This week, Amelie Wen Zhao had to self-cancel (or self-delay) her upcoming novel Blood Heir due to backlash on YA Twitter about all sorts of things, ranging from allegations of racist scenes to her own vindictiveness towards anyone who left her bad reviews. This isn't the first time such things have happened in the YA world. Now, both the social justice and anti-SJW forces are using Zhao to advance their agendas. Jess, Diana, Oxford, and Mark discuss why the moral stakes seem so high in the YA sphere and how an Asian woman is forced to navigate it.
Intro/Outro Music: Panem Anthem from "The Hunger Games"
Intro Voice Track: "Blood Heir Controversy" by Francina Simone (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4S1p3KtZSw&t=83s)
TWITTER:
Jess (@cogitatotomato)
Diana (@discoveryduck)
Oxford (@oxford_kondo)
Mark (@snbatman)
REFERENCED RESOURCES:
The Toxic Drama of YA Twitter: https://www.vulture.com/2017/08/the-toxic-drama-of-ya-twitter.html
YA Twitter Forces Rising Star to Self-Cancel: https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/ya-twitter-forces-rising-star-author-to-self-cancel.html
How A Twitter Mob Destroyed A Young Immigrant Author's Budding Career (by Jesse Singal): https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/279806/how-a-twitter-mob-destroyed-a-young-immigrant-female-authors-budding-career
Quillette Podcast 14 – Kat Rosenfield on the mobbing of Amélie Wen Zhao: https://quillette.com/2019/02/01/quillette-podcast-14-kat-rosenfield-on-the-mobbing-of-amelie-wen-zhao/
Children's Bookshelf's tweet on the Zhao controversy: https://twitter.com/pwkidsbookshelf/status/1091013855218667520?s=21
Will Menaker's tweet on the Zhao controversy: https://twitter.com/willmenaker/status/1091064621883113472?s=21
Jesse Singal's tweet on the Zhao controversy: https://twitter.com/jessesingal/status/1090474475676753921
Celeste Ng Is More Than A Novelist: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/books/celeste-ng-everything-i-never-told-you-little-fires-everwhere.html
SUBMISSIONS AND COMMENTS:
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