My first publisher event of the year was Stripes’ EqualiTea. I was excited to be given a copy of LGBTQ+ anthology Proud, edited by Juno Dawson. It’s full of stories, art and poems from authors and illustrators who are part of the community, including Tanya Byrne, Moïra Fowley-Doyle, David Levithan, Simon James Green and many more.

Continue reading this review over on Pretty Books: https://prettybooks.co.uk/2019/05/05/mini-reviews-the-paper-hearts-society-proud-the-weight-of-water/

A strong work focused around LGBTQ+ youth and how to have pride and faith in yourself and in your own identity. Some stories had their strengths and their weaknesses but globally it was a wonderfully compiled anthology. I find some of my favorite authors in it such as Moïra Fowley Doyle (with a beautiful story centered around love message, graph, and the harsh reality of fight for LGBTQ+ equality and marriage right). I also really loved the retelling of Pride and Prejudice with two lesbian teenagers and a fight against slut-shaming leading to a happy end. To sum up, it was a beautiful call to pride and activism and to love yourself, no matter what

This anthology is a superb way to discover some great LGBTQIA+ YA authors - both established and new. Each story also has a beautiful illustration by an LGBTQIA+ identifying artist. 

I'll admit the main reason I wanted to read this was because it's compiled by Juno Dawson who is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. This means when I downloaded this onto my Kindle I didn't realise just how many stories were included - or the range of the stories. I especially loved 'Love Poems to the City' by Moïra Fowley-Doyle, which is focused on the Irish Marriage Referendum. 

I'd 100% recommend this book as a way to find some new authors and experience stories from different cultures.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A collection of short stories with LGBTQ themes. Enjoyed reading this book. It was nice to be able to have a variety of nice stories to go through all containing one or more LGBTQ theme, whether it was focusing on coming out, legalising gay marriage, etc. Would recommend

Loved reading this as a member of the LGBT community, great to see all the influence and fight in creative forms.

A great collection of stories from authors who know exactly what they're talking about. A book I definitely wish I had when I was younger and figuring out my own sexuality. I was definitely a fan of some of the stories more than others but I firmly believe that each story will touch a young reader in a way it was intended to.

This is a book which should definitely be widely available, in libraries, schools.....anywhere and everywhere that young people (and their families, friends - and people who aren't or don't have children for that matter!) might potentially be. 

It is exactly the kind of material, which is inclusive of a variety of sexuality and gender, that we need in order to encourage more people to be open to and accepting of the glorious spectrum of identity which exists within humanity - and it's extremely accessible.

On the surface, 'Proud' is a short book containing a collection of short stories and poetry (written by various authors) about life as LGBTQ+ for a teenage/YA readership. 

At heart, this book could be so much more - a life line, warmth and acceptance, help in understanding one's own feelings or explaining them to others, or a way to feel not quiet so alone. 

All of the work in this book is enjoyable and there are some really lovely pieces, filled to the brim with love, friendship and acceptance. 

Seriously, everyone should read 'Proud' and, to quote the last lines of a poem from the book ('How To Come Out As Gay' by Dean Atta):
"Remember you have the right to be proud. 
Remember you have the right to be you."

This is an amazing collection of short stories following characters with a mix of gender and sexual orientations following themes such as coming out and acceptance. This is such an inspiring and uplifting anthology and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Some of my favourite short stories in this were Penguins, On The Run and The Phoenix’s Fault.

Overall, I loved this and gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Hello it’s your friendly neighbourhood queer, here with another LGBTQ+ recommendation. Yeah you heard it, recommendation! Though I didn’t give it a full five stars, I did love this book! Let’s dive into why I loved it (and also why I didn’t).

So, Proud is an anthology, which means it’s not just one story, but instead contains multiple (shorter) stories. This book basically coupled writers with illustraters in order to let you feel even more connected to the story and it’s characters.

