MORE 'QUEER' POSTS
I don’t think I would have ever had the confidence to write a queer and apple-shaped and anxious and chronically ill tween detective if it weren’t for those three misfits from the Nancy Drew mysteries.
Queer representation is important for a whole host of reasons, and as a queer writer myself I wanted to put people like me at the forefront of the story.
The nature of Brynn and Skylar’s relationship doesn’t make Brynn or the book less queer. Giving Brynn a meaningful relationship that was neither romantic nor sexual was a very intentional move on my part.
McCarthy makes it clear that there is joy and love to be found in moving from the captivity of anger and pain to the liberation of being able to be exactly who you are.
It's my hope that Repairing the World, a book ostensibly about grief and healing, will also be a place for Jewish kids (Reconstructionist or not) to see themselves in a story. I want to illustrate how normal it is for kids to have help managing their mental health. And, that grownups and kids can be queer or questioning and it’s just part of life. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.
Here’s to many come outs. Here’s to not having to come out at all. Here’s to coming out for your own reasons, on your own timeline. Here’s to our bookshelves and our libraries reflecting all of this—and much more!
Robin Stevenson and Tom Ryan talk about writing "a big queer Canadian YA novel" together.
James Sie's message: Your stories are worth telling. You are seen. And you are loved.
Queer trauma should never be a selling point for queer narratives, and if pain is written as shock value or a central plot point for a straight character, it’s incredibly harmful. But not all pain on the page is harmful.
On rom-coms and insta-love: "As an author of queer YA, I get to take it one step further. I can break the trope apart and put it back together the way I want—celebrating the similarities and differences of queer love in all its forms."
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