Anatomy of a YA Anthology: THE RADICAL ELEMENT edited by Jessica Spotswood

March 13, 2018 |

Welcome to another edition of “Anatomy of a YA anthology.” I’m really excited to present this interview with Jessica Spotswood, in honor of the release of her new anthology The Radical Element, which hits shelves today. Spotswood’s first anthology, A Tyranny of Petticoats, was a fabulous romp through history and I’m eager to dive into the companion.

But without further ado, Jessica is here to talk about the work behind the creation of her anthology.

Your Name: Jessica Spotswood

Your Anthology’s Name: THE RADICAL ELEMENT: 12 STORIES OF DAREDEVILS, DEBUTANTES, & OTHER DAUNTLESS GIRLS

Anthology Description: 

Respect yourself. Love yourself. As radical a decision for an American girl to make today as it was in 1927, as radical for a student as for a spy, for a printer’s apprentice or a poker player. It’s a radical decision when you’re balancing on the tightrope of being a second-generation immigrant, of neurodivergence, of facing down American racism while loving America. It’s the only decision when you’ve weighed society’s expectations and found them wanting.

With respect and love, twelve of the most talented writers working in young adult literature today —an impressive sisterhood that includes Marieke Nijkamp, Meg Medina, and Anna-Marie McLemore — have created a century and a half of heroines on the margins and in the intersections, young women of all colors and creeds standing up for themselves and their beliefs. They are ignoring their mothers’ well-meant advice and forging their own paths — whether secretly learning Hebrew in early Savannah, using the family magic to pass as white in 1920s Hollywood, or singing in a feminist punk band in 1980s Boston. And they’re asking you to join them.

How did you get your idea/what was the initial spark?

I had enjoyed the process of editing A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS and the publishing team so much that I wanted to edit a second historical anthology with them. This time I wanted to focus on women who were outside the norm in their communities, whether by virtue of race, sexuality, religion, disability, or the profession they were pursuing. And I wanted to seek out more authors who shared marginalized identities with their characters. In A TYRANNY OF PETTICOATS, many of our heroines were brave in big, adventurous ways – robbing banks to feed their families during the Depression or running a saloon in the lawless Alaskan frontier. In THE RADICAL ELEMENT, they’re brave in quieter, more personal ways as they learn what it is they’re willing to fight for, whether they want to explode tradition or embrace it.

What steps did you take from idea to proposal?

I was lucky in that I had a very positive pre-existing relationship with my Candlewick editors, so I proposed this in a very informal way. It was just a paragraph-length pitch and a list of authors I wanted to approach.

Did you use an agent? If you didn’t use an agent, how did you find a publisher?

Yes, I have a fabulous agent, Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret. He sent the proposal to our acquiring editors at Candlewick, Hilary Van Dusen and Miriam Newman.

How did you find your writers?

All of my authors are folks whose work I’d admired. Some of them (Erin Bowman, Mackenzi Lee, Stacey Lee, Meg Medina, Megan Shepherd, Sarvenaz Tash) had written historical fiction I loved. Others had written primarily contemporary fiction (Dahlia Adler, Sara Farizan, Marieke Nijkamp) but I was an enormous fan of their work and was purposely seeking out more intersectional authors this time around. And then there were Dhonielle Clayton and Anna-Marie McLemore, whose work I love, and whose skill in fantasy world-building I suspected would translate beautifully to historical fiction.

How did writers pick their story or essay topic ideas? What process did you as editor use to vet them?

I asked each author to send me a brief, paragraph-length pitch. The parameters were as follows: the story needed to be between 5000-7000 words and setting needed to play a strong role; each story needed to feel like it couldn’t take place anywhere or anywhen else. I used the pitches to ensure that we didn’t have five stories about girls cross-dressing as boys or four stories set during the 1920s. There was one conflict with two pitches that were too close in theme and would have appeared next to each other chronologically, so I asked the author who had turned in her pitch last to rethink it, and she came up with a fantastic, powerful new idea.

As an editor, were you responsible for contracts between you and your writers? Did your publisher or agent handle the administrative/legal side of things?

I am enormously grateful that Candlewick handled all of the contracts, payments, and tax paperwork for the authors. I know that is somewhat unusual.

