A Poethead’s Guide to the Galaxy: Talking with David Hernandez
David Hernandez discusses his most recent poetry collection, Dear, Sincerely, working across multiple genres, and why the act of making anything is a kind of optimism.
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Posts Tagged: YA Literature
VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Angie Thomas
Angie Thomas discusses her debut novel, The Hate U Give, landing an agent on Twitter, and why she trusts teenagers more than the publishing industry.
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The Rumpus Interview with Jacqueline Woodson
Jacqueline Woodson discusses her latest novel Another Brooklyn, the little deaths of lost friendships, and her work with children across the country as the Poetry Foundation’s Young People’s Poet Laureate.
...moreReading YA Lit as an Act of Resistance
These and many other stories hope to remind us that the freedom to choose our own reading is a form of resistance against the looming threat of a totalitarian state… YA literature has situated itself as one of the most influential genres in publishing, with more adults reading YA than ever, and young adults being the most “literate” […]
...moreThe Art of Quitting
At Book Riot, Kelly Jensen discusses the scarcity of quitters in YA novels, and quitters’ importance in showing readers the accomplishment of self-preservation.
...moreDaddy Wasn’t There
Anyone who made it through high school English can probably recall reading a story or two about young protagonists finding themselves in the absence of parental guidance. From whence does this orphan trope come? And why? Is this what all of us innately fear—the state of being in charge of our destinies, the only ones […]
...moreBringing Asexuality to YA Fiction
Asexuality is often left out from discussions around queer visibility in pop culture. At Bitch Media, Lucy Mihajlich shares how she was told by an agent that her young adult dystopian trilogy, Interface, could be the next Hunger Games—but that it needed romance: It’s particularly hard to find asexual characters in young adult fiction, which is […]
...moreSave the Children
Graeme Whiting, headmaster of the Acorn School (motto: “Have courage for the truth”) of Nailsworth, Great Britain, recently published a blog post condemning “sensational” fantasy novels such as the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Hunger Games series that feature “dark,” “insensitive,” and “addictive” subjects. At the LA Times, Michael Schaub wrote about the […]
...moreRamona Quimby All Grown Up
Beverly Cleary guided generations of girls and boys alike through the rocky, messy, color- and dream-filled days of childhood with her long-running Ramona series, which manages to stay at the forefront of the children’s literary scene even fifty years after the release of its first installment in 1955. Ruth Graham at Slate wants us to remember that […]
...moreA Trip to Malory Towers
At Aeon, Nakul Krishna revisits Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, a series of boarding school novels, for a glimpse at the ethics that join Blyton’s novels together.
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The Rumpus Interview with Manuel Gonzales
Manuel Gonzales talks about his new novel, The Regional Office is Under Attack!, transitioning from nonprofit work to teaching, and how to zig when a trope wants you to zag.
...moreYA Novels Help Parents Talk Sex
A discussion with your kid about the birds and the bees might be one of the more intimidating moments of parenthood, but YA novelists can lend a hand. When YA writers confront modern issues of sex, rape, consent, abuse, and gender, they help parents—and schools—introduce these sensitive topics: Consent doesn’t even have to be about sex, per se, […]
...moreNew Ambassador for Young People’s Lit
The Library of Congress is, for the first time, naming a graphic novelist as the Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The honor goes to Gene Luen Yang, author of the graphic novels American Born Chinese and Boxers & Saints, among others. The post was created in 2008 to help promote children’s and young adult literature, and […]
...moreAll Mixed Up
Is The Hunger Games feminist? Does it matter? Flavorwire’s Sarah Seltzer wonders whether we’re asking the wrong questions: It seduces us with a good-vs.-evil premise, but then muddies the entire thing in the gray fog of war.
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Anna March’s Reading Mixtape #5: Rad Girls
We should all implant these terrific girls in our brains. Reading excellent kid’s books as an adult reveals the world to us in new ways, reminds us of childhood and teaches us about our young selves from a new perspective.
