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On Beyond Stonewall: Young Adult Literature with LGBTQ Content

On Monday, October 3, 2011, over fifty students, staff and community members gathered to hear Dr. Christine Jenkins speak on the topic of the history of LGBTQ in young adult literature at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. Titled “On Beyond Stonewall: Young Adult Literature with LGBTQ Content,” Dr. Jenkins took the audience back to 1969, when the first novel was published (I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip) and discussed the developments of the literature since then up through the present day. Through Dr. Jenkins’ talk, we learned about the development – glacial though its pace may be – of young adult literature with LGBTQ content, and whether or not and to what extent it provides meaningful and accurate reflections for young people.

After her talk, students and other attendees browsed through over 100 LGBTQ YA books that were displayed on the stage. It was quite striking to see a visual presentation of the growth of the literature over the years. The organizers of the event (me – assistant professor Sarah Park and my student assistant Laura Camp) created placards indicating the decades in which the books were published: 1 in 1969, a handful in the 1970s; a handful more in the 1980s and 1990s, and then an explosion in the 2000s. Audience members repeatedly commented on how wonderful it was to see this visual representation and to be able to look through so many of the books.

In an effort to get more of our students involved in YALSA, we displayed YALSA posters on the walls and placed flyers and other materials alongside refreshments prepared by members of the St. Kate’s Library and Information Science program.

Dr. Jenkins, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has written extensively about LGBTQ YA literature. She is the co-author (with Michael Cart) of The Heart Has Its Reasons: Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004(Scarecrow Press, 2006).

The event was hosted by St. Catherine University’s Master of Library and Information Science Program.

Posted on behalf of Sarah Park, Ph.D.

As I was unable to make it to the YA Lit Symposium’s Pre-Conference Session: On Beyond Stonewall, I decided to head to a local bookstore Friday night for an intimate and informal discussion about LGBT issues in teen literature.  Present were authors Malinda Lo (Ash), Lauren Bjorkman (My Invented Life), Megan Frazer (Secrets of Truth and Beauty), Alexandra Diaz (Of all the Stupid Things) and Kirstin Cronn-Mills (The Sky always hears me and the hills don’t mind), all of whose books feature characters dealing with LGBT issues.

After a generous offering of chocolate-covered cherries from Diaz, the authors began by introducing themselves and their books, then dove into answering audience questions.  First up:  for what age are your books appropriate?

The authors all agreed that their books are for teen audiences, though Cronn-Mills described her novel as “edgy” (for sexual frankness and language), and therefore felt it was more for older teens, 14/16 and up.  Amusingly, Lo mentioned that she’d originally written Ash as a young woman out of her teens, but that her editor suggested she lower her age to hit the YA audience, and while Ash is recommended in the U.S .for ages 12 and up, it was published in the U.K. for ages 8-12.  Several authors pointed out that sexual encounters tend to up the recommended age level – for instance, Diaz’s book is often labeled as 14 and up, and contains two sexual encounters, one between a heterosexual couple and another between a same-sex couple.

Also regarding age-appropriateness: Why write for a teen audience?  Also, as YA authors, do you face any legal issues/constraints from your publishers or editors for writing of the sexual experiences of teens under eighteen?

The answers to “why write for this age-level” varied: it’s simply a fun age to write (Diaz); the characters are based on people from the author’s teen experience and so had to be teenagers (Cronn-Mills); and technical reasons, such as a character needing to drive, and so had to be at least sixteen (Frazer).  On the subject of legal issues, all the authors agreed that while none of them had been told to tone down scenes or to take anything out, if publishers or editors were squeamish, it was probably less about the actual content and more about heading off parent complaints and challenges.  Lo pointed out that while it may seem that book challenges are good in that they get a book publicity and make it attractively ‘taboo,’ it’s actually a bad thing, as the controversy might lead to librarians/teachers choosing not to purchase a title in order to avoid the possibility of a challenge.

When asked for their personal favorite LGBTQ books or authors, we in the audience found ourselves nodding along and/or scribbling furiously to keep

The morning began with Michael Cart giving an overview of some of the important social and political events related to LGBTQ issues. Next, Cart and Christine Jenkins presenting a list of all of the books with LGBTQ content from 1969 to 2010. They booktalked many of these, highlighting some trends (resolution by automobile crash, melodrama, impossibly good looking gay men and the women who love them), the breakthrough books, and the real dingers. It was like being back in library school, taking a class on LGBTQ YA Lit, but it was compressed. If you want to spend more time with these books and these issues, check out Cart and Jenkins’ book from Scarecrow Press, The Heart Has It’s Reasons.

If you get your hands on their bibliography and were not in attendance, please note that this is not a list of recommended books. Some are good and some are not so good. During introductions, we each chose books from the list to highlight. Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan and Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and Levithan got the most nods, along with the graphic novel Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. Please add your own recommendations in the comments.

After lunch of sandwiches and delicious chocolate cupcakes, there was an author panel consisting of: Lauren Bjorkman, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Malinda Lo, and Megan Frazer (hey, that’s me!). We talked about what brought us to write our books, the challenges we faced, and what we hope to see in the future. We compiled a list of links that are on Malinda’s site.

After the author panel, I had to dash to the Body Positivity and Fat Acceptance in Contemporary YA Fiction pre-conference (which I hope someone else blogs about, because when I came in they were sharing some awesome ideas and resources), so I cannot give a first-person account of the breakouts that occurred — if anyone else would like to chime in, please do.

If you are in Albuquerque but missed the pre-conference, you can still hear about LGBTQ issues today at 1:30 at the breakout session: The New Gay Teen: Moving Beyond the Issue Novel.