Proud

I’m a keen advocate of diversity in children’s literature and strongly believe that children and young people should be able to see themselves reflected in the books available to them. In 2017, I read A Change is Gonna Come, an anthology of stories and poems written by BAME authors and poets, and I absolutely loved it. When I heard that Stripes Publishing were to bring out a similar anthology featuring the work of LGBTQ+ authors and illustrators, I was so excited and new that I would need to read this. I had a feeling that, like A Change is Gonna Come, this would be a book that secondary schools just needed to get into their collections….
…and having read it, I was completely right! This book is for all young adults (it’s also suitable for those who are not so young, like myself), whether they are gay, straight, trans, cis, non-binary or questioning their identity. It will allow many young people to see their experiences reflected in writing but also will allow them to gain an understanding of and empathy for those who identify differently to them due to the wonderfully diverse range of perspectives in the poems and short stories featured.
I absolutely enjoyed the range of the poems/stories featured- from the teen rom-com take on Pride and Prejudice ‘I Hate Darcy Pemberley’ by Karen Lawler to the folktale style ‘The Phoenix’s Fault’ by Cynthia So and the wonderful montage of voices featured in ‘As the Philadelphia Queer Youth Choir Sings Katy Perry’s Firework.’ The accompanying artwork for each story/poem are beautifully rendered and absolutely capture the heart of each piece.
I feel incredibly strongly that this is a book which should feature in secondary school collections and community library YA sections around the country.

So, it's finally time - the queerest book of 2019! I was at YALC last year when Juno Dawson and the Stripes team unveiled Proud and to say it got me excited was an understatement. After waiting nearly seven painstaking months to be able to read it I can say I was not disappointed at all - and thanks to the people over at Stripes for letting read this early or I would have been waiting even longer!

If you've been living under a book-free rock for the past seven months then you might be asking yourself "what is Proud?" and to that I answer: an anthology of short stories and more by queer authors and artists all about queer things and the theme of pride. Simple as. Contained within Proud is ten short stories and two poems that will have you sad crying, happy crying, laughing out loud and then feeling all warm inside. Proud is nothing short of an emotional roller coaster. With a super heartfelt and passionate introduction by editor Juno Dawson this book was everything from page one.

Proud is a book for everyone, from the seasoned queer literature fan, to LGBTQ+ allies, to those who know very little of queer culture and its peoples and wish to learn more. It is a celebration of the amazing quality of LGBTQ+ YA, queer authors and illustrators all over the UK and beyond.

The stories span different genres from humourous tales of gay penguins to fantasy stories of phoenixes who dare to be different - with characters from all kinds of backgrounds and interests from being poor and living in council blocks of flats to D&D nerds living out almost magical fantasies at school. There's queer jocks, queer nerds, queer people of colour, queer lottery winners, queer people who get wrapped up in peacock wrangling - queer people can literally do/be anything these days. The characters are diverse, the stories are diverse, LGBT+ culture is DIVERSE.

I loved each and everyone one of these stories and from what I could see from the art in the advanced ebook it's just as wonderful - Alice Oseman and Fatti Burke were particular illustrator faves. I can't wait until I have the physical copy so I can see it all nice and finished. A big shout out to authors Simon James Green who had me lolling so much with his story Penguins, Kay Staples and her trans love story On The Run that filled me to the brim with warmth and lastly, Dean Atta who has actually written a poem that spoke to me in How To Come Out As Gay.

Dawson pulls another dazzler with Proud.

“Welcome to being LGBTQ+. Your life is inherently political. Politicians, all over the world, are <i>still</i> discussing whether or not you should have the same fundamental human rights as straight or cisgender people.”

Dawson provides a wonderful and emotive forward and introduction, reminding us how far things have come in 30 years but also the challenges still faced. Including the fact that many LGBTQ+ authors and stories have their books banned and challenged. Yet, these are how many young LGBTQ+ people find the language to talk about what they are feeling and who they are - these works are so important. The introduction felt like a call to action, to encourage and support all of the wonderful LGBTQ+ authors and writers and to ensure that these books continue to succeed and reach all the people that need them, and just those that need to see themselves on a page and know that they are normal and right.

“If we live in stories, it means we live in the real world too. We are claiming our space, claiming our oxygen.”

This anthology has a wonderful selection of LGBTQ+ authors and writers, covering both short stories and poetry who provide the reader with so many different ways to feel proud of who they are, covering a wide range of experiences. The collection is heart-warming, engaging, sensitive, funny, powerful and personal, and made me proud to be LGBTQ+.

As with all anthologies, there are some contributions that stand out more than others. For me they would be Penguins by Simon James Green and The Phoenix’s Fault by Cynthia So. However, I enjoyed all of the contributions and there wasn’t a single on that let the collection down. I cannot wait to get a physical copy of this book and dip in and out of the different stories depending on what I need at the time. More than that, I am going to be tracking down other works from all of these writers.

Overall, 5 stars for Proud and I cannot recommend this highly enough. Go out and get it for your shelf, get it for friend’s shelf, your family’s shelf, give it as a gift to everyone!

It's really difficult to try and summarise Proud because there's just so much packed into a relatively short collection and I have so much to say about all of it.

First of all, the forward by Juno Dawson is incredibly powerful and moving to the point of tears. It completely sets the tone for what's to follow.