How did the editing process work between you and your writers?

I sent each writer an edit letter, noting things I loved and thought were working well in each story, and asking questions about things I thought were unclear or could be strengthened. At this stage it’s about the big picture: setting, character motivations, conflict, stakes, pacing. I made suggestions, but tried to emphasize that it’s the author’s call which suggestions to implement and which suggestions to use as a starting point to find a different solution. The authors revised. Then I did a round or two of line edits, focusing in more on the prose and tweaking pacing and character as needed. The authors revised accordingly, and then we were off to copyedits!

Money talk: how did you get paid for your work? 

I got an advance from the publisher. I was paid half of it after we signed the contract, and half when the manuscript was accepted (when it went to copyedits).

How did your writers get paid? 

If the sum total that the publisher paid for the book was X, I received half of X and the writers got the other half of X, split twelve ways, paid directly from the publisher. (I also got paid for my story.)

What role did you take on as editor of the anthology? Were you hands on? Hands off?

I was hands on, but I was also lucky to have the support and guidance of our Candlewick editors. They sent me a paragraph or two of big-picture thoughts on each story, which I incorporated and extrapolated into my edit letters along with my own thoughts and questions. They each did some light line-editing of the stories too, though I did the bulk of it. It’s fantastic to be able to compare notes and bounce ideas off them. Reading is so subjective; it makes me more confident knowing that I’m approaching our authors with a consensus of what is working and what isn’t yet.

How did you communicate with your writers? What sort of information did you share with them and how?

I email them. I’m definitely a fan of sharing information (like positive trade reviews) as they come in. I’m very aware that they’re all working on other projects, and many of them have families and day jobs too, so I try not to email too often, and I try to be very clear about what I need and when I need it by.

Where and how did you decide to include your own work in the collection?

I knew I’d include a story of my own, but I tend to decide what it will be once I’ve collected all of the pitches, so it can fill any gaps in chronology. We had a really big gap this time between 1863 and 1923, so I decided to set my story in 1905 Tulsa. Which worked out well for the heyday of the traveling circus.

Where and how did you come to “direct” the anthology? Did you have an idea of how you wanted pieces to progress early on or did you wait until all pieces were available to you to begin constructing the collection?

The clear choice for us was to organize the story chronologically; that’s how TYRANNY was organized as well. The stories start in 1838 Savannah with a Jewish girl seeking a religious education forbidden to women, and end in 1984 Boston with an Iranian American immigrant who joins a feminist punk band.

How involved was your editor/publisher throughout the creation process, prior to turning in a manuscript?

I went into this a little bit above, but basically: they weighed in with big-picture thoughts, did some light line-editing, answered my questions, and advised me through any hiccups with the contributors. They never emailed the authors directly; I served as the intermediary. I conveyed notes, reminded authors of upcoming deadlines, and kept the authors apprised of any news (cover, jacket copy, on-sale date, etc).

When it came to the package of your anthology, how much say did you have in the cover or design? How much were contributors involved in that part of the process?

I didn’t see a cover it was close to final – but when I did get to see it, I was wowed. I love the pink and yellow; I think it’ll really pop on shelves. I love the girl’s silhouette and the way her hair blows forward; to me it symbolizes progress and momentum, and looks a bit more modern than the silhouette for TYRANNY. So while I wasn’t involved in the design process, I had absolute trust in the team at Candlewick and that trust was totally rewarded. I did help write the jacket copy though! The contributors were not involved, but hopefully they are as pleased with the packaging as I am.

What was your favorite part of the anthology creation process?

I love the editing process. I love being able to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of a piece and having a sense of what questions to ask the author to help make the story stronger. I love getting a revision that just nails it – especially when they address my questions in an unexpected but brilliant way.

What was your least favorite part? 

Hitting “send” on edits! There really is almost as much nervousness in sending an edit letter as in receiving one. I know it can be tricky to get constructive criticism, especially from a colleague. Fortunately, all my authors are gracious and wonderful to work with. But I’m always nervous anyhow.

What were some of the biggest lessons you as an editor learned in creating an anthology?

