Controversy over Canadian YA award-winner

When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid, a YA book about a transgender teen that won Canada’s 2014 Governor General’s Literary Award, is proving controversial, reports Publishing Perspectives. A petition to the Canada Council carrying over 1500 signatures argues that the language that Reid uses is ‘inappropriate’ for a book classified as young adult (ages 12-18 years old) in the children’s literature category. Reid has said that he ‘set out to reflect what young people talk about, and how they talk about it’. The 25 year old author said, ‘I’m not promoting a culture, I’m depicting one—and I’m doing it with the graphic language that culture uses, and with the themes that culture is consumed with: fame, drugs, sex, and selfies.’ The Canada Council has said that the award won’t be revoked.

Category: International news Junior