Tag Archives: diversity in YA

The Number of LGBT YA Titles Increasing at a Turtle’s Pace According to Malinda Lo

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This is a lazy blog post. It really is.

I basically just wanted to share a very sharp, well-reasoned analysis of the status of LGBT YA written by author Malinda Lo earlier this week (“LGBT Young Adult Books 2003-2013: A Decade of Slow But Steady Change”).

You might find the title to be a bit charitable after you read the article and see her pie charts and graphs. (Yay for Pie Charts and Graphs!) In an industry that publishes thousands of young adult books every year, on average only fifteen of those books portray LGBT teens and/or “LGBT issues” such as growing up with same-sex parents or bullying in school.

Yuck.

Anyway, as always, Lo is thoughtful and precise in her consideration of the dilemma. Part of that precision is focusing on big publishers only. The number of LGBT titles from small presses, or those self-published by authors, is very challenging to count and analyze. Including those titles could skew perceptions. It’s important that LGBT books are published, but it’s also important that they have a wide distribution so that they get to teen readers. That’s not to say that LGBT titles at big publishers are better. I like the way that Lo addresses this issue:

“In some ways, I see the largest YA publishers as analogous to the broadcast networks on television. Broadcast networks have historically had the widest reach, even though much quality programming happens these days on cable channels that have smaller distribution in the television marketplace. An analysis of the broadcast networks — or the major publishers — doesn’t negate the contributions that smaller networks (or publishers) can and do make, especially in representation of minorities, but I do think the major networks (and publishers) have a greater responsibility due to their greater reach.”

Short Story Publication News, and Other Stuff

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Gotta say, I’ve had a patch of good stuff happening lately.  From my videotaped reading coming out earlier this week to getting an acceptance from Wilde Oats for my short story Mike’s Pond, I’m feeling pretty proud of meself, and lucky.

Wilde Oats Issue Nine will include my short, fictionalized memoir Mike’s Pond about growing up in suburban Western New York.  The issue comes out in December, and I’ll be sure to do a major blast on the release.

I also have a guest blog up today about working with LGBT teens in the suburbs.  It was a great opportunity offered to me by author/blogger Brandon Shire.  Brandon recently published The Value of Rain, a novel about a gay teen who gets sent to an institution to turn him straight.  He’s donating half of his book sales to LGBT youth agencies, and he was kind enough to do a plug for Pride for Youth, where I work.

I’m still following Yes Gay Ya, and working on an article about diversifying young adult literature.  Since Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith put out their testimonial on censorship, Colleen Lindsay leant her platform The Swivet to Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary Agency to tell a different side of the story.

Stampfel-Volpe writes that the authors leaked the name of the agent they accuse (from Nancy Coffey); the agent never offered representation on the condition of cutting out a gay character or making him straight; and the Genreville article is a mean-spirited publicity stunt.

Only a fly on the wall knows the truth.

But out of the kerfuffle, there’s an opportunity to look critically at the status of LGBT YA, and how we can get more and better representation of LGBTs in literature.  That’s what I’m writing about.  Deep stuff.