I didn’t want to assign any author a specific subject/setting, and I don’t want to assume that any author will only want to write characters that share their own marginalization. But I realized at the end of the editing process for THE RADICAL ELEMENT that despite having six authors who identify as queer, we don’t have any stories that feature a f/f romance. I’ve seen that some reviewers are disappointed about that, which is totally valid. Next time I would try to make sure during the pitch process that we didn’t have any obvious gaps in representation.

What were some of the biggest successes?

I’ve been thrilled by our trade reviews so far. We got a starred review from Kirkus that said, “A needed collection to broaden understanding of the many different faces of history.” School Library Journal said, “This collection is extremely informative, intersectional, and inspirational, and will be sure to spark dialogue. Recommended for all young adult collections.”

If you are working on another anthology, what made you want to try your hand at it again? What, if any, parts of the process are/were different in the next project?

My next anthology, TOIL & TROUBLE: 15 STORIES OF WOMEN & WITCHCRAFT, will be out August 28. I love editing, and I find the collaborative nature of anthologies super satisfying, so I knew I wanted to do a third (and now I’d love to do a fourth!). TOIL & TROUBLE was different because I had a co-editor, Tess Sharpe, and we were working with a different publisher (HarlequinTeen).

Anything else you’d like to add?

I’m often asked what I hope readers will take away from THE RADICAL ELEMENT, and it is this: I hope that they will notice that the voices of women – especially women of color and queer women and disabled women – are often missing from our traditional history lessons, and they will ask themselves why, and then ask themselves how they can boost those voices now. And I hope my young readers especially will remember that their voices are important and that it’s vital to speak up.

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Want more posts in the “Anatomy of a YA Anthology?” You can read the previous posts here.

Poet Amanda Lovelace Recommends Great YA Novels in Verse

March 5, 2018 |

I’m really excited to share a guest post today from none other than Amanda Lovelace. You may know her as the author of the Goodreads award winning poetry collection the princess saves herself in this one. Her next book of poetry, the witch doesn’t burn in this one, hits shelves tomorrow (March 6). Amanda loves YA lit and I’m thrilled she’s here to share some of her favorite YA verse novels — and as much as it’s a format I read a lot of, Amanda’s offered up a selection of books I needed to add to my TBR myself.

Without further ado, welcome Amanda!

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In the wake of Rupi Kaur’s two massively successful poetry collections, milk and honey and the sun and her flowers, the world has decided it’s ravenous for more poetry. One of the many reasons why Kaur’s collections resonate with so many is because they both tell a tale, from beginning to end, in what some might consider a series of poem vignettes. Unfortunately, these types of poetry collections don’t seem to be too common (yet!), but you’re in luck, because novels told in the verse style get the same job done, and there’s plenty of them out there for you to devour while you wait for your next poetry fix!

Here are 5 of my favorites (all descriptions from Goodreads), in no particular order:

1) Blood Water Paint by Joy McCullough (March 6th) (YA) – “Her mother died when she was twelve, and suddenly Artemisia Gentileschi had a stark choice: a life as a nun in a convent or a life grinding pigment for her father’s paint.

She chose paint.

By the time she was seventeen, Artemisia did more than grind pigment. She was one of Rome’s most talented painters, even if no one knew her name. But Rome in 1610 was a city where men took what they wanted from women, and in the aftermath of rape Artemisia faced another terrible choice: a life of silence or a life of truth, no matter the cost.”

2) The Lightning Dreamer by Margarita Engle (YA) – “Opposing slavery in Cuba in the nineteenth century was dangerous. The most daring abolitionists were poets who veiled their work in metaphor. Of these, the boldest was Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, nicknamed Tula. In passionate, accessible verses of her own, Engle evokes the voice of this book-loving feminist and abolitionist who bravely resisted an arranged marriage at the age of fourteen, and was ultimately courageous enough to fight against injustice. Historical notes, excerpts, and source notes round out this exceptional tribute.”

3) A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman (YA) – “Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance—so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who’s grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. Then Veda meets Govinda, a young man who approaches dance as a spiritual pursuit. As their relationship deepens, Veda reconnects with the world around her, and begins to discover who she is and what dance truly means to her.”

4) Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott (YA) – “A novel in verse, Paper Hearts is the story of survival, defiance, and friendship. Based on historical events about a group of girls who were slave laborers at the munitions factory in Auschwitz.”

5) Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (MG) – “Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become.”

growing up a word-devourer & avid fairy tale lover, it was only natural that amanda lovelace began writing books of her own, & so she did. when she isn’t reading or writing, she can be found waiting for pumpkin spice coffee to come back into season & binge-watching gilmore girls. (before you ask: team jess all the way.) the lifelong poetess & storyteller currently lives in new jersey with her husband, their bunnycat, & a combined book collection so large it will soon need its own home. she has her B.A. in english literature with a minor in sociology. her first collection, the princess saves herself in this one, won the goodreads choice award for best poetry of 2016.

Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

February 28, 2018 |

Stevie Bell has been accepted into Ellingham Academy, a prestigious boarding school with no formal application – teenagers who want to attend simply write to the school, stating why they think they should be granted admission. Stevie is a true crime aficianado, and the powers-that-be at Ellingham think she belongs there. Stevie is eager to get away from her parents, who want her to focus more on dating and less on murder, but what she really wants is to solve the Ellingham cold case.

Wealthy tycoon and lover of games and riddles Albert Ellingham founded the school in the 1930s as a place where, according to him, “learning is a game.” But soon after it opened, his best intentions backfired in the most horrifying way: his wife and young daughter were kidnapped by someone who left a riddle as a calling card, signing it “Truly Devious.” They were never found and the crime was never solved, though someone was convicted of it (that someone died soon after). Stevie knows this is one of the greatest challenges she could undertake, and she makes it the focus of her senior project.

But things are about to get very real and a lot less cold at Ellingham. One of the students dies under mysterious circumstances, and the incident has overtones of Truly Devious. Stevie doesn’t know who to trust as she faces solving a cold case along with a very hot one. Is it an accident, as the school administrators claim? Or is one of her classmates guilty of a horrible crime? And is it connected to the original Ellingham kidnappings – has Truly Devious returned?

This is such a cool setup. I love mysteries set in two different time periods, where two different crimes could be connected – or maybe not. It adds layers to the mystery and makes it that much more intriguing. Of course, when you have two mysteries within a single book, there’s a lot riding on how they both turn out. Ideally, both solutions are equally ingenious. Ideally, the reader gets two solutions. Less ideally but still acceptable, the reader gets at least one really good solution and then learns that life sometimes doesn’t give you all the answers and is satisfied with forever not knowing the other solution.

Unfortunately for readers of Truly Devious, there are no solutions given here. Neither mystery is solved. Sure, we get one big revelation concerning each near the end, but an actual whodunnit? Nope. The book ends with To Be Continued (and probably a lot of groans of frustration).

By reading through the Goodreads reviews, I can tell you that this doesn’t bother everyone. Readers seem to be split half and half. And despite this glaring flaw of no resolution to a mystery (which is a requirement for the genre, much like a happily ever after in romance), this is a mostly well-written book with an intriguing plot and interesting characters. There’s going to be a sequel, of course, so readers who need solutions to the mysteries they read can wait for that and then read both books together as if they were one very long book (assuming, that is, we get answers in Book 2).

The book is a bit slow to get going; the modern-day death doesn’t happen until about halfway through. Not all of the cast of characters felt distinct, even by the end. The exceptions are the the amateur sleuth (Stevie), the love interest, the prime suspect, and the murdered teen, whose personalities come through clearly on the page. There’s also a bit of politics thrown in in the form of a fictional congressman who shares commonalities with many powerful Republicans today, which I think teens will appreciate – it brings a currency to the story that counterbalances the historical crime. I’m hoping that this facet of the story is explored more fully in the next book, including how and if it connects to either murder.

Ultimately, though, I was Truly Disappointed by this book. Maureen Johnson, I wanted to like it – but why’d you have to leave me in the lurch like this?

Copy provided by the publisher.

Anatomy of a YA Anthology: On ALL OUT, edited by Saundra Mitchell

February 26, 2018 |

“Anatomy of a YA Anthology” is back with a brand new anthology to spotlight with an editor who has had experience with the process of anthology creation before, All Out edited by Saundra Mitchell. All Out hits shelves tomorrow, February 27, and the reviews of the collection have been nothing short of positive.

