Putting this collection together meant thinking long and hard about the stories that not only should be told, but also the ones that many might not necessarily connect with “feminism.” It was imperative to include not just young adult authors - many of whom YA readers would be familiar with - but to also broaden the circle and bring in varied voices outside of the YA and writing community. We were all in agreement that making this happen needed to happen. We began talking about what it could look like and feel like, what sorts of stories could be told, the kind of art that could be included in a project like this. Shortly after tweeting, I was asked to be in touch with Elise Howard at Algonquin Young Readers and she, along with Krestyna Lypen, became my editors for this anthology. One person who tweeted in response ended up being part of the anthology another who tweeted sarcastically in response made me laugh because of course, girls are angry and “what about the boys?” A couple of responses were from women who, just a few months later, would become trustworthy allies standing with me, speaking out against blatant sexism in the YA world.īut the response you don’t see is the one that made my dream a reality. That tweet stream is a riot to read now I didn’t know the hows or the ways to make it happen. I tweeted about my dream to make an anthology of feminist essays for teens and the responses to that tweet were incredible. But reading and listening to the words coming from voices unlike mine made something inside me click. I’d worked with people - teenagers, especially - of all shapes and colors and backgrounds since I started my career in librarianship. There’s been rich conversation online about feminism for a long time, and because of how social media allows those whose voices have been marginalized to have a space to share, the importance of intersectionality became more and more a conscious part of my personal feminism. Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World began with a tweet.

I believe feminism and, by extension, social justice are more than words we share.

Today, we are honored to have Kelly Jensen here to talk with us about how and why this book came about.

It’s exciting to see this book launch just days after somewhere around 3 million people marched in protests organized and promoted by women around the world. We’re also doing a t-shirt giveaway (see below!). This week, as part of our Social Justice in YA Lit Project, we will have a new piece about this book each day. Tomorrow, Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World edited by Kelly Jensen is released out into the world.

Here We Are by Kelly Jensen