[W]e know precisely why it is that women and their influence within YA fiction—their building of YA fiction—falls into the margins. We know why it is that men like John Green write Love Stories and women like Sarah Dessen write Romances. We know why it is that a World War II novel like Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief sees much more recognition and receives more accolades than Ruta Sepetys’ World War II novel Between Shades of Gray. It’s not the quality. It’s the way the system is built that makes women the outsiders in the category of fiction they made.
Kelly Jensen, A Censored History of Ladies in YA Fiction
This is an incredible article about the work women writers have done to make YA what it is today—and how often and how HARD we work to we neglect that very important part of the category’s history—especially when we want to credit it with anything good.
Or, as Kelly so eloquently put it, “S. E. Hinton’s story foreruns those of other women in YA fiction. While YA was allowed to grow and develop, too often, the work women did laying down the tracks to its success was recognized not on its own merits but because of the approval of their expressed work by men.”
(via summerscourtney)