Your Name

Saundra Mitchell

Your Anthology’s Name

All Out: The Not-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages

Anthology Description

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, ALL OUT tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

How did you get your idea/what was the initial spark?

I had edited an anthology before (Defy the Dark, Harper, 2013) and I was raring to go again. My agent (Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret) mentioned one day that he would love to do a queer historical anthology. I took that as an invitation and dropped a proposal in his inbox the next day.

Where did you begin researching your idea and/or developing the idea into a more clear, focused concept?

After the initial proposal, Jim and I hammered out specifically what ALL OUT should be. We’re both queer, and it was easy to figure out what we didn’t want: the moralistic, miserable stories that were available to US as teens. It was important from the start that ALL OUT be the anthology we wish *we’d* had at sixteen. You know, stories about queer characters having adventures, living in cursed towns, discovering magic, abandoning Hollywood…

The historical aspect was important to us as well– queer history isn’t taught in schools. It’s kept and carried on through universities, but also oral histories. So we wanted an anthology that reflected the fact that there have always been queer teens, even if they were made invisible in the history books. It’s a lighthouse for queer teens: you’re not alone, and you’ve never been alone.

How did you find your writers?

I asked all of my colleagues whom I knew were queer– because I love, love, love working with my friends. Then, I crept around like a creeper asking authors I love (but didn’t know) if they might possibly be queer, because I wanted to invite them to an antho. I really did that. I sent multiple messages on Twitter that started with, “This is the rudest question in the universe, and I apologize, but…”

I visited multiple Twitter chats, including #TransLitChat and #AceLitChat, because the few trans and ace authors I personally know were unavailable. The goal was to make sure that as many kids as possible could see themselves represented in this anthology. I’m delighted to say that I met the wonderful Nilah Magruder through #AceLitChat.

Finally, my agent told me he’d just signed a new author that he thought would be perfect for the project. I had had open calls for the final slot in DEFY THE DARK, because I love working with new, unpublished authors, so I was thrilled to take his suggestion. That’s how we got the extraordinary Tehlor Kay Meija!

How did writers pick their story or essay topic ideas?

I asked each of these authors to write the story they wish they could have read when they were wee queer teens. The only constraint is that it had to take place no later than 1999.

As an editor, were you responsible for contracts between you and your writers? Did your publisher or agent handle the administrative/legal side of things?

I control the vertical! I control the horizontal! All of my authors are contracted to me. My agent and I negotiated all contract changes with contributor agents. I contact the contributors and their agents with all business details, requests and information. I built my schedule based on the publisher’s delivery schedule, and then I held my authors to it. Normally, I would also process all payments and tax documents, but my agency was kind enough to remit checks for me this time. (My personal publishing schedule was so hectic that I was afraid I might miss something.) When it comes time for royalty statements, I’ll also be generating and sending those out, as well.

How did the editing process work between you and your writers?

I am a hands-on editor when it comes to anthologies. Some authors bounced ideas off of me; some went away to write their stories, and returned with them. No matter how I got the first drafts, I carefully read each one. I wrote revision letters and in-line notes on the first drafts.

This is the first point where I involved sensitivity readers. Many authors wrote their own representation, and many included others in their stories, as well. So we wanted to make sure that we got it as right as we possibly could. In addition to Sensitivity Readers, I also referenced a variety of inclusivity sites and guidelines like Disability in Kidlit and We Need Diverse Books.

I talked to a few authors on Skype, because they preferred to go over notes that way. I think I also did a couple of Google Chats with some authors, because real-time discussion is more organic than long e-mail chains. Basically, a pretty standard first draft/first letter situation, I think.

Once an author finished their revisions, I re-read. If there were any remaining major issues, I wrote another letter or more in-line notes. Mostly, at this point, though, it was line editing and minor suggestions. There was one author at this point who requested another sensitivity pass, because she was concerned about the trans representation in her story.

I am *so* glad she followed her instincts and spoke up on that. I sourced three more transgender readers for it, and they all zeroed in on a particular passage. I had missed it on multiple reads, but the trans readers found it instantly.

Once I had all the stories, I sent them on to TS Ferguson, my editor at HarlequinTEEN for his pass. He had very few notes (yay!) and returned them to me with copyediting. When it came to copyedits, I did most of them, but I passed them on to individual authors if there were rewriting queries, or queries where I felt the author might have strong feelings. (Do you want this to be a semi-colon, or a comma? Did you mean to use this word twice here? Is this the best word here?)

