Guest Blogs – Page 5

A Learning Journey

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 8th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs|Tags: Allies, LGBTQIA, Queer Girls, Queer Guys|

As a librarian and a blogger, I want to be able to purchase, read and promote excellent books. The first step is finding those books. That would seem easy enough, but I also want to make sure that I’m finding a wide range of quality stories providing windows and mirrors for readers. This is where it gets more complicated. We read through a lens of our own experiences and that certainly affects what we see or don’t see as we read. I’m on a journey as a reviewer, librarian, and obviously a human being. I make mistakes – [...]

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Being Queer, Being Latino and Being a Reader: One of Many Latinx Narratives.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:49-05:00June 6th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs, Readers on Reading|Tags: Intersectionality, Latinx, LGBTQIA, Queer Guys|

by Joseph Jess Many of us know how hard it is to find queer fiction, that is why we search the depths of the internet for it, blog about it and even write it. If you read enough of the queer fiction out there you will notice that the vast majority of it centers around White characters. We’ve read and loved these stories and will continue to read and love them but the lack of PoC representation is glaringly apparent. I am a queer Mexican-American who talks (and cries) about books on the internet, with a specific passion [...]

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Seeking the Non-privileged Gaze

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:40:50-05:00June 3rd, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Guest Blogs|Tags: Intersectionality, LGBTQIA|

by Andrew Karre I don’t think a day goes by in kidlit where we’re not in one way or another reminded of the importance of #ownvoices in telling the stories of historically underrepresented, oppressed, and marginalized people. Many authors and critics have been more articulate on that point than I can be—often on this very blog--and I’m grateful for their work and all the ways it informs mine (which is a fancy way of saying the ways it keeps me from making an ass of myself). There is a secondary benefit to more #ownvoices in our literary landscape that [...]

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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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Discovering Aromanticism

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:40:56-05:00February 20th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Bisexual|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 5 – 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 by Alison Hi! I saw GayYA's post on Tumblr about people from the arospec sharing our stories and I thought: "Hey, Alison, you're aromantic. You might as well." So, yeah. Here I am. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alison; I'm a 15 year old cisgendered female. I live in Yorkshire, [...]

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On Writing Aromantic Characters in YA

By Marilla|2020-03-28T13:41:09-05:00February 19th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic, Intersectionality, Representation|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 4 – 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 by Denali Leone Describing my fictional characters to people is often like coming out again. While discussing my manuscript with a coworker, I mentioned my main character is on the aromantic spectrum. After explaining that aromantic individuals experience little or no romantic attraction, my coworker frowned and said, “I don’t give a damn. Readers want romance.” I struggled with how to [...]

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Being Surrounded by Something You’ve Never Quite Understood

By Marilla|2016-05-24T14:49:14-05:00February 18th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Aromantic|

Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series: Day 3 – Previous Posts: Introduction to Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week Series – The Excitement and Frustration of Being “Alone” – Actual Love by Julia W. Looking back on the earlier elementary years, I was incredibly aromantic. I mean, I remember picking a boy to crush on because I thought it was a choice, and I remember thinking specifically "I just want to be his friend." I remember finding common interests with a boy and not understanding why the other girls would tease me about it. I remember others talking about boys in [...]

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