Publishers want LGBTQ characters for children’s books

Publishers of children’s and young adult books have put out a call to authors and agents for manuscripts focusing on LGBTQ characters.  (The acronym standing for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning.)

From Tom Gilson, Parents Be Warned: YA Fiction Agents, Publishers Now Pushing for ‘Stories with Diverse and LGBTQ Main Characters’ | The Stream:

Agents, publishers, and their customers at schools and libraries are looking for “more diverse books.”

There is a “shift in thinking” among agents for children’s book writers, says Julie Masis in the February 2016 Writer’s Digest. Agents are seeing a demand for “stories with diverse and LGBTQ main characters” “more LGBT YA [Young Adult]. Esp. if you have a trans protagonist.” “Would love LGBT YA realistic sports fiction for ‘tween boys with gritty, raw, and honest depiction of LGBT athletes today.”

Not just agents but editors are looking for LGBT materials for young adults. The reason given is disturbing. The Writer’s Digest article quotes literary agent Annie Bomke, “I think these books are not so much to be informative, but to give children who might be leaning in that direction a sense that this is normal, they’re not alone. Also, it’s good for [heterosexual kids ] to see a diverse range of people so that they can recognize it as not them, but still normal and OK.”

[Keep reading. . .] 

HT:  Paul McCain