YA Pride

The New Year for GayYA!

By Vee|2016-05-24T14:50:35-05:00January 10th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

The new year for GayYA is looking pretty amazing! Thank you to everyone who answered our end of the year survey, who helped with questions about representation, libraries, and everyone who was a part of GayYA's community in 2014. We’re taking all of your feedback into account, and hope to make GayYA a better place for you and for everyone. Some things that will be changing in the new year on the site: Search Function – right now if you’re logged into a wordpress account, you can search pretty easily, but we did not realize that other people [...]

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January Book Club: Just Girls by Rachel Gold

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00January 4th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Club, Updates and Announcements|

Happy New Year, all! We're just getting geared up for our newest book club. We'll be reading Just Girls by Rachel Gold! Just Girls by Rachel Gold (Bella Books, 2014) Jess Tucker sticks her neck out for a stranger—the buzz is someone in the dorm is a trans girl. So Tucker says it’s her, even though it’s not, to stop the finger pointing. She was an out lesbian in high school, and she figures she can stare down whatever gets thrown her way in college. It can’t be that bad. Ella Ramsey is making new friends [...]

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Sneaky Stand-Up Stands Up to Homophobia

By Karina|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 26th, 2014|Categories: Archive, Teen Voices|

I don’t care if you dislike memoirs. I don’t care if you aren’t a fan of hip hop, stand up comedy, deaf people, or Jews (Actually, I do care about those last two, a lot actually). But you should be reading Kasher In The Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16. Yeah, interested now, right? Kasher In The Rye is one of my favorite books. Ever. It’s not even just my favorite memoir, it is in my top ten favorite books. [...]

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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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Orphan Blade by M. Nicholas Almand & Jake Myler: Review

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 23rd, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Fantasy, gay, graphic novel, Horror, New Releases, Other Media, Queer Guys, Speculative|

“Orphan Blade is pretty gruesome,” the email warned. “You don’t have to review it if you’re not a fan of blood, gore, guts and monsters.” Nonsense! I thought blithely, cheerful and ready to accept whatever queer YA literature might grace my inbox for review. It’s a graphic novel. How gross can it be? As it turns out, gross enough to make me wince, flip through pages, and shiver with the kind of deep, primal disgust that comes with Jake Myler’s illustrations. Myler explore all the textural unpleasantries of skin – boils, scales, slime, and of course, what skin flaps in jagged shards [...]

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Book Review: Fighting Kudzu by Mystic Thompson

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 22nd, 2014|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Historical, lesbian, Queer Girls, Realistic|

In 1972 on a hot, late spring day in Georgia, five-year-old Noble Thorvald plays contentedly, alone in her suburban backyard. Her only companions...an imaginary professional football team. As she plays in her world of wonder and adventure, Noble is unaware of the challenges life will hurl in her direction-challenges that will redefine her more than once. Fighting Kudzu is the lyrical saga that traces Noble's life as she emerges into adulthood and discovers herself. The plot synopsis given on the back cover, and given above, of Fighting Kudzu by Mystic Thompson comes nowhere near the actual depth [...]

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Author Interview: Mystic Thompson

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:20-05:00December 21st, 2014|Categories: Archive, Author Interview|Tags: Queer Girls, Realistic|

Author Shannon LC Cate was nice enough to share with us an interview she had with Mystic Thompson, about her novel "Fighting Kudzu". Let's read what Mystic had to say about it! Fighting Kudzu (Strategic Book Publishing, 2009) FIGHTING KUDZU by MYSTIC THOMPSON. In 1972 on a hot, late spring day in Georgia, five-year-old Noble Thorvald plays contentedly, alone in her suburban backyard. Her only companions...an imaginary professional football team. As she plays in her world of wonder and adventure, Noble is unaware of the challenges life will hurl in her direction-challenges that will redefine [...]

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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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