10 YA Anthologies You Should Check Out

Anthologies are great, especially if you want to read more from some of your favorite authors and are looking for short stories! To celebrate the forthcoming release of these 2022 collections: GAME ON, RECLAIM THE STARS and ALL SIGNS POINT TO YES, here’s 10 Young Adult anthologies you should check out!

A Thousand Beginnings And Endings edited by Ellen Oh & Elise Chapman
Release Date: June 26, 2018

Summary: Star-crossed lovers, meddling immortals, feigned identities, battles of wits, and dire warnings: these are the stuff of fairy tale, myth, and folklore that have drawn us in for centuries.

Sixteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.

Compiled by We Need Diverse Books’s Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman—who both contributed stories to this edition, as well—the authors included in this exquisite collection are: Renée Ahdieh, Sona Charaipotra, Preeti Chhibber, Roshani Chokshi, Aliette de Bodard, Melissa de la Cruz, Julie Kagawa, Rahul Kanakia, Lori M. Lee, E. C. Myers, Cindy Pon, Aisha Saeed, Shveta Thakrar, and Alyssa Wong.

A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place.

Fresh Ink edited by Lamar Giles
Release Date: August 14, 2018

Summary: In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, thirteen of the most recognizable, diverse authors come together in this remarkable YA anthology featuring ten short stories, a graphic short story, and a one-act play from Walter Dean Myers never before in-print.

Careful–you are holding fresh ink. And not hot-off-the-press, still-drying-in-your-hands ink. Instead, you are holding twelve stories with endings that are still being written–whose next chapters are up to you.

Because these stories are meant to be read. And shared.

Thirteen of the most accomplished YA authors deliver a label-defying anthology that includes ten short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play. This collection will inspire you to break conventions, bend the rules, and color outside the lines. All you need is fresh ink.

Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love edited by Elise Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond
Release Date: June 18, 2019

Summary: A stunning collection of short stories about the intersection of family, culture, and food in the lives in teens, from bestselling and critically acclaimed authors, including Sandhya Menon, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Rin Chupeco.

A shy teenager attempts to express how she really feels through the pastries she makes at her family’s pasteleria. A tourist from Montenegro desperately seeks a magic soup dumpling that can cure his fear of death. An aspiring chef realizes that butter and soul are the key ingredients to win a cooking competition that could win him the money to save his mother’s life.

Welcome to Hungry Hearts Row, where the answers to most of life’s hard questions are kneaded, rolled, baked. Where a typical greeting is, “Have you had anything to eat?” Where magic and food and love are sometimes one in the same.

Told in interconnected short stories, Hungry Hearts explores the many meanings food can take on beyond mere nourishment. It can symbolize love and despair, family and culture, belonging and home. 

A Phoenix First Must Burn: 16 Stories of Black Girl Magic, Resistance, and Hope edited by Patrice Caldwell
Release Date: March 10, 2020

Summary: Sixteen tales by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic.

Evoking Beyoncé’s Lemonade for a teen audience, these authors who are truly Octavia Butler’s heirs, have woven worlds to create a stunning narrative that centers Black women and gender nonconforming individuals. A Phoenix First Must Burn will take you on a journey from folktales retold to futuristic societies and everything in between. Filled with stories of love and betrayal, strength and resistance, this collection contains an array of complex and true-to-life characters in which you cannot help but see yourself reflected. Witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels: the heroines of A Phoenix First Must Burn shine brightly. You will never forget them.

Authors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Amerie, Dhonielle Clayton, Jalissa Corrie, Somaiya Daud, Charlotte Davis, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Justina Ireland, Danny Lore, L.L. McKinney, Danielle Paige, Rebecca Roanhorse, Karen Strong, Ashley Woodfolk, and Ibi Zoboi.

Vampires Never Get Old: Tales With Fresh Bite edited by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker
Release Date: September 22, 2020

Summary: Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices!

In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.

Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.

