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In Defense of Urban Fiction

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In Defense of Urban Fiction 29 low-income neighbourhoods and schools In Defense of Urban are multicultural. It is this multiculturalism Fiction that helps create a distinctly Canadian vibe. There are many important reasons to By Madeline King include urban fiction within your collections and when providing readers’ advisory. For Urban fiction, also called ghetto lit, gangsta one, urban fiction tends to be very popular lit, hip-hop lit, and street lit, has varying with reluctant readers because of the fast- definitions depending on who you ask. paced action-driven plots. Urban fiction also Essentially, urban fiction centers around gives a voice to the impoverished youth low-income inner city dwellers whose fending for their lives as the often forgotten metropolitan lives are survivalist. Stories children of urban culture. Providing these involve sex, prostitution, violence, drugs, stories to our patrons helps acknowledge homelessness, gangs, and crime, and these youth. Many urban youth will identify usually have fast-action plots and impulsive with these stories because street life has characters. Due to its loosely defined nature touched their lives in some way. It is and recent popularity, street lit is thought important for our patrons to read fiction to be a new genre, but it has in fact been where they are featured, and where they around for a long time. Some argue that the can recognize themselves in the characters same themes which characterize street lit for validation and self-acceptance (Morris, today, such as disadvantaged young people 2011). As for the youth who are not directly using crime to survive, can be traced back affected by the hardships of street life, to the writings of Charles Dickens (Morris, providing them with a different perspective 2012). then they are used to helps to acknowledge the people and the stories of youth street The genre is dominated by African life in our society that are so frequently American writers and protagonists, ignored. especially in the United States, but is not race or culture specific (Morris, 2012). Due to the mature themes of urban fiction Canadian urban fiction is still forging its own it is not surprising that it has become a identity as it has been heavily influenced by controversial genre, particularly with US street lit. The Canadian urban regards to young adults and library experience is different than the US urban collections. There are the conservative experience and thus it is not surprising that opinions that would attempt to censor Canadian urban fiction is developing its themes such as violence and sex from distinct brand. Urban fiction is not just teens. In truth, these stories for the most about African Americans, but about street part are not romanticizing street life, but culture in general (Kya Publishing, 2012). rather are relaying the brutal realities faced The youth on Canadian streets are of all by so many youth. In response to this races and ethnicities; urban centers and controversy, mainstream printing presses in No. 99 Everybody Wants Something: The Changing Face of Canadian Young Adult Librarianship 30 the US started publishing street lit aimed addiction and absence, she must learn to specifically at young adults. These tamed- navigate the tough streets of Montreal and down versions attempted to keep sex and fend for herself at an early age. Eventually violence at arm’s length, using different Baby falls in with a pimp who takes her writing techniques such as recounting virginity and forces her into prostitution events rather than telling them in real time. and heroin use. Reading this book is like This “safer” teen street lit is found to be watching a car crash in slow motion. Life babyish or inauthentic by teens that are just kind of carries Baby along as she falls true fans of the genre. deeper and deeper into bad situations. Be prepared for a tough read, but this great The segregation between adult street lit Canadian urban fiction novel is very much and a softer young adult urban fiction does worth it. This story is not romanticized, not seem to exist in Canada. There are embellished, or contrived in any way, as it many titles with youth protagonists about relays the hard truths of life on the streets. youth culture that seemingly appeal to This difficult and mature subject matter is young adults but are often marketed or all too real and relevant for many urban shelved as adult. That is, there is very little teens. Canadian urban fiction being branded to young adults. Shelving the urban fiction in Little, Ashley. (2013). Anatomy of a girl the adult section of public libraries will not gang. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp reduce the appeal of these books to teens Press. and should not be left off any readers’ advisory lists. The fact is, teens like urban Author of YA novel, The new normal, Ashley fiction, and teens should have access to Little’s most recent work, Anatomy of a girl books they want to read. gang, is a masterful novel told in six voices of the young girls in the Vancouver gang Canadian urban fiction titles called the Black Roses. This is an honest account of urban girl culture; injected with O’Neill, Heather. (2006). Lullabies for little violence, drugs, and theft, relaying the hard criminals. Toronto: HarperCollins. lives of youth on the street. Heather O’Neill’s novel Robinson, Stacey Marie. (2008). Video light: Lullabies for little An Urban Toronto criminals was the tale. Toronto: Kya winner of 2007 Canada Publishing. Reads competition. The young protagonist Video Light is a Romeo and named Baby lives with Juliet story set against the her heroin-addict background of urban father, with whom she has a loving but Toronto. Social complicated relationship. Due to his conventions and opposing No. 99 Everybody Wants Something: The Changing Face of Canadian Young Adult Librarianship 31 upbringings fight to keep Delia Chinn and Resources: Ryan Wright apart, yet they are willing to defy everything they know to stay with each Hernandez, Melanie. (2008). Teen Urban other. The portrayal of challenging social Fiction Pathfinder. Retrieved norms is saddening but poignant. from https://sites.google.com/site/ teenurbanfiction/Home Other Titles: Kya Publishing Website (2013). Retrieved Bourne, D.A. (2007). Crazy drama. UK: from: http://www.kyapublishing.com/ Xlibris. Kya Publishing was founded by author, Robinson, Stacey Marie. (2008). Eighteen. Stacey Marie Robinson in 2007, and is the Toronto: Kya Publishing. only Canadian publishing company dedicated entirely to urban fiction. Robinson, Stacey Marie. (2008). First year. Toronto: Kya Publishing. Cited: Robinson, Stacey Marie. (2008). Friends Kya Publishing. (2012, February 12). with benefits. Toronto: Kya Defining Canadian urban fiction: A Publishing. panel discussion at Toronto Public Library. [Video file]. Retrieved Robinson, Stacey Marie. (2009). Request to from: http://youtu.be/xr7F9w-RqRY rewind. Toronto: Kya Publishing. Morris, Vanessa Irvin. (2011). The Street Lit Robinson, Stacey Marie. (2012). I wish I Author and the Inner-City Teen never met him. Toronto: Kya Reader. Young Adult Library Publishing. Services, 10(1), 21-24. With, Cathleen. (2006). Skids. Vancouver: Morris, Vanessa Irvin. (2012). The readers' Arsenal Pulp Press. advisory guide to street literature. American Library Association. No. 99 Everybody Wants Something: The Changing Face of Canadian Young Adult Librarianship .
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