Join us on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at 6:30 pm EST for a ZOOM Conversation with Author Derritt Mason. Presented in conversation with SNMA Executive Director Hunter O’Hanian, Derritt Mason will discuss his book, Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture.

The event is free, open to the public and conducted via ZOOM.
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Book Synopsis

Young adult literature featuring LGBTQ+ characters is booming. In the 1980s and 1990s, only a handful of such titles were published every year. Recently, these numbers have soared to over one hundred annual releases. Queer characters are also appearing more frequently in film, on television, and in video games. This explosion of queer representation, however, has prompted new forms of longstanding cultural anxieties about adolescent sexuality. What makes for a good “coming out” story? Will increased queer representation in young people’s media teach adolescents the right lessons and help queer teens live better, happier lives? In Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture, Derritt Mason considers these questions through a range of popular media, including an assortment of young adult books; Caper in the Castro, the first-ever queer video game; online fan communities; and popular television series Glee and Big Mouth.

About Derritt Mason

Derritt Mason is Associate Professor of English at the University of Calgary, where he teaches and researches at the intersections of children’s and young adult literature, queer theory, and cultural studies. He is the author of Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture (UP of Mississippi, 2021) and the co-editor, with Kenneth B. Kidd, of Queer as Camp: Essays on Summer, Style, and Sexuality (Fordham UP, 2019), which won the 2021 Children’s Literature Association Edited Book Award. Derritt has published articles about queer representation in picture books, horror film tropes in queer young adult literature, and the relationship between childhood and virtuality. His current research on children’s literature and digital culture is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Derritt also serves as President of the Association for Research in Cultures of Young People. www.derrittmason.com