-->
young adult book reviews & more

Openly YA recap

A couple of weeks ago, I went to McNally Jackson for what I knew would be a fascinating panel. Authors Aaron Hartzler, Bill Konigsberg, David Levithan, and Alex London participated in this event as part of their Openly YA tour.

Alex London, Bill Konigsberg, Aaron Hartzler, and David Levithan

The authors each read a bit from his new latest book (or in David Levithan's case, both his newest book and his first), and then they got down to discussion. As someone who is deeply interested in expanding representation and diversity in young adult, I really enjoyed getting to hear these authors talk about the history and evolving presence of LGBT in YA. It was especially cool that all of these books are so different: Proxy by Alex London is a dystopian featuring a gay protagonist (where being gay is not central to the plot), Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg is about labels and identity, Aaron Hartzler's Rapture Practice is his memoir about growing up in a very Christian family, and David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing bridges the gap between different generations of the gay community and the differences in their respective experiences. So really, there's something for everyone, and that's really exciting!

I had a great time listening to these wonderful authors chat at this event and was happy to run into my former boss from when I was interning at Scholastic (she is Bill Konigsberg's editor). In all, it was a really wonderful event!

1 munch(es) :

Krystianna said...

I've never been to a young adult book event, so I'm glad that you got to go to one! It seems like a lot of fun. :)
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

Post a Comment

Let the munching begin.