Coming out: LGBTQ+ Topics and Polish Young Adult Literature

While Polish Books for Young Readers that openly discuss LGBTQ+ topics are still scarce, the range of non-heteronormative texts available to adolescents have been rapidly growing in the last decades. Polish young people not only have access to LGBTQ+ themed books, but also participate in the online reception, distribution and production of narratives extending from erotic fiction in English to erotic manga scanlations, to slash fanfics. Thus, this chapter argues that among the first Polish YA LGBTQ+ novels published in the last ten years, the most successful ones have been written by Natalia Osińska and Weronika Łodyga – authors immersed in the youth participatory culture. They go beyond the conventional presentation of non-heterosexual orientation as problematic and, instead, cater to the readers’ needs and expectations, offering positive LGBTQ+ tales firmly embedded into the Polish social and cultural context. While Polish Books for Young Readers that openly discuss LGBTQ+ topics are still scarce, the range of non-heteronormative texts available to adolescents have been rapidly growing in the last decades. Polish young people not only have access to LGBTQ+ themed books, but also participate in the online reception, distribution and production of narratives extending from erotic fiction in English to erotic manga scanlations, to slash fanfics. Thus, this chapter argues that among the first Polish YA LGBTQ+ novels published in the last ten years, the most successful ones have been written by Natalia Osińska and Weronika Łodyga – authors immersed in the youth participatory culture. They go beyond the conventional presentation of non-heterosexual orientation as problematic and, instead, cater to the readers’ needs and expectations, offering positive LGBTQ+ tales firmly embedded into the Polish social and cultural context.