The State of Queer Young Adult Fiction

A quick background on the state of queer YA publishing today

In the last five or ten years, the rate of queer books being published has exploded. Not only is there a market of people willing to buy and read these books in public at last, but publishers are finally opening their doors to them - and more importantly, authors are starting to write them. It's still a tragically small percentage of all young adult fiction, but the number of good books featuring main characters with gay, lesbian, transgender and other identities is growing.

Overwhelming, the majority of queer teen fiction features gay male characters. But there are plenty of lesbian books, and - well, not many, but a few good books about transgender characters and assorted other identities.

Thankfully, gay and lesbian teen fiction is moving on from being mostly 'issue' books (all about the character being gay), though there's still a high chance that any given book will be about them coming out and dealing with their sexuality.

Transgender and genderqueer books are still mostly about the character being transgender, or intersexed, or something fluid in the middle of the genders. The general anthologies and 'how to cope' books are obviously all about coping with, and figuring out, one's sexuality and identity.

If you're a teacher or librarian, check out the list of important book and GLBTQ dates for the best times to hand out reading assignments and set up book displays!