Look what I found on Meg Rosoff's blog

[ElderberrySyrup]

here and here
Yes, the top teen writer in the entire universe is a feminist.
Woohoo!

And you needed to be told, Elderberry? Of course she is!

Great post and links, though - I haven't seen her blog before, anything about Meg makes me smile with genuine hope and joy, and I'm def going back to her blog. Thank you!

well you see Plumpdog, I never think you can count on it. You sometimes read books which seem to have a real feminist consciousness behind them and then they interview the author and she goes 'Feminist? Of course not, I love my husband!'

This bit is sad:
'But a GP friend told me she?s seeing more and more teenage girls in her surgery covered with bruises from sexual violence they take for granted. ?They?ve come to see me about other things,? she said, ?and seem surprised and irritated when I ask about the evidence of abuse.?
A girl?s secondary school across the street in North London asked me to come in and talk about my male characters. ?It?s a revelation to them that boys aren?t always abusive and macho,? the librarian told me.'

That's a very good point, come to think of it, Elderberry....

Yes, the content of the links themselves was very sad - so many issues even in the paragraph you've included here.

But the very existence of Meg Rosoff and the fact that she's so successful do give me hope, partly because she herself seems to be such a brilliantly undiluted person. I just think she's an inspiration.

I think there's a lot of feminism hidden in YA fiction in general, not just her; I'm reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld at the moment (dystopian world where everyone is made pretty on their 16th birthday) and it's very good. I'm sure teens must be using fiction to help them resist some of the messages in the media in general.

(though unfortunately there is also Twilight).
(Rosoff being sarky on Twilight: 'look guys, it?s not a coincidence ? my female characters are not your average Oooh ooh Mr Vampire, I love you SOooooo much')