LGBTQIA – YA Pride

Review: A Harvest of Ripe Figs by Shira Glassman

By Jennifer|2020-03-28T13:40:34-05:00August 16th, 2016|Categories: Book Review|Tags: Fantasy, lesbian, LGBTQIA, New Adult, Non Binary, PoC, Queer Girls, Romance, Trans|

by Jennifer Polish Cover page for A Harvest of Ripe Figs, by Shira Glassman. A red parchment-esque background behind a violin, its bow, and several purple figs, one of which is sliced in half, its lush red insides facing the front. Esther of the Singing Hands is Perach’s Sweetheart, a young and beautiful musician with a Girl Next Door image. When her violin is stolen after a concert in the capital city, she doesn't expect the queen herself to show up, intent upon solving the mystery. But Queen Shulamit--lesbian, intellectual, and mother of the six month [...]

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Don’t Judge A Book By Its Description

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 25th, 2016|Categories: Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016|Tags: LGBTQIA, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Representation|

by Zac Brewer I have to admit, I may have squealed a little when I read the email inviting me to write a piece for Gay YA. It’s an honor to be included, to feel like my voice matters, on the subject of being queer. Growing up, there wasn’t really any YA to speak of (this was the 70s/80s—yeah, I KNOW THAT WAS A MILLION YEARS AGO, OKAY?—so we pretty much had Judy Blume and then went straight into adult fiction), and there certainly wasn’t, at least within my grasp, any queer fiction available. If there had been, [...]

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Latinx Gay YA

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 12th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Book Lists, Guest Blogs|Tags: Intersectionality, Latin@, LGBTQIA, PoC, Queer Girls, Queer Guys|

by Dr. Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez There remains a great need for Latinx Gay young adult literature. The list below is a compilation of texts that center and complicate these experiences. I’ve decided to make this list a space dedicated to stories written by self-identifying Latinx authors who have created gay Latinx protagonists. There are certainly other books with gay Latinx minor characters and books with gay Latinx characters written by non-Latinx. Many of the protagonists in the novels listed below express a feeling of isolation when they come out or at simply existing as a gay Latinx person. [...]

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Promoting LGBTQIA+ YA: A Publicist’s POV

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 10th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs|Tags: LGBTQIA, nonbinary, Trans|

by Jamie Tan As a publicist, I’m used to being gregarious or quiet, adapting to whichever author I’m with. I’ve sat quietly with authors, filled up space with small talk so an author could have a moment of rest, and leaned back while an author took the floor. I’m here to be supportive, but more importantly I want to be respectful of the author and the work they have created. Pat Schmatz was one of the first authors I worked with when I started at Candlewick. I can say now how much I adore working with her, [...]

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There was, there is/it was, it is

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 9th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: LGBTQIA, Poetry, Queer Girls|

There was a girl. There was a girl who loved to read and read and read. There was a girl who loved to read and read and read but hated it sometimes but she couldn’t tell why. There was a teen. There was a teen who watched too much tv but still found time to read and read. There was a teen who watched too much tv and started thinking that maybe some girls were hot but still found time to read and read. There were moments. Experiences. Thoughts. Feelings. Moments. It was going to a party to [...]

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A Learning Journey

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 8th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs|Tags: Allies, LGBTQIA, Queer Girls, Queer Guys|

As a librarian and a blogger, I want to be able to purchase, read and promote excellent books. The first step is finding those books. That would seem easy enough, but I also want to make sure that I’m finding a wide range of quality stories providing windows and mirrors for readers. This is where it gets more complicated. We read through a lens of our own experiences and that certainly affects what we see or don’t see as we read. I’m on a journey as a reviewer, librarian, and obviously a human being. I make mistakes – [...]

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Being Queer, Being Latino and Being a Reader: One of Many Latinx Narratives.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 6th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: Intersectionality, Latinx, LGBTQIA, Queer Guys|

by Joseph Jess Many of us know how hard it is to find queer fiction, that is why we search the depths of the internet for it, blog about it and even write it. If you read enough of the queer fiction out there you will notice that the vast majority of it centers around White characters. We’ve read and loved these stories and will continue to read and love them but the lack of PoC representation is glaringly apparent. I am a queer Mexican-American who talks (and cries) about books on the internet, with a specific passion [...]

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Seeking the Non-privileged Gaze

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:50-05:00June 3rd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs|Tags: Intersectionality, LGBTQIA|

by Andrew Karre I don’t think a day goes by in kidlit where we’re not in one way or another reminded of the importance of #ownvoices in telling the stories of historically underrepresented, oppressed, and marginalized people. Many authors and critics have been more articulate on that point than I can be—often on this very blog--and I’m grateful for their work and all the ways it informs mine (which is a fancy way of saying the ways it keeps me from making an ass of myself). There is a secondary benefit to more #ownvoices in our literary landscape that [...]

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Let’s Talk: What is Easy and What is True?

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:50-05:00June 2nd, 2016|Categories: Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: LGBTQIA, nonbinary, Representation|

by Adriana L. I try to avoid using the bathroom when I'm on campus. As a student employee and part-time student—someone who can expect to stay on campus for anywhere from four to eight hours on any given day—this is a pretty ambitious feat. Some days, it's just not feasible. True, there are a few departments with gender neutral bathrooms (which are a blessing), but I can't always be near them. Because of what I've got going on downstairs, when I'm faced with male and female bathrooms, the ladies' room is my closest choice. If there's a wait [...]

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Truth in Fantasy and LGBT Heroes

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:15-05:00October 12th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: LGBTQIA|

by Andrew J. Peters I don’t know how I got into writing fantasy exactly. I certainly didn’t follow the popular advice: write what you know. My books tend to involve ancient world settings and characters from myth. Not much from my everyday experience to draw on there. I guess it’s been a matter of what feeds my creative soul. I like earthy mysticism and imagining what it would have been like to live in an ancient time. My writing takes me through a lot of research, and when I read books about ancient history and myth, sparks ignite [...]

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