#diklSFF: A Conversation About Disability in Science Fiction and Fantasy
We recap the highlights of our #diklSFF Twitter chat, including a link to the full Storify.
We recap the highlights of our #diklSFF Twitter chat, including a link to the full Storify.
We sat down with NYT bestselling author Leigh Bardugo to talk about her most recent series, its depiction of disability, and more!
In science-fiction and fantasy, you invariably run into fictional disabilities and allegories. Do these “count” as disability? What makes them work successfully in a book?
We’ve been wanting to shake hands with the good folks of the Schneider Family Book Award–an ALA award which highlights depictions of disability in children’s literature–for a while, and July 2014 marked the perfect time: while we celebrated our first anniversary, the Schneider celebrated its tenth!
We’re looking to expand the Disability in Kidlit team, as the website has grown in popularity in recent months and we’re working on exciting new projects.
If our contributors could tell an author writing a character with their disability one thing–besides “do your research”–what would it be?
A one-armed astronaut superhero is the lead in Dangerous, the unusual new novel by NYT bestselling and Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale, who sat down with us for a great interview.
The description for this book uses the phrase “brilliant but autistic” to describe its main character, and that’s where our conflicted feelings about Viral Nation start.
The writing and characters are wonderful, but if you’re looking for a book about depression, I’d pass on this one.
Everything, Everything starts out as a respectful, sensitive narrative with incredibly likable characters, but ends on a shockingly disappointing note in terms of disability representation.