I haven’t made it a secret that I absolutely adore LGBTQ+ books and I was super excited when I got approved for an ARC on Netgalley! I didn’t have the time to read it in one go, but since the book comes out tomorrow (!!) I knew I had to finish it and write a review soon. Which wasn’t a problem since I loved it so much.

Every story is centered about different character with a (mostly) different sexuality. it covers m/m and f/f relationships, trans characters (enby included), a bi character, and coming out of the closet in general. See what’s missing? Exactly. I didn’t notive it t the time, but a conversation with a friend made me aware that it doesn’t cover asexuality. This anthology, which covers multiple sexualities, some even multiple times, doesn’t have an asexual character (honestly I wasn’t happy with how was dealt with the bi character but that’s a whole other story). I get that in a normal book, with a minimum of 200 pages, you can’t cover every sexuality. But this book has 12 stories!! It’s unacceptable to me that none of them are about an asexual character.

It’s not just because I want to have my friends represented in this book, or just any gay book. But think of the people that don’t know how they identify, that read these books to figure out who they are, and I don’t think any asexuals will find out they’re actually asexual without having proper representation. Fix this people! It’s 2019! Can we have an anthology that actually covers all big sexualites? And if possible also some smaller ones?

But to go back to what was in the book, I really enjoyed all the different stories, as well as different styles and the amazing illustrations. I think my favourite story is eiter ‘I hate Darcy Pemberley’ or ‘The Instructor’. But all of the stories are sweet and carry a strong message. The last story is about coming out and it resonated so much with me. I might dedicate a whole post to it and mybe talk about how I came out and how I dealt with my family. I really think this is an incredibly important book, I really hope you all read it.

Proud is a compilation of own voice poems, stories and art from incredible LGBTQ+ authors and artists that covers a range of topics that face the community. Self discovery, coming out, rights and equality, love, discrimination, and existing in a heteronormative society. 
The range of styles and voices mean there really is something for everyone.

Proud is everything I needed deep in my soul. It told me I was home, I was accepted, that the me I am is the me I should be. Each of the stories and poems were so beautiful. 

I hate Darcy Pemberly. A modern lesbian pride and prejudice, the first time I’ve really felt connected to that story. 
The Phoenix’s fault. Showing the pressure of traditions and how love is equal and should be treated as such.
The courage of dragons. A D&D group who use their skills in a school revolution of non binary and inclusion.
Penguins. Oh penguins. I remember the story in the news of the gay penguins and how they wanted a family of their own. As if coming out wasn’t hard enough without penguins getting there first.
Love poems to the city. Marriage equality, is the sanctity of marriage too sacred for everyone when those who have it desecrate it so?

This is an anthology of short stories (and the occasional poem), each with an accompnaying illustration. Every single piece in here is about queer people, and by queer people.

I adored it.

Full disclosure, I requested this solely for the illustration by Alice Oseman, but almost every single other piece in this book was an absolute treat!! My favourites were probably the Asian-inspired fantasy with two childhood friends realising that there's a reason why they don't want to marry the Emperor, highschool au Pride and Prejudice with lesbians, and the DnD themed one with an enby protag. Honestly, though? You could ask me again in a couple of hours and I'd probably give you different answers. Even the ones that I didn't love, I still enjoyed.

There's a wide variety of genres and identities represented in here, I'm pretty sure that there's something for everyone. I highly recommend it.

Proud is an anthology of short stories and art by queer YA creators, both established and emerging. Compiled by Juno Dawson, the range of styles featured in these twelve stories is as broad as the identities represented within them. There's poetry, fantasy, romance, tragedy, sport, comedy, magic realism, music, Dungeons & Dragons, activism and a lesbian retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in an American high school.

Something, I'm sure you'd agree, for everyone. 

