I thought this was on Wednesday, but it turns out International Women’s Day is today! Thus, my blog post isn’t late after all. Yay! This year, the campaign theme is #BalanceforBetter. The purpose of International Women’s Day is to celebration women’s accomplishments, raise awareness against bias, and take action for equality. What better way to do this than celebrating some fantastic women authors?
In the realm of young adult literature, there are a lot of great women authors definitely worth celebrating. And I’ve even gotten to meet some of them (and have plans to meet some soon!). I hope that someday I can call myself an author and be a part of their company. But for now, I’m just admiring from afar.
YA Authors to Celebrate for International Women’s Day
Laurie Halse Anderson
Author of Speak (and soon-to-be-published Shout), Anderson is an advocate for strong girls’ voices in YA. She also works hard at the inclusive of diverse voices in YA, working toward intellectual freedom for books. And I get to see her next week!
Angie Thomas
A fairly new voice in the YA community, Thomas made a splash with her debut The Hate U Give. And it was with that book that she became an auto-buy author for me.
Rainbow Rowell
In my book, Rowell is probably the queen of relationships in YA novels. She has the ability to make your heart melt, no matter the situation they’re in. Plus, her new book comes out this fall!
Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry was also on the scene early, with books like The Giver and Number the Stars. The Giver was an early runner of YA dystopian fiction and should be a must-read for any fans of YA dystopian lit. Plus, there’s now a graphic novel version!
S.E. Hinton
You can’t have a list of YA women writers without including the author that published the book that started it all, The Outsiders. I haven’t read anything else by her, but without her book, a lot of YA lit wouldn’t exist today.
Maggie Stiefvater
Stiefvater’s lyrical writing is sure to stick in your mind, no matter what series that you read. She has a new book coming out this fall as well! So many new books coming out this fall.
Judy Blume
Judy Blume is another name that’s important when looking at YA lit, as her books made a positive impact on the genre and are still widely read today, despite being heavily censored.