I know a lot of you are scared. LGBTQIA+ content is still [...]

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Gay YA Agent Spotlight #4: Susan Graham

By Katie|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 27th, 2016|Categories: Publishing People|Tags: agent interview, agent spotlight, publishing, querying, trends|

Today on our Agent Spotlight series we have Susan Graham from Einstein Literary! Susan shares some great information in this interview and we were thrilled to have her! (And it's always fun to find agents who identify on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum and who are seeking LGBTQIA+ middle grade, hint hint, querying writers!) Hello! Thank you for participating in our Agent Spotlight series! We're excited to have you. Can you tell us how you got started agenting? This question feels a bit surreal since I just started taking on projects in the last few months after a few years [...]

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Call for Submissions: Asexuality in YA Series

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 24th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|Tags: asexual|

During the Asexuality in YA series we want to use our space on GayYA to support ace spectrum voices. Last year, we decided to host Awareness Week Series over the various LGBTQIA+ Awareness Weeks throughout the year. Though we hope to include everyone on the site at all times, we wanted to dedicate a concentrated space to people from a specific community to talk about how they’re represented in YA. The response from the community was phenomenal– we got to feature many fantastic and thought-provoking posts, and watched as the community fostered some nuanced discussions via our identity-centric [...]

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Gay YA Agent Spotlight! #3 – Brent Taylor

By Katie|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 20th, 2016|Categories: Publishing People|Tags: agent interview, agent spotlight, brent taylor, querying, upcoming trends|

Today on our Agent Spotlight series we have Brent Taylor from Triada US Literary Agency! Brent's got some serious storytelling power all of his own in this interview! 1. Hello! Thank you for participating in our Agent Spotlight series! We're excited to have you. Can you tell us how you got started agenting? Hello! Thank you for doing this wonderful series and for having me. I started interning for literary agents in 2011 and spent about three years soaking up as much information about the industry as I could. In the summer of 2014, I joined Triada US [...]

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Gay YA Agent Spotlight! #2 – Jim McCarthy

By Katie|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 13th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Publishing People|Tags: agent interview, agent spotlight, interview, jim mccarthy, querying, upcoming trends|

Welcome to our new series, Gay YA Agent Spotlight! Every Thursday, we'll be interviewing one agent about upcoming trends in LGBTQIA+ YA and MG, what they currently represent, and what they're looking for. 1. Hello! Thank you for participating in our Agent Spotlight series! We're excited to have you. Can you tell us how you got started agenting? Mine’s a bit of an unusual story. I had completed my freshman year at NYU and already blown through all the money I had saved for college (NYC is EXPENSIVE), so I needed a job stat. I sent out 40 [...]

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Gay YA Agent Spotlight! #1: Jennifer Johnson-Blalock

By Katie|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 6th, 2016|Categories: Publishing People|Tags: agent interview, agent spotlight, interview, querying, upcoming trends|

Hello, friends! Welcome to a new feature here at GayYA! Every Thursday for the next couple of months, we'll have an interview with an agent about LGBTQIA+ books they're reading, ones they rep, what they want in their inbox, and where they see LGBTQIA+ YA and MG going in the next few years. I'm THRILLED to kick off this interview series with Jennifer Johnson-Blalock with Liza Dawson Associates. Jennifer Johnson-Blalock, agent with Liza Dawson Associates 1. Hi, Jennifer! Thank you for participating in our Agent Spotlight series! We're excited to have you. Can you tell us [...]

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Call for Selection Team Members

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 4th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

Are you an avid reader of LGBTQIA+ YA? Do you have ThoughtsTM about the representation of LGBTQIA+ youth? Are you interested in helping GayYA.Org decide which LGBTQIA+ YA books to recommend, review, and promote? We are thrilled to announce that we are seeking 5 new members for our Selection Team. GayYA’s Selection Team is a group of people who help GayYA decide which books to recommend, review, and help promote. GayYA gets dozens of review requests a month. We are unable to keep up with reading all the books! That’s where you come in. We’re looking for people [...]

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Interview: Anna-Marie McLemore, author of When The Moon Was Ours

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:30-05:00October 3rd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Book Club, New Releases, Writers on Writing|Tags: Latinx, Magical Realism, PoC, Speculative, Trans|

When I (Vee) was at BEA this Summer, I had the marvelous opportunity to meet and interview Anna-Marie McLemore. We had been chatting about trans & queer YA for a few months on Twitter, so it was LOVELY to be able to meet her in person. Her book When the Moon Was Ours (which is releasing tomorrow!!), is SO amazing ya'll. AND it's our #GayYABookClub read this month, so I have the perfect excuse to make you all read it immediately. :D When the Moon Was Ours follows two characters through a story that has multicultural elements and [...]

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Interview: E.M. Kokie, author of RADICAL

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:31-05:00October 2nd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, New Releases|Tags: Coming Out, lesbian, Queer Girls, Rural|

While I was at ALA, I (Vee) had the chance to meet and interview the fantastic E.M. Kokie. E.M. Kokie is the author of Radical, Personal Effects, and has stories in the Violent Ends anthology as well as the Things I'll Never Say: Stories About Our Secret Selves anthology. I had a fabulous time interviewing her-- we chatted for about a half hour, and talked about diversity within LGBTQIA+ YA, survivalist groups, how the experience of being queer is different depending on class & location, and writing books that ask more questions than they answer. I felt like we [...]

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Bi YA Reads Bookmarks

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:34-05:00September 28th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Fun Things, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Bisexual|

Introducing.....Bi YA Reads bookmarks! What: rad double-sided bookmarks with 15 of our fave Bi YA books. Who: anyone is free to use/print these out! Why: Our main goal for these was to develop a resource that librarians and booksellers can put in their teen section. Bookmarks and other hand outs are a great way to spread knowledge of inclusive books, sometimes even more so than displays. While displays are incredibly important, teens who aren't out may not feel comfortable browsing them. Bookmarks ensure that these teens can be informed & request these books privately, or find an ebook version. In [...]

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