Cythia So's "The Phoenix's Fault" - in which a Chinese lantern-maker's daughter follows her phoenix to world of possibility - and Moira Fowley-Doyle's "Love Poems To The City" - a magical-realist not-love story set in Dublin during the build up to the Marriage Equality referendum - were the stand outs for me. David Levithan's "As The Philadelphia Queer Youth Choir Sings Katie Perry's 'Firework'..." was one of the more stylistically interesting pieces - internal monologues of each of the members of the titular choir while they performed, flitting back and forth between characters with each paragraph. And as a music obsessive, I related strongly to Tanya Byrne's protagonist in "Almost Certain", and her use of music as a force for creating community and healing (it also helped that this story was set in my local city!).

I really enjoyed this collection, and have already been recommending it to my students.

A book that needs to be in every school, college, and public library in the country. This collection of LGBTQ stories, poems, and illustrations gives depth, heart, passion, laughs, and tears in abundance. It is perfect for teens and adults everywhere, no matter what their identity. It will allow some people to see themselves represented in fiction for the first time, and give others a real understanding of the lives of people around them.

I received a copy of Proud in exchange for an honest review, so thanks NetGalley and Little Tiger Group.

Proud is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and accompanying art from some of the most current LGBTQ+ authors around. Exploring themes of love and acceptance, discrimination and equality, Proud tackles what it means to be LGBTQ+ in this day and age. Yes, it’s hard, and yes, it’s trying, but it’s beautiful and it’s happy and it’s a part of who we are. And Juno Dawson is here to round up the authors who can show that to us best.

There is nothing this collection of short stories doesn’t have. You have gay penguins. You have fake driving instructors. You have lottery wins. You have pure friendships, and cute relationships, current affairs such as Ireland’s referendum on gay marriage, and of course, a whole lot of angst. And a whole lot of love.

Of course there are going to be stories you don’t enjoy as much, characters you don’t relate to or writing styles that grate on you, but you can just skip right through to the next one and find something that will work for you! This is such a beautifully diverse collection of queer stories that it feels like it really does cover almost everything. I also really enjoyed Dawson’s foreword, as it hits home while in your little bubble of life (or at least in mine) it might feel like we’re over most of the hurdles about gay marriage or LBGTQ+ love, that’s not the reality for so many people.

And even if these people are treated with the love and respect they deserve, there is still a massive underrepresentation of them in the general media – including books. Yes, I think YA fiction is one of the most diverse genres out there, but we still need more. And this is a wonderful collection for when you might just need to know that you are represented, you are seen, and you can find yourself in fiction.

So, go forth and read! Proud is out now

4 out of 5 stars

Rebecca

Proud is an anthology of short stories and corresponding artwork, edited by Juno Dawson, and I feel like, more and more, I’m discovering that short story anthologies are just not for me. Proud provided a wide range of glimpses into LGBTQ+ life, mostly in the UK (though there was one that was set in an ambiguously Asian fantasy world), and while some of the stories were wonderful, others fell a bit flat for me. 

Rather than reviewing every single story (which I never feel comfortable doing) I’ll say that overall, I found the book equal parts endearing, confusing, and interesting. The book was bracketed on either side by poems, which was a super cool artistic decision, even if I didn’t necessarily love either of the poems by themselves. The range of style and topic and demographic that this anthology contains, however, is HUGE. 

There’s a discussion of bathrooms and pronouns through the language of Dungeons and Dragons and running a campaign; one author uses the news story about the gay penguins to parallel a teenage boy’s attempts to come out as gay to his parents and friends. “The Instructor” tells the story of a teenage girl learning how to drive with a semi-incompetent instructor, all so that she can eventually ask a girl on a date, while struggling with how to talk to her (seemingly) emotionally-distant father about all of it. Proud gives us stories about gender-fluid lottery-winning teens on the run and girls who love girls struggling with the Marriage Referendum in Ireland. 

The story that I absolutely LOVED was “I Hate Darcy Pemberley” by Karen Lawler, who I have already followed on multiple platforms because of this little nugget of beauty, in which Lizzie Bennett and rich-girl Darcy Pemberley embark on a love to hate relationship in a gorgeous Pride and Prejudice retelling that was over all too soon. I immediately read it and then read it again-- and then felt like I wanted a full-length novel with this premise and these characters. It was awesome. 

