Authors of LGBTQ+ YA Fiction Discuss Intersectional Representation
I asked ten authors of Young Adult (YA) LGBTQ+ fiction whether they felt any type of intersectional or otherwise diverse queer representation was lacking in the current market. There was a clear agreement that narratives centering cis gay boys/ men were the easiest to find (particularly by white authors about white characters). Unanimously, these authors also found that there are large gaps in representation for Trans people, queer people of colour – especially indigenous queer people – and disabled queer people. Naz Kutub, author of the queer Indian-Muslim boy-led The Loophole summarised this in that there is a lack of representation in YA LGBTQ+ books for anyone who is “not [a] white and cis boy”.
Becky Albertalli has been a large part of shaping the YA LGBTQ+ book space since 2015 when she published Simon vs. The Homosapiens’ Agenda which was later adapted into Love Simon (2018). Albertalli admits that she is “sure [her] understanding of the landscape is biased and incomplete” but she has “noticed particular gaps in representation” for “Indigenous queer people (especially trans and two-spirit people)”. Similarly, Xan Van Rooyen, author of the independently published My Name is Magic said that they “struggled to find stories featuring indigenous trans/non-binary/two-spirit characters”.
Michif/white author of 2022’s The Summer of Bitter and Sweet Jen Ferguson echoed these sentiments by stating that she “can pretty much name the only Indigenous queer representation in YA”, listing herself, Darcie Little Badger and H.E. Edgmon. She wants to see “many people doing honour to these representations [so] that it's not only a handful of nameable authors in these spaces”.
YA LGBTQ+ fiction has further problems in regards to representation according to Jasmine Skye – author of the forthcoming Daughter of the Bone Forest – who also observed that there are “very few BIPOC queer stories in fantasy or sci fi or other speculative genres” compared to their white counterparts. In regards to further BIPOC LGBTQ+ representation, Sher Lee (author of the upcoming Fake Dates and Mooncakes) highlighted the “lack of Asian leads which is why [she is] committed to featuring Asian characters in [her] stories”.
Aaron Aceves, author of This is Why They Hate Us, says he’s “seen very little [of] chronically ill queer characters” though he has “seen a promising number of stories about mental illness” but that there is “a dearth of disabled queer characters”. This was also observed by Skye who said that there is a “lack of disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent queer characters (especially main characters) in both contemporary and speculative [fiction]”. Jonny Garza-Villa (author of Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun) noted that there was a particular shortage of “ stories focusing on disabled queer young people who aren’t white” from which it can be discerned that the more intersectional that BIPOC LGBTQ+ stories become, the more niche and harder to find they become due to biases (racism, transphobia, ableism, etc.) within publishing – particularly traditional publishing.
Previously self-published, now independent press author Cameron James (Cassidy is Queen) says that they “don’t see nearly enough disability rep, nor chronically ill but [that they] do see some coming over the horizon”. James’ observations may be an indicator that independent, self and small publishing is more progressive than traditional publishing and is perhaps the only place that disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent queer writers can find their place in the market due to biases within the much more capital driven traditional publishing platform.
James also stated that, within the YA LGBTQ+ market, there is a need for “more gender identity fiction but [authors] need to write the stories [that they] needed as children”. Narratives centering characters under the Trans umbrella (including Non-Binary and Agender gender identities) are discernably less common than their cis counterparts; Albertalli noticed a particular shortage of “trans women (particularly BIPOC trans women)” in YA LGBTQ+ fiction. Garza-Villa stated that there is also a need for “stories focusing on non-binary young people who aren’t white”.
Written by Lewis Hughes
Edited by FalWriting