Writing for Queer Teens of Colors as a Black Lesbian, a guest post by Shelly Page

Growing up, I rarely saw myself in the books I read. And as a kid, I read a lot. In school, teachers assigned books like Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor and Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. While I enjoyed them, I also enjoyed reading about adventures and magic. None of the magical adventure books recommended to me had main characters that looked like me. Honestly, I didn’t even know they could. As I grew, I read less and less. I think this was due, in part, to an increase in schoolwork, but also because I began to crave stories that weren’t available to me.
I came out as a lesbian in college. I was still a teenager who loved YA books but now I was even more conscious about the lack of diversity on bookshelves. To offset this, I consumed a lot of queer media, mostly TV shows, movies, and FanFiction. But I don’t think I read a fiction book about a Black lesbian until I was an adult. I truly believe I would’ve felt less isolated if I had access to books written for young queer people of color. My experience may not be everyone’s, but it is far from unique.
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The intersection of queerness and ethnic diversity is functionally invisible in most things. I’m a practicing attorney representing unhoused youth of color, and every day I see how gaps in the law allow for my clients to be overlooked and underrepresented. Unfortunately, publishing is not much different. Only about 5-9% of books are published by Black authors yearly. The number of Black authors who also identify as queer is even smaller. It’s not enough to publish books by LGBTQ+ writers or books by writers of color because so many people lie at the intersection of both and experience life differently as a result.
For centuries, queer people of color have been pushed to the margins and subjected to dehumanizing stereotypes which warps their perception and authenticity. Publishing stories about queer people of color allows readers to reclaim that narrative and celebrate the complexity of their identities. In 2023, I co-edited Night of the Living Queers with Alex Brown. Night of the Living Queers is a YA horror anthology that consists of 13 stories written by queer authors of color that explore how Halloween can be more than just candies and frights, but a night where anything is possible. The anthology focuses on the intersection of queerness and ethnicity. Each story encourages the exploration of the darker parts of humanity while offering a chance for both the writer and readers to be authentic without fear of judgment or reproach.

Similarly, Brewed with Love also features authentic queer characters of color set against the backdrop of a magical mystery. The story follows Sage Bishop, a 17-year-old witch trying to keep her family’s apothecary up and running but can only do so with the help of her first crush, Ximena Reyes. Both Sage and Ximena are lesbians. Sage is Black and Ximena is Mexican-American. They live in a tiny, woodsy town where everyone knows each other. On the surface, Blackclaw Valley is idyllic. But no community is without its flaws. There are wolves in Blackclaw that are feared and misunderstood. The wolves are a perfect metaphor for otherness. In Brewed with Love, Sage grapples with what it means to love her town, even though it’s flawed. Eventually, she decides Blackclaw needs to change and sets out to change it. In all my stories, the main characters stand up for what they believe in, especially when it comes to their identity and community. This show of empowerment is particularly important for QPOC readers because oftentimes the world aims to render them powerless.
Brewed with Love is exactly the kind of book I would have loved to read as a teen. Don’t get me wrong, anyone can enjoy it, but there is something special about writing for an audience with similar experiences as yourself. It’s a way to heal your inner child while also giving back to your community.
Representation matters. Whether the genre is horror, romance, or something else entirely, readers, and especially readers from traditionally marginalized backgrounds, deserve to see themselves in books. Representation validates lived experiences and provides a sense of belonging. It builds confidence, resilience, and understanding.
As a Black lesbian author, I have the unique privilege of publishing stories that lie at the intersection of ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. My books will always feature protagonists with similar lived experiences as me because books are more than just stories. A book could be the difference between feeling invisible or seen. A book could change a life. I don’t carry that knowledge lightly. I hope all readers find comfort in my stories, and I particularly hope they make QPOC readers feel seen.

Bio: Shelly Page is a young adult contemporary fantasy romance and horror writer. By day, she’s a practicing attorney representing homeless LGBTQ+ youth. By night, she’s writing stories about love, magic, and mystery—all with the hope of providing genuine representation for queer readers of color. Shelly lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Toby, and a collection of half-dead plants. Brewed with Love is her debut novel. She can be found online at shellypage.com
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/shelly_p_writes
Buy: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753106/brewed-with-love-by-shelly-page/
Filed under: new books, Young Adult, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Literature

About Karen Jensen, MLS
Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 32 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).
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