The YA Feminist Anthology We All Needed Is Coming

Kelly Jensen knows what she's talking about when it comes to young adult literature. Before becoming a book blogger for her site StackedBooks.org and a writer at BookRiot, Jensen worked as a teen librarian for several years. So I could not be more excited that her much needed YA feminist anthology Feminism for the Real World was picked up by Algonquin. Literally the only bad news in this epic announcement is that now we have to wait until 2017.

Seriously, how do I not already have this book in my hands?

Jensen discussed the process leading to her book deal on her website, stating that after musing about the "dream" idea of editing an anthology of feminist essays on Twitter, Elise Howard and Krestyna Lypen at Algonquin Young Readers contacted her about how this dream could become a reality. Jensen was not represented by an agent. They went back and forth on ideas about tone, content, and what the anthology would look like before Jensen submitted a formal outline for the project. And clearly the publishing company was as excited as I am about the anthology, because here we are with a deal.

Jensen talked about that vision she has for Feminism for the Real World:

Krestyna and Elise get my voice and they get my vision for this project. They have been supportive, encouraging, and positive with and toward me and my actions when it comes to feminism and the value of talking about girls, girls reading, and, on a larger scale, sexism.

My absolute goal is to make this an intersectional, diverse array of pieces, with a variety of voices represented. This was crucial to my thinking from the beginning, and it will drive my work on building contributions. I want this to be an encompassing, enduring work

Yes, yes, and more yes. Jensen has said she already has contributors and topic areas in mind and she is committed to diverse voices to encourage and inspire teen girls to get involved in feminism. And as a grown-up teen girl feminist, I'm pretty sure it will be just as inspiring to me.

Image: Kelly Jensen/Goodreads