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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 [...]

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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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 [...]

Navigating Privilege and Cultural Capital as a Black Queer Writer

By |2020-03-28T13:40:08-05:00February 23rd, 2018|Categories: Guest Blogs, Writers on Writing|Tags: , , , |

By Allison Jeanne Alcéna Children’s literature writers are often encouraged to pen the stories they wanted to see when they were younger. In my case, I never saw my whole self in children’s books, although I sometimes saw parts. As an adult, I now understand that what was being reflected back to me were the privileged parts of my identity, allowing me to see pieces of myself in the slew of middle-class, white characters that were on the market. And because I saw certain parts of myself in books, I then felt like those must be the most [...]

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8 LGBTQIAP+ Books By Black Authors

By |2020-03-28T13:40:08-05:00February 21st, 2018|Categories: Archive, Book Lists|Tags: , , , , |

by Kaitlin Mitchell  As LGBTQIAP+ literature has become more prominent in the past years, there is still a serious lack of black LGBTQIAP+ voices being highlighted in publishing. We’re featuring 8 books by black authors that you can support to join in the call for more black LGBTQIAP+ narratives in publishing. If you have more recommendations, add them in the comments, or share with us on Twitter (@YA_Pride) or Tumblr (YA-Pride.tumblr.com). Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with [...]

Interview: Claire Kann, author of Let’s Talk About Love

By |2020-03-28T13:40:10-05:00September 26th, 2017|Categories: Author Interview, New Releases, Publishing People|Tags: , , , |

Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV show. The only thing missing from her plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice told her she's asexual). Alice is done with dating—no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done. But when Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for, her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn.  Claire Kann is the author of the forthcoming novel Let’s Talk About Love, which comes out January 23, [...]

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An Open Letter From You

By |2020-03-28T13:40:10-05:00July 1st, 2017|Categories: Author Guest Blog, Guest Blogs|Tags: , , , |

Pride Month Blogathon: Day 15 – Introduction to Pride Month Blogathon by Cam Montgomery The first time you kiss a girl, you’re twenty-two-years-old. A college junior, majoring in two things that’d make you spiritually rich, but broke in the pockets. Young, queer, and naïve, is what they call that. You call it living. Oh, the girl? You’re still friends. (On Facebook.) And she, to this day, doesn’t know she was “your first.” All the same, you remind yourself, constantly, that you owe her more than you’re willing to admit. She, this femme with the eyes like whoa and the hair [...]

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You Are Not Alone: Finding Community as a Nonbinary Teen

By |2020-03-28T13:40:11-05:00June 28th, 2017|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs, Teen Voices|Tags: , , , , |

Pride Month Blogathon: Day 12 – Introduction to Pride Month Blogathon by Kav If I'm being honest with myself, I never thought of myself as “straight.” Growing up, I never labeled myself that way and instead thought along the lines of “I’ll love who I love, no matter their gender.” That's not to say that I never struggled to discover my gender and romantic and sexual orientations or that I never had a coming out experience - it's definitely been a rocky ride. But when it came down to it, I was always fortunate enough to have been sure [...]

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