There are many people who have also been talking about the importance mental illness representation in YA, and discussion around it. I wanted to share some of the other important discussions and posts that have covered the subject.
- Shannon of It Starts at Midnight, Kayla of The Thousand Lives (no longer running), and Inge of Bookshelf Reflections (no longer running) held Shattering Stigmas, a blog event to discuss mental illness in YA, in 2015.
- Shannon brought Shattering Stagmas back again in 2016, along with Novel Ink, The Fox's Hideaway, Six Impossible Things, and Of Wonderland.
- And in 2018, Shannon brought Shattering Stigmas back yet again, along with The Fox's Hideway, Of Wonderland, Reviews and Cake, Stay on the Page, and Taneika Reads' YouTube Channel.
- Mental Health Bingo was a readathon run by a number of bloggers held in January. Although the readathon is over, I don't see why you can't still try and fill the squares - find the bingo card here.
- Amber of The Mile Long Bookshelf has a post where she lists 16 YA Must-Reads on Mental Health.
- Stacey of Pretty Books shares 10 Non-Fiction Books About Mental Health.
- The Teen Librarian Toolbox post The #MHYALit Discussion Hub – Mental Health in Young Adult Literature has a huge list of posts that talk about various mental illnesses featured in YA, ordered by mental illness. Do check it out.
- Check out the Mental Illness tag on Diversity in Kidlit.
- The Scribbles has a post on Exploring Mental Health in #UKYA.
- On the Barnes and Noble Teen Blog, as part of their YAs That Get It Right series, various people in the book industry recommend books in the Anxiety Edition and the Depression Edition.
- YA Oughta - a UK-based YA focused podcast - had a YA Oughta Talk About... Mental Health episode, with Katherine Dunn and Chloe Seager talking to Tom Pollock and Lydia Ruffles, discussing writing mental illness and how their own experiences influence their writing.
- Why YA Fiction Needs to Tell Stories of Mental Illness on The Gurardian.
- Alone in the Dark: Why We Need More Children's Books About Suicide and Severe Depression on Slate.
- YA author Holly Bourne wrote Am I Normal? Exploring Mental Health Issues in YA Fiction for Books for Keeps.
- On her website, Laura E. Weymouth wrote On Mental Health in The Light Between Worlds.
- Emily X. R. Pan, YA author of The Astonishing Colour of After, in light of her book, wrote a Twitter thread about the correct language to use when talking about suicide.
- Ashley Woodfolk, YA author of The Beauty That Remains, wrote a Twitter thread about the importance of intersectionality, in reference to the characters of her book.
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