The Treasured Past of Queer Community in YA

I’m thrilled to share a guest post from YA author Kit Rosewater, and it fits neatly into the “What’s Up in YA?” ongoing series exploring popular YA genres, tropes, and themes as seen through the eyes of those writing them. Each guest piece offers insight into a topic that’s beloved–or deserves more attention–in the world of YA, including hallmarks, highlights, and books that exemplify the theme at hand. Ryan Douglass launched the series with a look at YA retellings and reimaginings. Since then, Carolina Ixta explored activism and hope, Stacey Lee offered up her experiences and insights into Gothic YA, Diana Ma dove into the popular world of franchise novels (where were Power Rangers YA books like hers when I was a kid?), and Kody Keplinger wrote about what makes cult stories so dang appealing. Rosewater talks about the inspiration behind her latest work, Buried Feelings. While this piece looks at how treasure hunts inspired Rosewater’s latest novel, it’s also about where and how treasure hunting intersects with queer history and queer community. There’s been a growing world of YA novels that offer deeper perspectives and insights into LGBTQ+ history, and you’ll find several of them...