What Proud has is diversity, representation, humour, and sadness, all in equal measure; the amount of feeling in this anthology is indescribable. But with all that said, I feel like it would be dishonest to give Proud five stars when I didn’t connect with so many of the stories or felt like they were blips on my radar rather than things I’ll be interested in coming back to again and again. I was disappointed in particular in the lack of ace/asexual representation in the anthology and the lack of bisexual characters-- there was one main character who identified as bi, but immediately following the information about her being bi was a diatribe on how that meant all girls unless she could somehow marry Harry Styles. There was some bi representation happening in the background in several stories, but there’s already so much bi/pan phobia that goes on within AND outside of the LGBTQ+ world that I felt a bit more emphasis wouldn’t have been a terrible thing. 

All that said, the 3.5-4 out of 5 star rating is based on what the anthology IS, rather than what it is lacking: it is heartfelt and genuine, creative and a bit confusing at times, but definitely a book that is not to be missed. If you enjoy short stories, pick up Proud. If you or someone you love identifies as LGBTQ+ in any way, then this could be an excellent short story collection to add to your bookshelf. If you want an atypical and very artistic rendering of teen stories in the UK today, then Proud is definitely one to add to your TBR. But if short stories aren’t your jam in general, this one probably won’t be a perfect fit for you.

Juno delivers a wonderful foreword and introduction, that is a stark reminder of how far things have come in 30 years.  The introduction also gives us as the read a reminder of the challenges still faced including the fact that some LGBTQ+ authors and stories have their books banned. 

This anthology contains twelve short stories and each of this story has an illustration created especially for it. This collection is heart-warming, engaging, powerful and personal, and explore parts of the LGBTQ+ community. 

The stories span different genres from humorous tales of gay penguins to fantasy stories of phoenixes who dare to be different. As each story focuses on different characters of different orientations, as they figure out what it means to be a queer teen in today's society. There are gay, bi, lesbian, trans, queer, and questioning characters, and it was so easy to relate and invest in every single one of them.  

We have characters from all kinds of backgrounds and interests from people living in council blocks to D&D nerds living out magical fantasies at school. Some stories are about coming out, some are about finding acceptance, and some are about finding friendship and romance. The whole collection is so uplifting and important. 

If you get a chance to read a copy of this beautiful anthology please do. The introduction felt like a call to action, to encourage and support all of the wonderful LGBTQ+ authors and writers. I can't put into words how empowering this book is.

Proud is a lovely anthology celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. The anthology is made up of short stories and poems, each of which is accompanied by an illustration specially commissioned for this book. The texts are written by a mix of known authors, such as David Levithan and Simon James Green, and lesser known as well as four debut authors. While this means the texts vary greatly in topics and style, it also makes it a charming anthology.

As this anthology is published for the YA market, the texts are consequently primarily focused on what it's like to grow up as LGBTQ+, having to come out and finding your place in the world. I was pleasantly surprised at how well spread out and varied the themes were in this collection, and think the publisher and editor Juno Dawson, who also written the introduction, has done an excellent job here.

There were definitely a few stronger texts in my opinion, but as a whole the book worked very well to entertain me and maintain my interest. I loved that the stories, while sometimes bleak and dealing with difficult subjects, had a feeling of hope and celebration nicely weaved throughout - its title Proud makes a lot of sense. Overall this was an uplifting, entertaining read, that I would recommend to all lovers of YA.

I LOVED IT, after seeing the cover release at YALC 2018 i was so hyped for this book as i love Juno Dawson and many of the collaborators. The short stories , poems and artwork are amazing, emotional and funny.