I gathered all the copyedited stories and sent them back to HarlequinTEEN, and off it went to become a book! When the typeset pages came back, I passed PDFs to each author so they could have one more look at their story. This is when we discovered that all of the primary-language, non-English words had been italicized. I asked TS to change those back, which was no problem! But it was a fun challenge, because one story, which is written in English with primary-Spanish speakers and Spanish words (not italicized) which also included secondary-French language (italicized!) I asked for a third-pass copyedit on that story, just to focus on the language.

(Seriously, y’all. This is how the sausage gets made!)

Money talk: how did you get paid for your work? How did your writers get paid?

HarlequinTEEN won the auction for ALL OUT, and they paid me a standard advance. Half on signing, and then the balance on Delivery & Acceptance.

I split the total amount of the advance in half. One half was mine, the other half was split among the contributors. I paid them on the same schedule that I got paid: half on signing, half on D&A. This is how royalties will be paid out, as well– the authors will be paid when I get paid.

What role did you take on as editor of the anthology? Were you hands on? Hands off?

I try to be the editor that the authors need. So if they want me down in the trenches with them, that’s where I’ll be. If they want to go away and hide, and come back with a story, I leave them alone. I try not to be intrusive; I try to time reminders and or requests carefully, so no one is overwhelmed. For me, the anthology is a big project. For the contributors, this is one story they’re writing, in the midst of their primary career.

How did you communicate changes and/or concerns between writer and your editor/publisher?

I have had such a great relationship with TS at HarlequinTEEN. He has treated me as the editor and helm of this project from the beginning. Any questions, problems or issues I had, I felt 100% comfortable taking directly to him as a peer. He put a lot of trust in me, and allowed me to steer this collection on my own, and I really appreciate that. (I do want to say that this was the same relationship I had with the editor on DEFY THE DARK, as well. Anne Hoppe is a dream of a collaborative editor!)

When it came to the package of your anthology, how much say did you have in the cover or design? How much were contributors involved in that part of the process?

The contributors weren’t involved in the package and design, except to the extent that I sent them comps so they could see where the cover was headed, and let them know what the final cover was. I feel like I had a lot of say in the cover design– TS and HarlequinTEEN took my and my agent’s suggestions seriously. We went through a lot of different covers, trying to get just the right one. (And if you’ve seen an advance copy of ALL OUT, you’ll note it has a different cover from the final. Everybody worked SO hard to get this cover right!)

What was your favorite part of the anthology creation process?

I love, love, love reading the stories. I really do. The magical thing about anthologies for me is that I get to ask my favorite authors to write stories *just for me*. It’s a book lover’s dream.

What was your least favorite part?

Ugh. I hate it when I have to ask an author to start over, or to radically change what’s on the page. It’s demoralizing as an author to get those requests, and I hate to give them. But, through two anthologies I’ve learned, sometimes those reboots turn into the most extraordinary stories in the collection.

What were some of the biggest lessons you as an editor learned in creating an anthology?

I’ve learned so much about how other authors work. How their language works, how they draft. What the difference between their initial idea and their final piece can be. I’ve also learned that the thing I think is the best fix sometimes isn’t. I encouraged one author here to just retool the ending of a story. They decided to start over… and their new story blew me away. It’s a good reminder that my job as editor is to help the author shine.

If you aren’t already working on another anthology, would you do another one? Why/why not?

Honestly, I’m an anthology maniac. If I could start another one today, I would. I have a concept and a wish-list of authors sitting on my hard drive right now. Alas, I must wait. ALL OUT comes out February 27, and I actually have several novels under contract that I need to work on as well. But I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love working with other authors. I love creating collections that I think teens will love. The process is frustrating and chaotic and infuriating and exhilarating and delicious. I hope there are so many more to come!

Booklist: Short Story Collections

February 21, 2018 |

There have been a ton of great short story collections published within the last year. Kelly has been spotlighting the creation of several of them in her Anatomy of a YA Anthology series, which also includes collections of essays. Like the rest of YA, short story collections are slowly growing more diverse in all areas – race, gender, and sexuality in particular. The books on this list would all serve as great refreshers for your library’s short story collections for teens. All are 2017 or 2018 publications or won awards in 2018. What others would you recommend?

Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet

Whether or not you believe in fate, or luck, or love at first sight, every romance has to start somewhere. MEET CUTE is an anthology of original short stories featuring tales of “how they first met” from some of today’s most popular YA authors.

Readers will experience Nina LaCour’s beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard’s glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon’s imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno’s story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick’s charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.

This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy edited by Ameriie

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains’ points of view.

These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like “Medusa,” Sherlock Holmes, and “Jack and the Beanstalk” provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains’ acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage–and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid’s voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy’s bidding but only for a terrible price.

Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love.

Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, these tales will transport you to lands both familiar and strange—to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.

This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, all of them lavishly illustrated with art that changes with each turn of the page, culminating in six stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves.

Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology edited by Danielle Binks

The YA event of the year. Bestsellers. Award-winners. Superstars. This anthology has them all. With brilliantly entertaining short stories from beloved young adult authors Amie Kaufman, Melissa Keil, Will Kostakis, Ellie Marney, Jaclyn Moriarty, Michael Pryor, Alice Pung, Gabrielle Tozer, Lili Wilkinson and Danielle Binks, this all-new collection will show the world exactly how much there is to love about Aussie YA.

Fresh Ink edited by Lamar Giles (August 14)

Careful–you are holding fresh ink. And not hot-off-the-press, still-drying-in-your-hands ink. Instead, you are holding twelve stories with endings that are still being written–whose next chapters are up to you.

Because these stories are meant to be read. And shared.

Thirteen of the most accomplished YA authors deliver a label-defying anthology that includes ten short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play. This collection will inspire you to break conventions, bend the rules, and color outside the lines. All you need is fresh ink.

Feral Youth edited by Shaun David Hutchinson

At Zeppelin Bend, an outdoor education program designed to teach troubled youth the value of hard work, cooperation, and compassion, ten teens are left alone in the wild. The teens are a diverse group who come from all walks of life, and they were all sent to Zeppelin Bend as a last chance to get them to turn their lives around. They’ve just spent nearly two weeks learning to survive in the wilderness, and now their instructors have dropped them off eighteen miles from camp with no food, no water, and only their packs, and they’ll have to struggle to overcome their vast differences if they hope to survive.

Inspired by The Canterbury Tales, Feral Youth features characters, each complex and damaged in their own ways, who are enticed to tell a story (or two) with the promise of a cash prize. The stories range from noir-inspired revenge tales to mythological stories of fierce heroines and angry gods. And while few of the stories are claimed to be based in truth, they ultimately reveal more about the teller than the truth ever could.

All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell (February 27)

Take a journey through time and genres and discover a past where queer figures live, love and shape the world around them. Seventeen of the best young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written diverse historical fiction for teens.

From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean edited by Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar, and Anita Roy

Be transported into dystopian cities and other-worldly societies. Be amazed and beguiled by a nursery story with a reverse twist, a futuristic take on TV cooking shows, a playscript with tentacles – and more, much more. Plunge in and enjoy!

A collection of sci-fi and fantasy writing, including six graphic stories, showcasing twenty stellar writers and artists from India and Australia: Isobelle Carmody, Penni Russon, Justine Larbalestier, Margo Lanagan, Lily Mae Martin, Kuzhali Manickavel, Prabha Mallya, Annie Zaidi, Kate Constable, Vandana Singh, Mandy Ord, Priya Kuriyan, Manjula Padmanabhan, Samhita Arni, Alyssa Brugman, Nicki Greenberg and Amruta Patil.

Love Beyond Body, Space, and Time edited by Hope Nicholson

“Love Beyond, Body, Space, and Time” is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. These stories range from a transgender woman trying an experimental transition medication to young lovers separated through decades and meeting far in their own future. These are stories of machines and magic, love, and self-love.

Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens edited by Marieke Nijkamp (September 18)

A YA Anthology of short stories featuring disabled teens, written by #OwnVoices disabled authors. The stories reflect a range of genres and disabilities; contributors include bestselling authors Kody Keplinger and Francisco X. Stork, as well as newcomers Fox Benwell, Keah Brown, and more.

