This is the end of the 5th annual International Young Adult Literature Month (#IntlYALitMonth) here on the Global Literature in Libraries (GLLI) blog. (Again, thank you, Karen Van Drie, for starting this tradition!)

Just in case you missed the previous events, below are links to the end-of-month summary list of each year’s offerings.

• 2021 – wrap-up blog post by editor Elisa A. Garcia
• 2022 – wrap-up blog post by editor Linda Hoiseth
• 2023 – wrap-up blog post by editor Julia E. Torres
• 2024 – wrap-up blog post by editor Emily Corbett

During this month, every day (except Wednesdays, which are devoted to #WORLDKIDLIT WEDNESDAY), teacher-librarians from around the world shared their thoughts and recommendations about international YA literature. 

The remit was to feature “one or more books for young adults, each ideally produced by a non-US or non-UK author, i.e., think GLOBAL. (Translations would be ideal.) Alternatively, you can just write on a particular topic related to some aspect of YA literature in the international realm.  Perhaps a genre or a trend or an author you want to celebrate.”

Here is what we can look back upon:

• May 1: Intro to the month — which recommended this year’s GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize shortlist as well as the winner & honor books announced on April 16th. 
• May 2: Italian YA Lit — by Kim Beeman, International School of Florence, Italy
• May 3: Banned Books in Korea, too – by Fiona Collins, Branksome Hall Asia, South Korea
• May 4: Mongolia Through Fine Eyes: Two Remarkable Tellings – by Eleanor Surridge, International School of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• May 5: Seeing Science in Translation – by Angie Erickson, United World College of SE Asia – Dover campus, Singapore
• May 6: Black Vampires Meet Dark Academia in Tigest Girma’s “Immortal Dark” – by Kim Tyo-Dickerson, International School of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• May 8: Literature Set in Southeast Asia – Where Can I Find More? – by Kelsey Hedrick, Jakarta Intercultural School, Indonesia
• May 9: Read Brave: YA Feminist Literature for Global Teens – by Susan Grigsby, Stamford American International School, Singapore
• May 10: “London on my Mind”: a Portuguese romance in translation – by Frances Sims-Williams, UK
• May 11: West African YA–Two Coming of Age Stories – by Annie Harris, International Community School of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• May 12: Feminism in Graphic Novels in Translation – by Angie Erickson, United World College of SE Asia – Dover campus, Singapore
• May 13: Elmer – by Marion Van Engelen, Branksome Hall Asia, South Korea
• May 15: YA CanLit in English: some award-winners, some publishers, and a resource – by Eleanor Surridge, International School of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
• May 16: Interview with Maria van Lieshout, Dutch American Author of Song of a Blackbird / Het lied van de merel – by Kim Tyo-Dickerson, International School of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• May 17: An Appreciation of Ondjaki – by Vicky Smith, Portland Public Library, Maine, USA
• May 18: Bangladesh YA Lit – by Erin Wilson, International School Dhaka, Bangladesh
• May 19: Graphic Memoirs : Displaced People & Journeys – by Angie Erickson, United World College of SE Asia – Dover campus, Singapore
• May 20: Manga, Manhwa, and Manhua – by Melissa Cooper, Renaissance College, Hong Kong
• May 22: Overly-Specific Book Recommendations: YA in Translation Edition – by Frances Sims-Williams, UK
• May 23: Healing Through Stories: The Role of Bibliotherapy in International Young Adult Literature – by Jane Hayes, Dulwich International College, Singapore
• May 24: Bridging Worlds: The Translation Gap in Latin American YA Literature – by Brenda Brusegard, Panama
• May 25: Wangarĩ Maathai: Green Environment through Reading Advocacy – by Habel Amolo, Le Bocage International School, Mauritius
• May 26: The Graphic Lord of the Flies: Aimee de Jongh – by Kim Tyo-Dickerson, International School of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• May 27: Translations of YA and the concept of reading for pleasure in IB programmes for young adults – by Anthony Tilke, UK
• May 29: Indian YA – by Karthika Gopalakrishnan, Neev Academy, Bangalore, India
• May 30: Brazilian YA: An Exploration of a Postcolonial Literary Tradition by and for the Diaspora – by Allan Pinto & Kim Tyo-Dickerson, International School of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

I want to thank all the contributors for the time and thought they put into their posts, providing such an array of interesting aspects of international young adult literature. Each entry deserves close reading (and link clicking). Several people graciously offered to do more than one – for which I am very grateful. I learned so much myself this month. It was an honor to edit and format everyone’s writing.

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Academic Avenues in YA Literature and Reading

Last year I was so pleased that Emily highlighted three organizations:

• YASA: The YA Studies Association – see Emily’s May 5, 2024, post
• IJYAL: The International Journal of Young Adult Literature – see Emily’s May 26, 2024, post
• ACLISA: The Association for Children’s Literature in South Asia – see Emily’s May 18, 2024, post

This year I’d like to recommend a 2025 publication from Routledge, edited by Chin Ee Loh, a professor here in Singapore at the National Institute for Education, Nanyang Technological University.

The Reading Lives of Teens: Research and Practice provides global perspectives on teen reading experiences. You can preview it via Google Books here.

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It is such a fun exercise corralling and curating the best and brightest of one’s YA colleagues to comment on the zeitgeist of international teen literature. I look forward to reading next year’s offerings!

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Katie Day is an international school teacher-librarian in Singapore and has been an American expatriate for almost 40 years (most of those in Asia). She is currently the chair of the 2025 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize and co-chair of the Neev Book Award in India, as well as heavily involved with the Singapore Red Dot Book Awards. Katie was the guest curator on the GLLI blog for the UN #SDGLitMonth in March 2021 and guest co-curator for #IndiaKidLitMonth in September 2022.