Yesterday. National Coming Out Day. And yesterday, I wrote that “Queer black boys need books”. As do all queer Native American boys and boys of color. Who are the Native American and authors of color that write for teens? I have to admit I couldn’t find a single gay Native American author to add the the list, but all around it’s slim pickings. Thank goodness the limited quantity is made up for by high quality books.
Listed below are gay authors of color and the MG or YA books they’ve written.
Well, you know I have to mention Myles Johnson author of Large Fears (Aug 2014)!
Please mention any I’ve mention in the comment section and i’ll add them to the post.
Craig Laurance Gidney
Bereft, Tiny Satchell Press 2013
Rigoberto Gonález
Antonio’s Card, Children’s Book Press 2005
The Mariposa Club, Alyson Books 2009
Mariposa Gown, Lethe Press 2012
Mariposa U, Tincture 2015
Randall Kenan
A Visitation of Spirits: a novel, Grove Press 1989
Charles Rice Gonzalez
Chulito, Magnus Books 2011
Shawn Steward Ruff
Findlander, Quote Editions 2008
Alex Sanchez
Rainbow Boys, Simon and Schuster 2001
Rainbow High, Simon and Schuster 2003
So Hard to Say, Simon and Schuster 2004
Rainbow Road, Simon and Schuster 2005
Getting It, Simon and Schuster 2006
Bait, Simon and Schuster 2009
Boyfriends with Girlfriends, Simon and Schuster 2011
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, Cinco Puntos Press 2004
A Perfect Season for Dreaming/Un Tiempo Perfecto Para Soñar, Cinco Puntos 2008
He Forgot to Say Goodbye, Simon and Schuster 2008
Last Night I Sang to the Monster, Cinco Puntos Press 2009
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Simon and Schuster 2012
Steven Dos Santos
The Culling, Flux 2013
The Sowing, Flux 2014
Rakesh Satyal
Blue Boy, Kensington 2009
Shyam Selvadurai
Funny Boy, W. Morrow and Co. 1996
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea, Tundra Press 2005
Vivek Shraya
God Loves Hair, 2010, Arsenal Pulp
Adam Silvera
More Happy Than Not, SohoTeen 2015
Bil Wright
Sunday You Learn to Box, Scribner 1998
When the Black Girl Sings, Simon Pulse 2007
Putting Makeup On the Fat Boy, Simon and Schuster 2011
Paul Yee
Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World,
1989
Ghost Train, Douglas & McIntyre 1996
The Bone Collector’s Son, Michael Cavendish 2004
A Song for Ba, Groundwood Books 2004
Learning to Fly, Orca Book Publishing 2011
What Happened This Summer, Tradewind Books, 2006
Shu-Li and Tamara, Tradewind Books, 2007
Shu-Li and Diego, Tradewind Books, 2009
Blood and Iron: Building the Railway, Scholastic Canada 2010
Money Boy, Groundwood Books, 2011
Chinese Fairytale Feasts: A Literary Cookbook, Crocodile Books 2014
Cotton Quilts 
And the brand new YA novel by Adam Silvera, MORE HAPPY THAN NOT (Soho Teen, 2015)!
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I started to add Adam and started to do something else. UGH! Thanks, Lyn!
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Thanks for compiling this list, Edi! As a genre fiction nerd, I would add Steven Dos Santos ( http://latinosinkidlit.com/2014/07/07/ya-author-steven-dos-santos-talks-sci-fi-diversity-and-overcoming-obstacles/ ).
If you’re interested in books with YA main characters and YA appeal (but not officially published as YA), there’s Rakesh Satyal’s BLUE BOY and Shyam Selvadurai’s FUNNY BOY.
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Thanks, Kate. I’ll add all the titles you’ve mentioned, I just don’t think there are enough of these books!
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