Welcome Home edited by Eric Smith

Welcome Home collects a number of adoption-themed fictional short stories, and brings them together in one anthology from a diverse range of celebrated Young Adult authors. The all-star roster includes Edgar-award winner Mindy McGinnis, New York Times bestselling authors C.J. Redwine (The Shadow Queen) and William Ritter (Jackaby), and acclaimed YA authors across all genres, like Adi Alsaid, Lauren Gibaldi, Sangu Mandanna, Karen Akins, and many more.

The Radical Element edited by Jessica Spotswood

In an anthology of revolution and resistance, a sisterhood of YA writers shines a light on a century and a half of heroines on the margins and in the intersections.

To respect yourself, to love yourself—should not have to be a radical decision. And yet it remains as challenging for an American girl to make today as it was in 1927 on the steps of the Supreme Court. It’s a decision that must be faced whether you’re balancing on the tightrope of neurodivergence, finding your way as a second-generation immigrant, or facing down American racism even while loving America. And it’s the only decision when you’ve weighed society’s expectations and found them wanting. In The Radical Element, twelve of the most talented writers working in young adult literature today tell the stories of the girls of all colors and creeds standing up for themselves and their beliefs—whether that means secretly learning Hebrew in early Savannah, using the family magic to pass as white in 1920s Hollywood, or singing in a feminist punk band in 1980s Boston. And they’re asking you to join them.

Take Us to Your Chief and Other Stories by Drew Hayden Taylor

A forgotten Haudenosaunee social song beams into the cosmos like a homing beacon for interstellar visitors. A computer learns to feel sadness and grief from the history of atrocities committed against First Nations. A young Native man discovers the secret to time travel in ancient petroglyphs. Drawing inspiration from science fiction legends like Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, Drew Hayden Taylor frames classic science-fiction tropes in an Aboriginal perspective.

The nine stories in this collection span all traditional topics of science fiction–from peaceful aliens to hostile invaders; from space travel to time travel; from government conspiracies to connections across generations. Yet Taylor’s First Nations perspective draws fresh parallels, likening the cultural implications of alien contact to those of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas, or highlighting the impossibility of remaining a “good Native” in such an unnatural situation as a space mission.

Infused with Native stories and variously mysterious, magical and humorous, Take Us to Your Chief is the perfect mesh of nostalgically 1950s-esque science fiction with modern First Nations discourse.

Three Sides of a Heart edited by Natalie C. Walker

You may think you know the love triangle, but you’ve never seen love triangles like these. These top YA authors tackle the much-debated trope of the love triangle, and the result is sixteen fresh, diverse, and romantic stories you don’t want to miss.

This collection, edited by Natalie C. Parker, contains stories written by Renee Ahdieh, Rae Carson, Brandy Colbert, Katie Cotugno, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Bethany Hagan, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, EK Johnston, Julie Murphy, Garth Nix, Natalie C. Parker, Veronica Roth, Sabaa Tahir, and Brenna Yovanoff.

A teen girl who offers kissing lessons. Zombies in the Civil War South. The girl next door, the boy who loves her, and the girl who loves them both. Vampires at a boarding school. Three teens fighting monsters in an abandoned video rental store. Literally the last three people on the planet.

What do all these stories have in common? The love triangle.

Behind the Song edited by K. M. Walton

A song to match everyone’s heartbeat.

A soaring melody, a pulse-pounding beat, a touching lyric: Music takes a moment and makes it a memory. It’s a universal language that can capture love, heartbreak, loss, soul searching, and wing spreading—all in the span of a few notes. In Behind the Song, fourteen acclaimed young adult authors and musicians share short stories and personal essays inspired by the songs, the albums, the musicians who move them.

So cue up the playlist and crank the volume. This is an anthology you’ll want to experience on repeat.

2018 Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide edited by Corie and Sean Weaver

What’s it like to be a space station detective? To be homesick for Mars? What do you say when your robot gets you in trouble?

Join the adventures of a diverse cast of characters in this year’s Young Explorer’s Adventure Guide, featuring award-winning writers alongside great new voices. If you’re lucky, you might even learn how to raise a dragon from a chicken egg or where to find the best space treasure.