Marilla

Introduction to GayYA’s 2017 Blogathon

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:14-05:00June 6th, 2017|Categories: Archive, Readers on Reading, Updates and Announcements, Writers on Writing|

What. A. Year. I began planning this blogathon the week after the U.S. election. Over the past six years, our blogathons have focused on general love of LGBTQIA+ YA, but this year, I knew that that would fall short. I was personally seeking something more, something that would help me grasp the world as it is now, and I figured many of our community members would be as well. This year, our blogathon explores two major themes: intergenerational conversation and the role that story plays in resistance, resilience, and joy. Over the last year, I’ve been struck by [...]

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Getting it Right on the Road: Positive Aro Representation in Travelogue

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:14-05:00February 26th, 2017|Categories: Archive|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 5 by Ben "Books" Schwartz Let’s be honest: there’s not a lot of aromantic representation out there in the world of fiction. Here and there, though, on the fringes, aro characters are starting to show up, and every time I encounter one, my soul does a little dance of joy. As aro characters do appear, hopefully they’ll be good ones, represented thoughtfully, in ways that reflect the fullness and complexity of what it’s like to be aromantic. Aromantic representation is hugely, wildly important. I myself am agender and aromantic, but it took [...]

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A Form of Love That Has Nothing to Do with Sex

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:14-05:00December 17th, 2016|Categories: Archive|

Asexuality in YA Series: Day #6 Previous Posts: Even a Little is a Lot: Asexual Representation in YA by Lucy Mihajlich | Representing the Asexual Experience by Tabitha O’Connell | My Kind of Normal | What’s So Important About Ace Representation? by Kazul Wolf | Navigating the In-Between: Demisexuality in YA Lit by Dill Werner | Introduction: Asexuality in YA Series by Vee S. by Justine Mitchell In 2012, age nineteen, I entered my first and only romantic relationship, with a boy I'd been friends with for a few years. I'd been interested in him for most of that time, too. I'd read about [...]

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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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On Not Being a Real Teenager

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:55-05:00February 23rd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 8 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood – On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA – Discovering Aromanticism – Broken, Villains, or Punishment - On Aromantic Visibility in YA by Ren Oliveira If you asked me to summarize what it felt like growing up as an aromantic person, a single memory would come to my mind immediately: my friends talking about boys and crushes and romance while I sat [...]

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On Aromantic Visibility in YA

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:56-05:00February 22nd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 7 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood – On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA – Discovering Aromanticism - Broken, Villains, or Punishment by Laya It seems these days that almost every single YA book needs to have a romantic subplot, and it’s rather exhausting. Especially when so many of them are straight/white/cis. I’m not saying romance in fiction is bad – portrayals of all kinds of romantic relationships [...]

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Broken, Villains, or Punishment

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:56-05:00February 21st, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 6 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood – On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA - Discovering Aromanticism by Fox Salazar I remember being a young teen and a voracious reader. I read almost anything. Old classics like Lovecraft, modern realistic fiction authors like Julie Anne Peters, and too many books with dragons to name. But I hated the romance genre. In fact, I didn’t really like reading romances [...]

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Discovering Aromanticism

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:56-05:00February 20th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Bisexual|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 5 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love – Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood - On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA by Alison Hi! I saw GayYA's post on Tumblr about people from the arospec sharing our stories and I thought: "Hey, Alison, you're aromantic. You might as well." So, yeah. Here I am. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alison; I'm a 15 year old cisgendered female. I live in Yorkshire, [...]

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On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 19th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Intersectionality, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 4 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love - Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood by Denali Leone Describing my fictional characters to people is often like coming out again. While discussing my manuscript with a coworker, I mentioned my main character is on the aromantic spectrum. After explaining that aromantic individuals experience little or no romantic attraction, my coworker frowned and said, “I don’t give a damn. Readers want romance.” I struggled with how to [...]

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Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood

By Marilla|2016-05-24T14:49:14-05:00February 18th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 3 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love by Julia W. Looking back on the earlier elementary years, I was incredibly aromantic. I mean, I remember picking a boy to crush on because I thought it was a choice, and I remember thinking specifically "I just want to be his friend." I remember finding common interests with a boy and not understanding why the other girls would tease me about it. I remember others talking about boys in [...]

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About Marilla