Representation – Page 3

4 Wishes for YA F/F Romance

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 20th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Publishing People|Tags: Queer Girls, Representation|

by Kate Brauning I want to talk about nuance. I want to talk about sexy, and imperfection, and happily ever after. I want to talk about being a bisexual editor (and author) of queer YA and why every book I acquire is inclusive in some way, but I’m still looking for That F/F YA Romance. Or you know, twelve of them. The YA queer fiction I’m receiving right now is amazing. I’ve had the honor of acquiring several outstanding YAs centering queer characters, and had to pass on many more that were just wonderful but not for me. [...]

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A Particular Invisibility

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 19th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016, Writers on Writing|Tags: disability, Intersectionality, Representation|

by Kayla Whaley The first essay I ever submitted won an award. A group of writing professors at my university read the piece, described it as written with “delicate emotion,” and handed me a check along with the certificate. I called home as soon as I found out, literally breathless with the news. I told Mom I’d won a writing contest, and before she could even react, rushed to say she couldn’t ever, ever read the essay. A few days later my sister told me to call home. “Mom’s freaking out,” she said. “She doesn’t know why she [...]

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Never Am I Whole

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:37-05:00June 18th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading, Teen Voices, Writers on Writing|Tags: Black, Intersectionality, Mental Health, nonbinary, Representation|

by Wesaun There’s nothing more exciting than the prospect of finally seeing myself in the books I read except, oh wait, I never do. I look and look and search and search and all that meets me is a gap, all that meets me is the laughter track as if I am on a comedy show and I am the queer character that has just had a cruel trick played on them. All that meets me is parts of my identity dismembered and separated into different stories but never am I whole. Because according to books, I do [...]

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Editing Diversity in Chile – Part 2

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:38-05:00June 15th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Publishing People|Tags: Bisexual, international, Latin@, Representation|

by Daniela Cortés del Castillo I’ve already covered the challenges I’ve faced at Loba Ediciones when trying to publish diversely. Now I’d like to speak briefly about what happens when I change my hat and become an editor working with an author. Editing with intersectional feminism in mind is not easy. You carry around a lot of theoretical baggage that you need to use, but can also spoil the trip. I don’t want to become so pedagogical that I ruin a perfectly good story. Early on, I had to decide on a strategy, something that would allow me to [...]

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At the Crossroads of Identity: Intersectionality in Queer YA

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:38-05:00June 13th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Blogathon 2016|Tags: disability, Intersectionality, Race, Representation, YA Community|

by Tristina Wright The other day a friend sent me the link to a book review. It was short—maybe a few sentences—but one phrase in particular stood out to me: “…too diverse for me.” The phrase was in reference to the main character’s gender identity, skin color, and sexual orientation. Merely three points of identity. Count them on one hand. Three really isn’t much when you think about it. Three pieces of candy. Three slices of pizza. Three books to read. However, they were three-too-many different from the socially-constructed baseline of white, cisgender, heterosexual, abled, Christian (or similar [...]

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GayYA Recommends: You Know Me Well by David Levithan & Nina Lacour

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 5th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Book Club, Book Review, New Releases, Readers on Reading, Teen Voices|Tags: gay, lesbian, Representation|

Who knows you well? Your best friend? Your boyfriend or girlfriend? A stranger you meet on a crazy night? No one, really? Mark and Kate have sat next to each other for an entire year, but have never spoken. For whatever reason, their paths outside of class have never crossed. That is until Kate spots Mark miles away from home, out in the city for a wild, unexpected night. Kate is lost, having just run away from a chance to finally meet the girl she has been in love with from afar. Mark, meanwhile, is in love with [...]

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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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