Life as an everyday adventure

Jensen’s Book Riot post on how to support rad lady authors is a good place to start for those who want to actively change how they read and how they perceive the literary world around the. Once you decide to change, doing things she suggests – tracking your reading, buying books from lady authors at your local bookstore, nominating them for awards when applicable – are all productive and excellent uses of your time, especially her calls to note intersectionality in your reading.

(If you are only reading straight able-bodied cisgender white women, you are contributing to larger problems of ableism and homophobia and racism that still exist in YA and, as I’ve mentioned, are too prevalent and numerous and complicated for me to include in this piece without turning it into a full-length book instead of a novella-length article.)

But don’t take what you should do from me.

Take it from some badass lady YA authors who know their stuff, and who had some fantastic advice when asked.

“Read lots of books featuring underrepped groups by authors from those groups,” said Justina Ireland, author of Promise of Shadows. “Promote #ownvoices books, because sexism is just one facet of larger forms of oppression within our society. And if your feminism isn’t intersectional, it’s really just self interest.”