Diversity in YA fiction discussion lights up the Internet

A post on Publishers Weekly about an anonymous agent who suggested to YA novelists Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith that they should either make a gay character straight or delete him from the novel entirely is garnering a lot of online comments about the role of agents, the lack of diversity in YA fiction, and how the genre is marketed.

Manija Brown writes:

This isn’t about one agent’s personal feelings about gay people. We don’t know their feelings; they may well be sympathetic in their private life, but regard the removal of gay characters as a marketing issue. The conversation made it clear that the agent thought our book would be an easy sale if we just made that change. But it doesn’t matter if the agent rejected the character because of personal feelings or because of assumptions about the market. What matters is that a gay character would be quite literally written out of his own story.

The discussion has continued on Twitter with the hashtag #YesGayYA. In June, the Twitter hashtag #YAsaves became a worldwide trending topic after a Wall Street Journal editorial suggested that YA fiction had become “too dark.”

Riverdale reaches for the rainbow

The Internet is buzzing with the news that on Sept. 1, Archie Comics’ Veronica will introduce the series’ first openly gay character: a blond-haired, blue-eyed knockout named Kevin Keller. The initial storyline, titled “Isn’t it Bro-mantic?”, has the new Riverdale resident competing in – and winning – a burger-eating contest against Jughead, while newly single Veronica (apparently that whole “marriage” thing didn’t work out) flirts obliviously. The Washingon Post reports that her friends continue to let her squirm:

“Everyone seems to know where Kevin is coming from except Veronica,” says Victor Gorelick, editor in chief of Archie Comics. “They don’t tell Veronica – they let her stew in it for a while. But he hangs out with Jughead – they seem to have a connection as far as food goes.”

So what does this mean for the future of Archie Comics? Archie is already dating Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats, one of the comic’s few black characters, and in the Toronto Star, Jon Goldwater, CEO of Archie Comics, says Kevin will “probably” have a romance at some point. Might that romance be with perpetually single Jughead? Or perhaps shy, nerdy Dilton Doiley?

Unfortunately, no. Despite ongoing suspicions among many that Jughead has been in the closet all this time, the Post quotes Archie writer and artist Dan Parent as saying “traditional Riverdale characters won’t be coming out.”

Lambda Literary Awards finalists include Canadian authors

This morning, the finalists for the LGBT-focused Lambda Literary Awards – or the Lammys – were announced. A total of 462 books were nominated (about 10% more than last year), and 112 finalists have been chosen in 23 different categories, ranging from LGBT anthologies to gay and lesbian erotica. And for the first time in the awards’ 22-year history, the category for bisexual books has been divided into two separate categories: bisexual fiction and bisexual non-fiction.

Among the finalists were four Canadian titles:

• LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror: Fist of the Spider Woman, by Amber Dawn (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Gay Erotica: I Like It Like That: True Tales of Gay Desire, edited by Richard Labonté  & Lawrence Schimel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Transgender: The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, by S. Bear Bergman (Arsenal Pulp Press)
• Lesbian Fiction: This One’s Going to Last Forever, by Nairne Holtz (Insomniac Press)

Winners will be announced in New York City on May 27.

Conservative U.S. media watchers oppose Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim

With the announcement of the American Library Association’s 2010 Youth Media Awards coming up on Jan. 18, conservative media website Newsbusters fears that the list will promote morally unsuitable books.

The website, which calls itself “the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias,” insists the gay-positive books the ALA has recognized in the past are not appropriate for children and teens. From Newsbusters:

The ALA does not exist simply to provide good, wholesome literature to children. It’s quite the opposite, in fact. The ALA is a liberal organization that relentlessly pursues a homosexual agenda, and it relies heavily on “authentic literature” to drive that agenda.

One of the books Newsbusters condemns is Skim, a graphic novel written by Toronto author Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by her cousin, Jillian Tamaki. The book, which depicts the life of a depressed 16-year-old girl, is described by its author as a “gothic Lolita lesbian story.” The conservative website finds this unacceptable:

The ALA claims that “authentic literature” like Skim more accurately portrays the gritty, real American life, and therefore, has more literary merit. It’s a manipulative tactic that has effectively stocked library shelves across the nation with pro-homosexual books that inevitably fall into children’s hands.

It’s somewhat understandable that a book featuring a teacher/student relationship would make them squirm, but the website also objects to much tamer books promoting same-sex marriage. King & King, an untraditional children’s fairy tale about two princes falling in love, is one book Newsbusters fears could influence kids to pursue same-sex relationships.

At the same time, the site takes issue with certain school libraries that refused to stock anti-gay titles such as Marriage on Trial: the Case Against Same-sex Marriage and My Genes Made Me Do It! A Scientific Look at Sexual Orientation.