The artwork that accompanies each story is beautiful and I'm certain it'll look even more stunning on paper than it does on my Kindle.

This collection covers so many issues and gives voices to so many people within the LGBT community that it's almost overwhelming. I'm not sure that I've ever read anything that's quite so inclusive and that represents so many aspects of the lives of those of us who identify as LGBT+.

It was the perfect book to start LGBT History Month and I guarantee that readers will be moved to both joy and sadness by these stories.

My personal favourites include:

Penguins by Simon James Green (Art by Alice Oseman) - This was such a sweet, cute and moving story that hasn't left me since I finished the book. Simon is a fantastic writer, I love his humour and Alice is an incredible artist. It's the perfect pairing.

The Phoenix's Fault by Cynthia So (Art by Priyanka Meenakshi) - was fantastic. I loved the fantasy of this and the friends-to-lovers theme.

The Other Team by Michael Lee Richardson (Art by David Roberts) - This story I felt represented so many different voices in the LGBT community and it was done in such a fantastic way showing that the true value of friendship and self-acceptance.

The Instructor by Jess Vallance (Art by Kate Alizadeh) - Gah! This was so sweet and beautiful. I love both of these girls!

How to Come Out as Gay by Dean Atta (Art by Leo Greenfield) - An absolutely perfect way to end the collection, this poem was phenomenal, moving and beautiful.

"Remember you have the right to be proud.
Remember you have the right to be you."

Whether you're part of the LGBT community or not, I urge you to read this collection to truly know that:

a. You are not alone.
b. You have the right to be proud of who you are.

The fact that this book exists is both humbling and powerful, and I hope that every young adult has the opportunity to discover this inspiring collection of written and visual art.

"Be the glitter that shows up in unexpected places."

I knew, going into this anthology, that I was going to walk away from it having been put through my paces. As someone who identifies on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, I knew this book was going to reach into my chest, tug on my heart and leave it, still beating, in the palm of my hand. Reading this book was going to scare me, was going to frustrate me, was going to leave me feeling hopeful and breathless and annoyed at the state of our world.

I was both right and wrong. As a YA targeted collection of short stories, all of them had a relatively happy ending, which is more than I was expecting or am used to (the bury your gays trope is real). A refreshing change, and one I would be glad to see reflected more in LGBTQ+ work - although, not particularly a surprise when written by LGBTQ+ authors instead of straight-allying ones. I wasn’t wrong about being put through the emotional ringer however, as this book managed to do that and then some. I think I cried at every single piece of work, whether I was sad or happy or frustrated.

This anthology is a very real, heartfelt collection of stories and poems by authors who have experienced the highs and lows of identifying as LGBTQ+ in our society. Some of these stories were a little hard to swallow; not because they were negative or bad, but because they perfectly summed up how I spent most of my young adult years feeling. That anxiety, that lump in your throat- that never really goes away, no matter how comfortable you get within yourself. The anthology tackles issues like anxiety, abuse, homophobia and transphobia in a way that places them in a modern context - you don’t end every one of these stories feeling sorry for the characters within, for they are surrounded by love, be it of birth families or found families or friends - but they do frustrate the reader by accepting that this is just the way the world is. People are always going to be rude, and mean, and want to make you change to fit their idea of normal, and the most heartbreaking thing about these stories is the way that is accepted in most of them. Like a shrug and a comment on how this is the way the world works. We have to do better, for future generations of LGBTQ+ youth. Juno Dawson says it in the foreward: “Welcome to being LGBTQ+. Your life is inherently political.”

Whilst most of the works in the anthology are funny, there are some that make you feel that stone in the pit of your stomach (The Other Team, Almost Certain). These stories had elements of humour - The Other Team, for example, had your stereotypical flamboyant character - but subtly tackled the very real and distressing anxieties that LGBTQ+ youth face on a daily basis. The misgendering of a young trans teen in The Other Team had me clenching my fists. It is not hard to respect another human being, yet children and adults all over the world are still fighting for the most basic of human decencies to be extended to them.

I labelled many of these stories my favourites as I went through, but I think the one that struck me the most was the last poem of the book, How to Come Out as Gay by Dean Atta. At only 4 pages long, it was the shortest in the anthology but packed the most emotional punch. As Atta says, “Accept you will be coming out for your whole life." Coming out is a process - it is something you will be doing to every single person you interact with, consciously or unconsciously. It is exhausting. It is hard, to know when is the right moment and who the right people are. But you should not be afraid to be proud of who you are and how you identify, and you should not let society dictate how you act and feel and think in regards to how you feel inside, where it is most important. Atta’s poem finishes, “Remember you have the right to be proud. Remember you have the right to be you.” I think that is so crucial for someone who is struggling to hear, and such a fitting end to the light of this book.

We have such a talented community of LGBTQ+ authors who all deserve to get their voices heard, and this is absolutely a start to making that happen. Juno Dawson has curated a touching, feel-good anthology of LGBTQ+ stories that hit the right tone without being too fantastical, and you will walk away from this book feeling inspired and exactly how it was meant to make you feel: proud.

This is a great value, expertly curated collection of art, poetry and story. Not everything here is perfect but it’s so necessary to show the beauty and joy of pride as well as it’s necessity. Dean Atta’s stand out poem at the end of the book is stunning, and is literally the thing that 16 year old me needed. Wonderful.