Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.
Summers are traditionally slower in the world of publishing. That was certainly the case in the world of YA, where both new books and news about YA were quieter than in the previous season. While August didn’t have a lot of new YA news to share, what last month provided is worth reading through. We’ve got the insights of Tiffany D. Jackson upon winning a major award for her young adult literature, a reflection on Twilight as it prepares to celebrate 20 years, and more.
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- Here’s the fantastic speech that YA legend Tiffany D. Jackson gave when accepting her Margaret A. Edwards Award for outstanding contribution to the field.
- Love science fiction and fantasy? Then read your way into all of August’s new releases in YA.
- The Kirkus Prize finalists were announced last week and the slate of titles in young people’s literature is great–and it includes one of my favorite YA books of 2025, Death in the Jungle.
- Everything there is to know about season two of Netflix’s adaptation of My Life With The Walter Boys.
- While this story is about what’s filming this summer in Vancouver, British Columbia, it’s got a little bit of YA news tucked in it. Carley Fortune’s YA book Every Summer After is being adapted into a television series. The title for the adaptation is a little different, Every Year After.
- Tune into a fantastic conversation with Junauda Petrus, YA author who is also Minneapolis’s Poet Laureate.
- Quill & Quire offers their preview of fall youth literature to know. I love looking at what outlets outside America are highlighting.
- I got to nerd all the way out about Twilight turning 20 years old in the latest issue of School Library Journal. While this piece is celebratory, it’s more about the legacy and cultural impact of the YA juggernaut.
- Reading these reviews of YA throwback titles is always a treat. Reactor goes all in (all out?) for R. L. Stine’s Curtains and I Saw You That Night!
- Not all of the books on this roundup of queer road trip stories are YA, but the YA titles included are excellent picks.
- Last Chance Live hit my radar earlier this summer, and it looks like a powerful, too-timely YA read about reality TV, the carceral system, and more.
- Over on Parents, the writer of this piece asked her daughter to talk about the books that she and other teens she knows are reading right now. I love pieces like this because they tend to highlight books that don’t always see the spotlight and/or don’t focus exclusively on the front list. In the case of this list, it’s not even all YA books.
- This year’s Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, given during WorldCon to an excellent example of speculative fiction, has been announced. Check out the winner and finalists.
- YA author Ava Reid talks with Variety magazine about the conclusion of her duology (A Theory of Dreaming) and what’s coming next.
Looking for some more YA book talk? Don’t forget to tune into the latest episodes of the Hey YA podcast.
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