The International Journal of Young Adult Literature (IJYAL) aims to foster new scholarship and critical dialogue about young adult literature from around the world. As we celebrate the final weekend of #IntlYALitMonth, it’s the perfect time to share this open-access academic journal that I (Dr Emily Corbett, Co-General Editor) have the pleasure of editing alongside my colleagues, Dr Patricia Kennon (Co-General Editor) and Dr Susanne Abou Ghaida (Associate Editor), with the support of our esteemed Editorial Board.

IJYAL takes a broad and inclusive approach to young adult literature, covering everything from popular fantasy fiction to historical novels to video games and contemporary streamed TV shows. The journal’s articles and reviews explore a wide range of topics, including theoretical work, considerations of form, genre, theme, and style, author studies, comparative analysis, explorations of reception and response, and publication histories.

Since the journal was established in 2019 by Dr Alison Waller (with my colleague Dr Amy Waite and me as Associate Editors), we have published a wide range of thought-provoking articles that explore various facets of YA and YA studies. Our excellent authors have delved into topics such as the representation of queer identities, the role of peritexts in shaping reader reception, the stakes of #OwnVoices representation in YA fiction, and the presence of authors of colour in the British YA market, as well as themes of grief, death, and posthuman anxiety.

The journal has also explored YA from a range of countries, regions, and national traditions including the US, UK, China, India, Norway, and Germany, as well as the critical and storytelling traditions of the African diaspora. We also publish a standing series of roundtable conversations, conducted by my colleague Dr Leah Phillips and me, which have so far investigated trends and future directions, translation, interdisciplinarity, and censorship. Through these diverse articles, IJYAL aims to showcase the depth and breadth of scholarship in the field of YA studies, highlighting its potential to engage with pressing social, cultural, and political issues while celebrating the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of young people.

The journal’s open-access nature enables values of inclusion, participation, and community, ensuring that academics, readers, teachers, students, librarians, publishers, practitioners, and advocates of YA can all participate in a community of ideas, debates, and discussions. As editors, we are particularly passionate about highlighting global connections and diverse approaches to YA studies. We recognise that YA literature does not serve all young people equally, and we are committed to using rigorous scholarly criticism to bring awareness to missing voices and challenge the insidious norms that permeate our field. In light of the current challenges facing YA texts and young people’s right to read around the world, we believe that promoting dialogue and diverse perspectives is more crucial than ever.

Looking to the future, I am excited about the continued growth and expanding reach of IJYAL. In the upcoming issues we are proud to be featuring guest-edited special sections on “Environmental Futures and Global/Transnational YA Literature” (Professor Anuradha Ghosh and Dr Devika Mehra, Volume 5), “Diversity and Inclusion in International Young Adult Sports Fiction” (Dr Sarah Layzell and Dr Carla Plieth, Volume 6), and “Reflecting on ‘The Teen Whisperer’: Twenty Years of John Green” (Dr Jennie Gouck, Volume 6). Our recent inclusion in the Directory of Open Access Journals is also a testament to our commitment to open-access practices, and we will continue to work towards increasing our visibility and citation impact. By doing so, we hope to contribute to the ongoing scholarly and pedagogical conversations about the transformative power of YA literature in honouring the lives and experiences of young people around the world.

You can read past issues here and access our open call for papers here. We look forward to welcoming more of you to IJYAL.

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GLLI’s 2024 International YA Literature Month has been curated by Dr Emily Corbett. She is a lecturer in children’s and young adult literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she leads the MA Children’s Literature: Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature programme. Her research focuses on the growth and development of YA from literary, publishing, and cultural perspectives. She is also General Editor of The International Journal of Young Adult Literature and was founding Vice President of the YA Studies Association. Her monograph, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024), has just been published by the University Press of Mississippi. You can find her contact details on her institutional website and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram via @DrEmilyCorbett.

Opinions expressed in posts on this site are the individual author’s and are not indicative of the views of Global Literature in Libraries Initiative.