LGBTQIA – Page 3

Friendships Are Hard.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:41:39-05:00May 27th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Teen Voices|Tags: gay, LGBTQIA, Queer Guys|

by John Hansen By most standards, I've won the queer lottery. I live in one of the first U.S. states to have legalized gay marriage; I have parents who went through only a minimal learning curve when I came out to them; I attend a high school that not only has a gay-straight alliance, but whose gay-straight alliance is active enough that the school newspaper often reports on its activities. I'm lucky. I know that. And yet, here I am: seventeen years old, proudly queer, out to everyone I know online—but I'm still beyond terrified to tell anyone [...]

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Making Choices in LGBTQ YA

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:47-05:00May 18th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: Bisexual, lesbian, LGBTQIA, Queer Girls|

by Dahlia Adler I've spoken a lot about how Under the Lights wasn't originally a f/f romance. I had always planned to write one, but my very first was going to be the YA I'm actually drafting now, which is a contemporary inspired by the historical War of the Roses. (It's still f/f - not to worry!) But when I was drafting UtL, I really, really struggled with the romance I was writing for Vanessa with this boy, and why there was zero story and zero chemistry. I was talking to one of my critique partners about it, and I [...]

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Graphic Novel Review: Lumberjanes.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 16th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Book Review|Tags: Fantasy, graphic novel, Intersectionality, LGBTQIA, Middle Grade, PoC, Queer Girls|

Lumberjanes (Boom! Studios, 2014) One of the biggest challenges I face when reading, reviewing and now, publishing, is to find balance in the types of queers stories I read/review/publish. It often feels to me that the vast majority of what is out there - and what is made more visible when it comes to reviewing and award-winning - are the stories that deal with violence, homophobia, or the ones where being queer is the story. Don’t get me wrong, because those? Are super important and should be told, read and talked about. But equally important in [...]

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Are They LGBTQIA? Let Your Characters Tell You

By Helen|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 10th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: Allies, LGBTQIA, Minor Queer Characters|

by Karen Sandler As a cis white author who’s inching ever closer to old lady status, I experienced a couple fortunate circumstances in my youth that shaped me as a writer. First, when I transferred to a new high school in 1970, the circle of friends who drew me in were largely gay, lesbian, and transgender. Second, when I started writing more seriously in my early 20s, several of the members of my critique group—which included luminaries Katherine Forrest and Montserrat Fontes—were gay or lesbian. I don’t mention this to brag that I’m “all that and more” or [...]

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The Love that Does Not Know Its Name

By Kale|2020-03-28T13:42:00-05:00May 5th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: LGBTQIA, Queer Girls|

by Elizabeth Wein Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion, 2013) Occasionally, in the heat of a conversation and unable to quickly recall this week’s in-favor politically-correct acronym, I find myself saying, “So, I heard about this new LGBT-QRST book…” Then I think, OMG, that’s not right! What did I forget? Someone is going to be so offended! My problem with labelling is that I don’t like boxes. I don’t like age-banding of books, and I don’t like genre categorization – I don’t like being branded. I write historical/fantasy/adventure/spy/Arthurian/mystery/war novels. The hero of four of my [...]

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Have You Ever Considered Writing About Straight People?

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:42:00-05:00May 4th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: LGBTQIA, Queer Girls, Queer Guys, Representation, Trans|

by Robin Talley Last week I spoke to a group of middle schoolers about what it’s like to be a writer. It was an all-girls school, and the students were earnest, smiling, and full of questions. For the most part, they asked the same sorts of things everyone else asks ― how do you deal with writer’s block, when did you first start writing, what made you want to write a book about school integration ― but quite a few girls also had questions about the fact that my books star QUILTBAG characters. I was delighted. When I [...]

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Excerpt Tour: Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:02-05:00March 26th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: gay, LGBTQIA, New Releases, Queer Guys, Realistic, Romance|

Here at GAY YA we are extremely excited about the upcoming SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli, and today we have the pleasure of featuring an excerpt from the book! Get excited because SIMON it's an amazing debut, and you do not want to miss it. No seriously, all that praise it has been getting online? Completely worth it and you need to check it ouuuut. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Balzer + Bray, 2015) But first, what is it about? Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the [...]

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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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New Releases: March 2015.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:06-05:00March 9th, 2015|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: Bisexual, gay, lesbian, LGBTQIA, New Adult, New Releases, PoC, Queer Girls, Queer Guys|

March 2nd (USA) Top 250 LGBTQ Books for Teens (Huron Street Press, 2015) Top 250 LGBTQ Books for Teens: Coming Out, Being Out, and the Search for Community by Michael Cart — (LGBTQAI+) Goodreads Summary: "A summary of the 250 best books for LGBTQ teens, written by experts on the subject and addressed to teen book buyers. Identifying titles that address the sensitive and important topics of coming out, being out, and the search for community, this catalog spotlights the best gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, and questioning books written for teens. The authors cover fiction of all [...]

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Author Interview: Steven Dos Santos

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:42:07-05:00February 19th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Interview|Tags: Dystopia, LGBTQIA, Queer Guys|

The Culling (Flux, 2013) Vee: Hello there Steven! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us. It's a pleasure to have you on the blog. To start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Steven: Thanks for having me, Vee! I was born in the Big Apple to Portuguese & Dominican parents, but grew up in sunny South Florida, which I still currently call home (when I’m not calling it some not-so-nice words in the height of our steamy summers). I have a Journalism/Communications degree and also studied Motion Picture [...]

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