Are We Friends Now? An Anthology By and About 2SLGBTQ+ Youth

This slim anthology includes six short stories, half of them excerpts from longer works, and sixteen poems written by nine youth from PEI, along with five diverse pieces (poetry, prose, autobiographical writing) by four of the adult facilitators. The works were produced over several months of workshopping and brainstorming by the Queer Youth Writing Club that was founded by the PEERS Alliance in partnership with the PEI Writers’ Guild with funding from the PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being. This anthology, edited by YA novelist Tom Ryan, was one of the promised outcomes of the partnership.

As one expects from an anthology, the works are varied and uneven in quality. It is evident from the poetry that the facilitators discussed many different forms of poetry as the offerings include one that rhymes, an example of blackout poetry, and one of a series, a coded poem, that fortunately includes the decoded version. All works are titled, even if Untitled, or numerical such as Poem #2, followed by the name of the contributor with their preferred pronouns in parentheses, and, when warranted, a CW or content warning.

To capture something of the diverse topics covered in the anthology, I present the following keywords and phrases that came to mind when trying to describe the topics addressed:

Love, grief, depression, dystopia, monster (real or allegorical), relationships: healthy or unhealthy, romance, self acceptance, dreams, trans identity, same sex crush, friendship, abuse and hope for a better future, fantasy worlds, school shooting trauma, searching for meaning.

The works show a level of polish that is free from raw emotion that can weigh down early drafts of poems and prose. In sum, the collection is a worthwhile addition to library or classroom collections.