A Universe Of Wishes: A We Need Diverse Books Anthology edited by Dhonielle Clayton
Release Date: December 8, 2020

Summary: In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice. This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.

AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, Victoria Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone, and a to-be-announced debut author/short-story contest winner.

Fools In Love: Fresh Twists On Romantic Tales edited by Ashley Herring Blake & Rebecca Podos
Release Date: December 7, 2021

Summary: Join fifteen bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming authors as they reimagine some of the most popular tropes in the romance genre.

Fake relationships. Enemies to lovers. Love triangles and best friends, mistaken identities and missed connections. This collection of genre-bending and original stories celebrates how love always finds a way, featuring powerful flora, a superhero and his nemesis, a fantastical sled race through snow-capped mountains, a golf tournament, the wrong ride-share, and even the end of the world. With stories written by Rebecca Barrow, Ashley Herring Blake, Gloria Chao, Mason Deaver, Sara Farizan, Claire Kann, Malinda Lo, Hannah Moskowitz, Natasha Ngan, Rebecca Podos, Lilliam Rivera, Laura Silverman, Amy Spalding, Rebecca Kim Wells, and Julian Winters this collection is sure to sweep you off your feet.

Game On: 15 Stories of Wins, Losses and Everything In Between edited by Laura Silverman
Release Date: January 18, 2022

Summary: A charming and inclusive YA anthology all about games—from athletic sports to board games to virtual reality—from editor Laura Silverman and an all-star cast of contributors.

From the slightly fantastical to the utterly real, light and sweet romance to tales tinged with horror and thrills, Game On is an anthology that spans genre and style. But beneath each story is a loving ode to competition and games perfect for anyone who has ever played a sport or a board game, picked up a video game controller, or rolled a twenty-sided die.

A manhunt game is interrupted by a town disappearing beneath the players’ eyes. A puzzle-filled scavenger hunt emboldens one college freshman to be brave with the boy she’s crushing on. A series of summer nights full of card games leads a boy to fall for a boy who he knows is taken. And a spin the bottle game could end a life-long friendship.

Reclaim The Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space edited by Zoraida Córdova
Release Date: February 15, 2022

Summary: Seventeen fantasy and science fiction short stories from leading voices in the Latin American diaspora!

Reclaim the Stars is a collection of bestselling and acclaimed YA authors that take the Latin American diaspora to places fantastical and out of this world. From princesses warring in space, to the all too-near devastation of climate change, to haunting ghost stories in Argentina, and mermaids off the coast of the Caribbean. This is science fiction and fantasy that breaks borders and realms, and proves that stories are truly universal.

Authors include Daniel José Older, Yamile Saied Méndez, Anna-Marie McLemore, Mark Oshiro, Romina Garber, David Bowles, Lilliam Rivera, Claribel Ortega, Isabel Ibañez, Sara Faring, Maya Motayne, Nina Moreno, Vita Ayala, J.C. Cervantes, Circe Moskowitz, Linda Nieves Pérez, and Zoraida Córdova.

All Signs Point To Yes edited by Cam Montgomery, g. haron davis and Adrianne White
Release Date: May 31, 2022

Summary: A literal star-studded anthology that delivers a love story for every star sign straight from the hearts of 13 multicultural YA authors, including Mark Oshiro, Tehlor Kay Mejia, and Emery Lee! Perfect for fans of Black Enough and anyone who’s addicted to reading their daily horoscope.

A haunted Aquarius finds love behind the veil. An ambitious Aries will do anything to stay in the spotlight. A foodie Taurus discovers the best eats in town (with a side of romance). A witchy Cancer stumbles into a curious meet-cute.

Romantic, platonic, familial, or something that can’t quite be defined, love connects us all. Journey from your own backyard to the world beyond the living as these tales settle among the stars for thirteen stories of love and life.