...moreSurvivor Literature
YA authors now find themselves walking the fine line between fiction and reality. They have a duty to portray illness accurately, as they must avoid harmfully romanticising dying…they must also be careful not to cross into territory which is too upsetting. For the Guardian, Jessica Honnor considers the responsibility that comes with writing about illness.
...moreIn a World…
With so many contemporary young adult novels taking place in dystopian settings, we’re beginning to wonder whether it’s even possible to come of age in a world that isn’t on the brink of collapse. Soon enough, paragon network of teenage melodrama The CW will adapt Little Women to the “dystopic streets of Philadelphia,” thereby robbing […]
...morePatriarchy’s Slow Unwinding
For the New York Times Magazine, A.O. Scott argues about the “slow unwinding” of patriarchy in American culture, drawing on modern television, history, and literature. In part responding to Ruth Graham’s essay at Slate, in which she urges against adults reading young adult fiction, Scott offers a different perspective: Instead, notwithstanding a few outliers like Henry […]
...more(Un)death in Venice
Do you know what year the word “zombie” first stalked the English lexicon? Do you think you can provide your kids with a “psychologically safe context for contemplating a collapsed world”? Did you read the CDC’s memo on zombie preparedness tips? Neither did we. Allow us to direct you to Clair McLafferty’s very highbrow meditation […]
...moreMagical Influences
Lev Grossman has given the Harry Potter series an inspirational nod more than once, and he does it again over at Vulture. But he’s just as fond of The Bourne Identity, Marcel Proust, and the music of Metric: I don’t always listen to music when I’m writing, but when I do listen to music, I listen to […]
...moreA Newly Blooming Blume
Missing favorite childhood author Judy Blume? Well not for long. She is returning with her first new novel in a decade. And its for adults! Find out more here.
...moreA Life with Ramona
Beverly Cleary has been held in high esteem in the minds of just-blooming young readers for generations. But that does not mean that her writing isn’t valuable in deciphering adult struggles too: With all the worries we have as adults, it’s natural to look at childhood as idyllic and worry-free and it’s far too easy […]
...moreYA Shaming
Young adult fiction has never been more popular among grownup-adults—more than half of YA books are sold to people over the age of 18. There isn’t anything wrong with the occasional guilty pleasure, or even in indulging in topics that are, by definition, childish, says Ruth Graham, writing at Slate, but should we be concerned […]
...moreThe Women of YA
S.E. Hinton, a woman, arguably pioneered the young adult genre of literature. So why is it that women are seen as secondary in this genre, and as less valuable as their male counterparts? Book Riot explores this question, and the powerful effects that narratives written for young women can have. Within the pages of these […]
...moreThe Intern and the Rejectionist
It’s your two favorite formerly anonymous publishing-industry-bloggers-turned-YA-novelists in one post! Which is to say: Hilary T. Smith (aka The Intern) interviewed Sarah McCarry (The Rejectionist) about her new book All Our Pretty Songs. A preview: There is also a weird cultural assumption that if a book is published as young adult it is obligated to provide […]
...moreLGBT, SF, YA, and Other Useful/Distracting Acronyms
In an interview for the Young Adult Library Association’s blog, YA novelist Malinda Lo talks about writing within certain genres—young adult, fantasy/sci-fi, feminist, LGBT—and how it can be both confining and liberating. …I know that labels can be a useful way to find something you’re interested in. I also want LGBT teens — especially queer […]
...moreReluctant Readers Gender Breakdown
A recent article in Sunday’s NY Times Book Review breaks down reading habits by gender, reporting that boys read less than girls. This revelation may be surprising given the plethora of YA fiction out there—one of the only booming genre of books out there right now. However, this is where the gender dichotomy breaks down […]
...moreBlume on Censorship
Judy Blume is a rebel. The pulses of censorship in the 1980s targeted her children’s books. With the most recent onslaught of young adult literature talk, there has been more and more to add to the censorship dialogue. Blume has been at the center of it all. She discusses her history with writing, censorship, as […]
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