We stand by, beside and behind Alison Evans and all non-binary, genderqueer, gender neutral and gender non-conforming persons in the LoveOzYA community and beyond. Last week, Alison Evans was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2018 for their YA fiction novel Ida. An incredible and well deserved achievement. Then some … Continue reading In Solidarity With Alison Evans
Saying Goodbye: The Place of Death in Queer YA
CW: Death, grief, mention of suicide. Extra warning: spoilers ahead, avert your gaze if you do not want spoilers to Alicia Tuckerman's, If I Tell You, or Adam Silvera's, They Both Die at the End. I read two YA books over the Christmas break, and both of them involved the death of a Queer main … Continue reading Saying Goodbye: The Place of Death in Queer YA
Year in Review
Well, we certainly got our words out this year. First up, a huge and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported us, followed us, boosted us and reached out to us this year. Without you, none of the following would have been achieved. So go on, give yourself a big hug. A bigger one … Continue reading Year in Review
Increasing Queer Representation in YA through Genre Fiction
Where are all my space gays at? There has been some discussion lately about the lack of perceived marketability of Queer YA novels featuring f/f (female/female) relationships, particularly in the American market. This post will discuss how that affects us here in Australia, how our own Australian authors/publishers have a slightly different trend than our … Continue reading Increasing Queer Representation in YA through Genre Fiction
He/Him
We are super excited to announce that the winning story in the 2017 OutStanding Short Story Competition was an AusQueerYA story, written by Get YA Words Out founder, Stacey Malacari. You can read all the winning entries here, and read the winning story He/Him below. The theme of this year's competition was 'It's Complicated'. He/Him … Continue reading He/Him
You Are Not Alone: Why Queer YA Matters
The Australian Queer community is facing a tough battle right now. Our identity, lifestyle and basic human rights are being publicly debated, as though we are a new species of cane toad, rather than human beings. Many people in the Queer community have logged off, powered down and are patiently waiting out the storm. This … Continue reading You Are Not Alone: Why Queer YA Matters
How Do I Get a Book Published?
Start Here. You've done the hard yards and finished a manuscript. Way to go! You're feeling good about it. This could be a best-seller. This could win all the literary awards. This could at least get a few 3 star reviews on Goodreads. You decide you want to publish your novel. But how? There are … Continue reading How Do I Get a Book Published?
Non-Review: Finding Nevo, Nevo Zisin
Finding Nevo, Nevo Zisin (2017) This review is taking on a different format to our usual reviews. That is because this book is non-fiction. Finding Nevo is not a 'story', it is a person's life. It doesn't seem right, or at all necessary, to critique this novel with the view of deconstructing 'good' and 'bad' … Continue reading Non-Review: Finding Nevo, Nevo Zisin