Interview with Nova Ren Suma discussing Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate The Magic of Reading and Writing YA

On The Booked Shelf we’re all about highlighting the newest Young Adult releases! Here’s a much-anticipated interview with co-editor/author Nova Ren Suma talking all about the Foreshadow anthology that released in October of this year and the digital platform it’s inspired by, FORESHADOW YA.

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With this book of course being inspired by your digital anthology “Foreshadow,” it showcases new writers featured from past issues! What was the most special part of getting this anthology in print?

Nova Ren: Having the opportunity to highlight only the New Voices from ForeshadowYA.com. These were dazzling short stories by writers new to the YA field, those who hadn’t published a novel yet, and a number of whom hadn’t ever published a piece of fiction before. We wanted to shout about these stories and these talented writers from the rooftops, and publishing them in print in the form of this book was a glorious way to do that.

This anthology doesn’t just feature new writers, but also handy craft advice for Young Adult readers/aspiring writers. Why do you think this was important to include in the anthology?

Nova Ren: The title of our anthology—Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA—speaks to everything we wanted to offer with this book. We wanted it to be more than a collection of stories, so this book truly became a celebration of what’s possible in YA. Including the craft essays and conversations was a way to acknowledge the seeds of writing magic that made these stories what they are. We hope you can feel our joy about digging in to what makes these stories shine and startle and thrill and tick. We wanted to pull the curtain back, so you could see what made us fall in love with them in the beginning. For readers, we hope that offers a fascinating look into the inner workings of crafting a story. And for writers, we hope it gets you thinking deeply about the craft choices and possibilities in your own work.

As editors of this serial YA anthology and authors yourselves, it’s clear there was much love put into this project from the very beginning! What does it mean to see projects like Foreshadow exist and although it ended in 2019, what was the most memorable part?

Nova Ren: Foreshadow was a dream project for both Emily and me, and on top of that initial dream we had a secret dream we articulated only to each other that after our year of online stories was over, we wanted to collect some part of the project in print form. So having the anthology published by Algonquin YR this fall with the craft extras really thrilled us. Having the opportunity to create a place for YA writers to publish their short stories was our initial aim, and we always wanted the door to be open to new writers who haven’t published anywhere before. There are so few venues like that in the YA landscape, and it’s only recently that YA anthologies have started to be more open to submissions to new writers. We’re hoping that Foreshadow, in all its forms, could be a nudge to other editors and writers to go off and make their dream projects a reality too. Let’s create more publications and venues that offer new writers a space and a singular chance to have their voices heard. Foreshadow may be the first YA publication of its kind, but we hope it’s the last. As for the most memorable part, I can’t help but think of the first moment when this gigantic and ambitious project started to feel real. Emily and I had a lunch date at a Ukrainian restaurant that turned into five hours of excited planning. When we walked out onto the sidewalk, stuffed full of ideas and pancakes, Foreshadow was real.

To conclude, Foreshadow is about not only showcasing underrepresented writers, but also boosting emerging ones as well. In the year of 2020, what writing advice do you have to offer marginalized or new/upcoming writers to keep them inspired?

To answer that, I’m going to share an image we made when promoting the online version of Foreshadow:

I believe these words. To the underrepresented voices out there who don’t yet see your stories in YA, and to writers who haven’t found a home for your work yet: The world does need your story. Foreshadow may not be taking submissions anymore, and our project may be complete in the form of the Foreshadow print anthology, but I’m hoping you will write for the future reader who will fall in love with your words. That person is out there.

To quote my co-editor, Emily X.R. Pan, from her introduction in our book, “What’s the point of storytelling magic if it isn’t shared?”

The Foreshadow YA anthology is out now from Algonquin Young Readers!

Reclaim The Stars: A Latinx YA SFF Anthology Coming in 2022!

On April 7, Publishers Weekly announced that Zoraida Córdova would be the editor for an upcoming YA science fiction fantasy anthology featuring stories from Latinx authors.

