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Teens Talk About LGBTQIAP+ YA: Part 1

By |2020-08-19T22:34:34-05:00August 21st, 2020|Categories: Archive, Readers on Reading, Teen Voices|Tags: , , , , , |

Earlier this year, we asked teens to tell us about the LGBTQIAP+ YA books that have touched their lives. This is our first round-up of those stories! We are so excited to be able to share these. Books can touch lives in unseen ways, something that is especially the case for LGBTQIAP+ YA books. We wanted to make some of those unseen experiences visible. This series of post is a reminder of why LGBTQIAP+ YA is so important, why it is so necessary for all of us to keep writing and advocating for these books. "Of Fire [...]

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On shelving–and unshelving–the book of my heart

By |2020-08-13T21:55:12-05:00August 20th, 2020|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: , , , , |

by Rebecca Kim Wells In 2015 I reached a major milestone in my writing career: I signed with a literary agent. The book I had written was a dark fairy tale-inspired YA fantasy, drenched with blood and magic and lies and quests. It was also a book featuring a queer main character and romantic relationship. I saw no reason for this to be a problem. It was true that there weren’t that many queer YA books out there (especially not published by major US publishers), but there were some. [...]

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Writing Your Way Out Of The Closet

By |2020-08-13T21:19:35-05:00August 19th, 2020|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: , , , , |

by Abdi Nazemian Many years ago, after my first book – an adult gay novel called The Walk-In Closet was published – a wonderful and open-minded Iranian therapist hosted a book club at her home. The attendees were largely Iranians of my parents’ generation. They all dressed for the event like it was an awards show. It was very formal. And I was very afraid. Because up until then, I had largely been hiding my queerness from my cultural community. Or maybe the right way to put it is that they had been choosing not to see [...]

When Queer Books Lead to Queer BFFs

By |2020-08-18T10:25:07-05:00August 18th, 2020|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: , |

by Kelly Quindlen Three years ago, when I was going through a rough patch, my parents gave me some advice. “We think you need queer friends,” my dad said. “Have you considered a gay cruise?” I laughed out loud when he suggested it, but I knew the larger point was true: I was starving for friends who reflected my queerness back to me. I have some amazing friends, but they are overwhelmingly straight and cis. This is not their fault. We can’t all be blessed with queerness. But the point [...]

The Path to Publication: Writing the Queer Black Girls of Cinderella Is Dead 

By |2020-08-13T20:48:08-05:00August 17th, 2020|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: , , , , , , , |

by Kalynn Bayron I’ve always been a fan of genre fiction. From horror to fantasy to sci-fi. I love all things magical and atmospheric and bone chilling. I’m a writer because I was a reader, first. In those stories I found ghosts, mythical creatures, people with impossible powers, aliens, orcs, fairies, elves, kings and queens. What I didn’t see was Black people or queer people. Until I discovered Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Audre Lorde, and Octavia Butler I didn’t see Black women centered and I didn’t see queer people being treated with care and concern, [...]

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Interview: Kacen Callender, author of Felix Ever After

By |2020-07-03T06:10:23-05:00July 3rd, 2020|Categories: Archive, Author Interview, Fun Things, Guest Blogs|Tags: , , , |

Aaron H. Aceves, author of This Is Why They Hate Us (Spring 2022), interviews Kacen Callender, author of Felix Ever After.  Hi, Kacen! In the span of only two years or so, you’ve published two Middle Grade books, two Young Adult books, and a novel for adults. First of all, how are you so damn prolific! Haha, thanks! Honestly I tend to work on multiple novels all at the same time, jumping from one WIP to the next, so I usually end up with about five projects within a quick succession. But, then, I have to retreat back into the [...]

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Queer YA Books by Black Authors Spreadsheet

By |2020-06-09T06:38:59-05:00June 9th, 2020|Categories: Archive, Book Lists, Fun Things|Tags: , , |

Hello readers! One of our core missions at YA Pride is to promote books that have been systematically pushed to the margins of queer young adult literature. Over the past days, the YA Pride team has been brainstorming ways to better promote Black writers of young adult literature and get their voices into the hands of readers. Today, we are publishing a spreadsheet of current and upcoming queer YA titles by Black authors that we will continue to update as future book deals are announced. In addition to author and title, our spreadsheet features the LGBTQIAP+ representation of [...]

#PreorderWithYAPride: Queer YA by Queer Black Authors

By |2020-08-20T19:58:50-05:00June 6th, 2020|Categories: Archive, New Releases|Tags: , |

Let's give an extra bundle of love and support to the queer Black authors in our community! Over the next few weeks we'll be posting some of our favorite previously published titles by queer Black authors on social media, as well as sharing a database of LGBTQIAP+ YA written by Black authors. But we also want to give some love to upcoming titles! One way you can do that is by pre-ordering these three queer YA books by queer Black authors. Let's be clear: structural racism in the book community and publishing industry will not be solved [...]

My YA Pride: Submit Your Story About LGBTQIAP+ YA

By |2020-05-19T01:00:18-05:00May 19th, 2020|Categories: Archive|

LGBTQIAP+ YA books change lives. This Pride month, we want to collect stories about those life-changing experiences. Has your life been impacted by LGBTQIAP+ YA? Now's your chance to tell your story! We want to feature as many as possible during this year's Blogathon. If you're interested in submitting something, you can either email us directly with your submission at contact@yapride.org, or submit your experience via Google Forms (link below). There is no hard and fast word limit-- our shortest submission to date is just under 100 words, but we also publish pieces on our site [...]

YA Pride’s Pride Month Blogathon– and how you can participate!

By |2020-05-13T23:34:21-05:00May 14th, 2020|Categories: Archive, Updates and Announcements|

Although Pride is going to be a different and difficult experience for many of us this year, community remains more important than ever. In the midst of this scary time, the book community has already come together in so many wonderful ways, including virtual panels, instagram live sessions, and a plethora of giveaways. With most in-person Pride events, publishing conferences, and author readings cancelled, we wanted to provide a way for the LGBTQIAP+ YA book community to connect virtually: our Pride Month Blogathon. Every day during the month of June, we will feature a post from a YA [...]

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