The one one i was most looking forward to before release was PENGUINS by Simon James Green with  artwork by Alice Oseman as they're two of my favourite authors. They both lived up to my expectations. Penguins was a great story about two penguins that fall in love at the local zoo who are both male. Cam's feelings towards the penguins and how he uses them to depict what he wants in life is written beautifully. The ending is the perfect romantic climax to a wonderful storyMy favourite unexpected story was a close call between ON THE RUN by Kay staples which is about a boy called Nicholas coming to understand if he wants to change gender , and The other team by Michael lee Richardson about a football team thats not very good but all the players are part of the LGBTQ+ community and how they all stand up for each other when it comes to playing against a rude team.

My unexpected favourite artwork was by Frank Duffy to accompany the story called ALMOST CERTAIN by Tanya Byrne. This story and artwork features a lesbian relationship that develops after a tragic death. The reason i love this artwork so much is its simplistic and shows the darkness they are feeling as well as the hope thats about to start

.I would definitely recommend anyone to read this beautiful anthology even if you're just a friendly ally as it says in the book.

Thank you Netgalley and Stripes Publishing for providing me an ARC of this book, in exchange of an honest review.

Proud in an AMAZING anthology I want to give to queer kids everywhere!

Besides being so good, combining stories and art by queer authors and artists about queer characters, Proud is a really important book, that celebrates queer identities all around the spectrum - and by that I mean stories about different sexualities and gender identities, not only about gay or lesbian characters, which is a huge positive, in my view.

Aside from that, these stories aren't just contemporary fiction about being proud of who you are. It's the majority, I must say, but there's also a retelling and a fantasy story. And they're not all narrative fiction, there's three pieces of poetry as well - the one by Dean Atta especially powerful, in my opinion.

About the art, it was good. There are a few pieces I liked more, others I liked less and my favourite stories don't have my favourite pieces of art and vice-versa. However, think it's a good complement to the book, turning into a celebration of queer art. Nonetheless, since the book tried to join writing and drawing/painting, it would have made so much sense to have a short comic and that is something I missed (maybe a suggestion for Proud vol. 2?)

I rated most of the pieces of fiction 4 or 5 stars and only one 3 stars, which just shows I really enjoyed all of the stories. My average rating (of all the stories) was approximately 4.2, so 4 stars. My favourites were the ones by Cynthia So, Tanya Byrne, Karen Lawler, Moïra Fowley-Doyle and Dean Atta (which I mentioned before). These authors in special are ones I'm going to look out for in the future, since I really enjoyed their writing. 

In conclusion, this is a really good and important anthology I think everyone should read, all about being proud and celebrating queer people. It made me discover new authors (especially because I don't read much UKYA fiction), branch outside of my confort zone, since I don't normally read anthologies, and made me really happy, really. Hope it makes you happy too!

I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, but holy crap this really was a great anthology. And this is coming from someone who usually has the hardest time getting into anthologies and reading them fast, but I just couldn't put this down.

All stories are set in modern day UK with the exception of one set in Ireland and one set in fantasy China. Apart from being queer I feel like they were pretty diverse although I can't help but feel like they could have been more. One thing I found particularly lacking was the representation of aro and ace (and aroace) characters. There were exactly...zero? unless I missed something, and in an otherwise diverse anthology when it comes to sexualities and genders it was very noticeable.

All stories come paired up with art. The ARC also had them but I don't know if they were all final versions, they were also pretty small and had to be zoomed in which of course made the quality suffer, but I'm confident in the final version this will be fixed. In any case of course I liked some pieces better than others but I'm not going to rate them.

I changed some of the immediate ratings I gave to each story as I was writing reviews for them, which now makes an average of 4.3, which would be closer to 4 than to 5. Since Goodreads doesn't allow me to give half stars, and I didn't feel like this deserves 4 stars, I rounded it up. Generally speaking, this is probably my favorite queer anthology I've read so far (not that I've read many). I loved the theme of pride and I loved that there was no queer pain or even where there was discrimination and hardship it was always challenged and always overcome.