Authors will include: Elizabeth Acevedo, Vita Ayala, David Bowles, Zoraida Córdova, Sara Faring, Romina Garber, Isabel Ibañez, Anna-Marie McLemore, Yamile Saied Méndez, Nina Moreno, Maya Motayne, Daniel José Older, Claribel Ortega, Mark Oshiro, and Lilliam Rivera.

As of April 15, Córdova also shared via her website that she’s looking for an Afro-Latinx author to include and submissions will run until July 15, 2020.

“[This collection] will feature speculative fiction exploring the Latinx diaspora…it’s one of the first of its kind, bringing much needed representation to the world of science fiction & fantasy…” mentioned on Córdova’s Reclaim The Stars page.

While not many details are known as to what each story will be about, one author has already shared some hints via Twitter. Nina Moreno tweeted on April 7, “Southern gothic latinx monster boyfriend.”

Its planned for a Winter 2022 release date with Wednesday Books.

” I’m honored to be working with these rockstar authors and editors…The stories we have lined up explore the Latinx diaspora through the lens of science fiction & fantasy. And we have some secret things brewing so stay tuned”

Zoraida Córdova via Twitter

Here at The Booked Shelf, there’s so much excitement and anticipation for this upcoming book! As a Latina reader myself, I’m so overjoyed to see this anthology with a stellar line-up and focused on SFF! You can expect more coverage of this upcoming book as it gets closer to release year!

Reclaim The Stars edited by Zoraida Córdova will be released in 2022!

Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed The World by Ann Shen Optioned For Anthology TV Series

On August 21, it was announced through Variety and The Hollywood Reporter that illustrator and author, Ann Shen, had her nonfiction collection Bad Girls Throughout History optioned as an anthology series by television production company Universal Content Productions (UCP).

Liz Hannah (Mindhunter), is set to adapt and write the first pilot episode, while Ry Russo -Young (The Sun Is Also A Star) is set to direct.

What makes this project especially unique is that with each episode, there will also be a different team of females behind the camera, writing and directing.

Its planned for each episode to feature a different female figure from Shen’s novel.

” Bad Girls is an incredible opportunity to focus not on a single character or genre, but a kind of uncompromising personality that inhabits great women throughout history…”

ry russo-young via the hollywood reporter

Hannah stated, within The Hollywood Reporter article, that “Ann Shen’s book is all that needs to be said about the ambitions of this show. To depict women throughout history as they are: complex, funny, dark and everywhere in between…”

Aphra Behn, first female professional writer. Sojourner Truth, activist and abolitionist. Ada Lovelace, first computer programmer. Marie Curie, first woman to win the Nobel Prize. Joan Jett, godmother of punk. The 100 revolutionary women highlighted in this gorgeously illustrated book were bad in the best sense of the word: they challenged the status quo and changed the rules for all who followed. From pirates to artists, warriors, daredevils, scientists, activists, and spies, the accomplishments of these incredible women vary as much as the eras and places in which they effected change. Featuring bold watercolor portraits and illuminating essays by Ann Shen, Bad Girls Throughout History is a distinctive, gift-worthy tribute.

Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed The World by Ann Shen is out now!

YA Shakespeare Anthology Book Deal

Announced July 8 through twitter, YA/NA author Dahlia Adler shared that she would be editing a YA anthology centering around “literary-remiaginings” of Shakespeare’s work.

That Way Madness Lies will feature over 15 young adult authors such as Emily X.R. Pan, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Lily Anderson, Amy Rose Capetta, and more!

Though there is no set release date as of June 9, the anthology will be published with Flatiron Books and be a “collection of Shakespeare’s most celebrated works…”

It was recently discovered that Anna-Marie McLemore would be working on the retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

” Guess who they’re letting edit another literary-reimaginings anthology with a killer lineup!! Any Shakespeare fans in the house, or…? “

Dahlia adler via twitter

That Way Madness Lies edited by Dahlia Adler is available to add on Goodreads!