Elizabeth Hopkinson's Hidden Grove

  It’s Ace Week! A week set apart to raise awareness of identities on the asexual/aromantic spectrum and to campaign on issues that matter to us. For example, why young people should learn about ace-spec identities in school. This year, I was asked by Stonewall to make a 59 second video on that topic, which should appear on their TikTok during this week. But I’ve also been reading. To help with my own writing, I asked around for recommendations of YA fiction with ace representation. Then I bought two of them and had a read. The books in question are: Loveless by Alice Oseman (author of Heartstopper ) and The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee. These are two very different books. Loveless is a contemporary story about a girl called Georgia who goes to university hoping to find the big romance that has so far eluded her, but ends up finding herself. The Lady’s Guide  is a historical adventure set in an unspecified part of the 18th century, about a girl called ...

We might not have seen much of them during the pandemic, but bookshops are still here for us. Personally, I've still been ordering through bookshop sites, even while I've been at home. And now that I'm tentatively stepping back outside, the one thing I look forward to most is time spent browsing in bookshops. But this week, I'd like to give a specially big shout out to the three bookshops who are now stocking copies of Asexual Fairy Tales and Asexual Myths and Tales . That's: Bookish Type in Leeds  [here] Gay Pride Shop in Manchester  [here] Lighthouse in Edinburgh  [here] THANK YOU!! And a big contratulations to my local bookshop, Waterstones Bradford Wool Exchange, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. Not only is it in one of the most beautiful historic buildings, but is a great supporter of Bradford Literature Festival. This week, I had my first proper visit since lockdown. Not only did I buy a couple of young adult titles with asexual representat...