I hope this book gets more hype because it's really everything it promised to be (with the exception of the lack of aro/ace rep) and more.

Here's my individual ratings and reviews!


⮚ Dive Bar by Caroline Bird - no rating

I've read this three times and I still don't understand it. I've never been the best at reading poetry and I've never learned to read it in English so maybe that's why, but I just have 0 idea what this is about.


⮚ Penguins by Simon James Green - 5 stars

We've all heard of those gay penguins successfully hatching an egg, right? This story was featured here and it follows a gay boy whose coming out to his family is interrupted by people being excited about gay penguins. Also, prom night! I loved the humor and the cuteness in this.


⮚ On the Run by Kay Staples - 4.5 stars

Two teens won the lottery and are trying to run away. As I was reading this I was a bit anxious that they wouldn't get the money but when I realized that of course this would have a happy ending. The POV character is trying to figure out their gender identity and we don't know their pronouns (I'm only using "they" here for clarity). 


⮚ As The Philadelphia Queer Youth Choir Sings Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’… by David Levithan - 4 stars

This was very short and mostly just the messy internal monologue of a queer teen as he sings with his queer choir and thinks about people in his life. I feel like for such a short story a lot of meaning was packed into it and it was cool to see.


⮚ The Phoenix’s Fault by Cynthia So - 4.5 stars

This was set in a fantasy-Chinese setting where dragons and phoenixes are real and symbolize (heterosexual) marriage. The MC "owns" (=was chosen by) a phoenix, and all girls who have one have to go to the Emperor's palace and if her phoenix and the Emperor's dragon choose each other, the girl will have to get married to him. The MC doesn't want that because she's in love with another girl and I'm not spoiling it but I loved all the symbolism and how fucking gay everything was.

⮚ Almost Certain by Tanya Byrne - 3.5 stars

This was kind of sad and I felt like it didn't fit much with the other stories. It wasn't the "queer pain" kind of sad though, and I actually really liked the queer theme in it, just not the story itself.


⮚ The Other Team by Michael Lee Richardson - 4.5

This is about an all-queer football team from the perspective of a trans guy who's just joined it. I loved how everyone on the team was fleshed out even with so few pages.


⮚ I Hate Darcy Pemberly by Karen Lawler - 5 stars

This is a modern Pride and Prejudice retelling with two lesbians as Lizzie and Darcy. I'm not a huge P&P fan but I seriously loved this so much that after finishing it I had the biggest smile on my face and I immediately went to watch the P&P 2005 movie for the first time because it put me in such a mood. I also LOOOOVED what it did with the Lydia/Wickham storyline. Anyway, this is easily my absolute favorite out of all these stories.


⮚ The Courage of Dragons by Fox Benwell - 4.5 stars

This was a story without romance and about a queer found family / D&D group who become modern day heroes. The protagonist is a trans nonbinary person and he with the help of his group hack the school to genderneutralize it. I didn't get all the D&D references but it was still cool to read and the plot was my favorite. It's also probably the story that made me feel the most sense of pride.

⮚ The Instructor by Jess Vallance - 4 stars

I liked this and its writing style a lot but I wish there had been a little more balance between the plot (driving lessons) and the romantic plot line. I do understand why it was structured like this though and maybe it's just a matter of wrong expectations from my part. Anyway, I still loved it and it made me smile so much when I least expected it!

⮚ Love Poems to the City by Moïra Fowley-Doyle - 3 stars

The lowest rating out of all these stories (even though it's still a good rating). I don't know, I didn't really connect to it and I felt like it was more about a single event (legalizing gay marriage) and about a city (Dublin) than about the single people in the story. Which might have been the intention of the author I guess, but I still didn't find myself caring a lot (even though I loved Dublin and it made me nostalgic of the city!).

⮚ How to Come Out as Gay by Dean Atta - 5 stars

This was a poem (I like how the anthology was bracketed by poems) and it's pretty self-explanatory if you read it so yeah just look at my rating for it.