Vee – Page 13 – YA Pride

May Book of the Month: If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:55-05:00May 7th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Book Club|Tags: New Releases, Trans|

A big-hearted novel about being seen for who you really are. Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret. She’s determined not to get too close to anyone. But when she meets sweet, easygoing Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him in. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself–including her past. But Amanda’s terrified [...]

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Book List: Asian Characters in LGBTQIA+ YA

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:55-05:00April 26th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Book Lists|Tags: Asian, PoC|

Welcome back to our book list series! We get many asks on tumblr for books with a certain identity/genre/etc, and we've started posting our replies on the blog as well as on tumblr. If you are looking for a certain kind of LGBTQIA+ book, send us an ask on tumblr! Here is the ask we got this week: Anonymous said: Sorry for the very specific ask but if you ever have time, could you possibly list s few books that has queer Asians (particularly females) as protagonists? If that's too specific im sorry! Please don't apologize! It's a joy to put [...]

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Why We Need Editors (AKA Writing While Demi-Sexual)

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:55-05:00April 12th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: asexual, Demisexual|

by Janine A. Southard My editor gently reminded me that not all my teen characters can be ace. And she's right. As someone on the asexual spectrum, it doesn't occur to me to put sexual tension (or interest) between strangers into my books during the drafting phase. That's the drafting phase, though. In editing, I can't assume all the characters will be just like me. Sure, some characters may never have romance plot lines, but many will have sexual thoughts. For instance, I once wrote a novel where my teenage protagonists find themselves in a brothel. (Hive & [...]

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Book List: Bisexual Boys in YA

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:55-05:00April 11th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Book Lists|Tags: Bisexual, Queer Guys|

Welcome to our new series of book lists! We get many asks on tumblr for books with a certain identity/genre/etc, and starting now we will be posting our replies on the blog as well as on tumblr. If you are looking for a certain kind of LGBTQIA+ book, send us an ask on tumblr! Anonymous asked: Do you know of any books with bi male main characters? Six of Crows is the only one I know of and so far that part has been a pretty small section of the book. Disclaimer: We have not read all of [...]

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Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 16th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

Welcome to GayYA’s Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week series! In honor of Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week, we’re featuring posts from aromantic and aro-spec contributors on various issues surrounding aromantic representation in YA. We have an AWESOME line up of contributors and posts, and we’re so excited to share them with you all! The Awareness Week series are something we’ve started doing for all of the LGBTQIA+ Awareness Weeks throughout the year. Though we hope to include everyone on our site at all times, we’ve found that dedicating a specific and concentrated space to a community to talk about the different ways their [...]

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Cover Reveal: Screaming Down Splitsville by Kayla Bashe

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 12th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Cover Reveal|Tags: disability, lesbian, Queer Girls|

Today we are thrilled to host the cover reveal of the upcoming F/F YA Screaming Down Splitsville by Kayla Bashe! Screaming Down Splitsville takes place in an alternate 1950s where two groups of people with magical powers fight for dominance. Flip, a young lesbian, thinks her healing powers are completely useless. After her escape from a lab, she's been grounded to a safe base, and while everyone else is on important missions, she keeps the fridge stocked and fixes the plumbing. However, when a chance coincidence sends her on a solo rescue mission, Flip has a surprising reunion with [...]

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Superheroes Saved My Life

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:10-05:00November 15th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Trans|

by Cheryl Morgan There are many things about the lives of trans kids today that leave me a bit misty-eyed. When I was at school hormone blockers were unheard of, and coming out as trans was liable to land you in an asylum getting electroshock treatment. YA wasn’t even a thing back then, so there was no point in asking for diverse characters. We did have books, though. Paper had been invented. Reading was pretty heavily gendered. I don’t think I could have got away with reading books like Little Women or Anne of Green Gables. I was [...]

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Introduction to Transgender Awareness Week Series

By Vee|2016-05-24T14:49:16-05:00November 15th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

Welcome to GayYA’s Transgender Awareness Week Series! In honor of Transgender Awareness Week, we’re featuring posts from trans and trans-spectrum contributors on various issues surrounding transness in YA. We have an AWESOME line up of contributors and posts, and we’re so excited to share them with you all! The Awareness Week series are something we’ve started doing for all of the LGBTQIA+ Awareness Weeks throughout the year. Though we hope to include everyone on our site at all times, we’ve found that dedicating a specific and concentrated space to a community to talk about the different ways their [...]

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Introduction to Asexuality in YA Series

By Vee|2016-05-24T14:49:17-05:00October 26th, 2015|Categories: Archive|

Welcome to GayYA’s Asexuality in YA Series! In honor of Asexual Awareness Week , we're featuring posts from asexual and asexual-spectrum contributors on various issues surrounding asexuality in YA. We have a FANTASTIC line up of posts, and we’re so excited to share them with you all! The Awareness Week series are something we’ve started doing for all of the LGBTQIA+ Awareness Weeks throughout the year. Though we hope to include everyone on our site at all times, we’ve found that dedicating a specific and concentrated space to a community to talk about issues of how they’re represented in YA can produce phenomenal results. [...]

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How To Make Your Library a Safe Space for Queer Teens

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:17-05:00October 8th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|

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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