I was just thinking today about how much Shirley Jackson meant to me when I was in high school. Yes, back in the dark ages we didn't have a lot of YA gothie, dark, creepy stuff, so I had to read Shirley Jackson.
Well, Leila reports that there is now a Shirley Jackson Award. And there is a Shirley Jackson Awards Blog! (I suspect it won't be very active.)
Here are the finalists. Notice they don't have a YA category. I so think they should. Seriously, was I the only teenager who read her work?
The award will be given for "outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic." I want to write some of that, so I can be considered for the Shirl.
I love "We Have Always Lived in the Castle."
ReplyDeleteAnd Cece is a huge fan of one of her short stories, something about returning a shirt to a department store if I recall correctly.
Yes, I read "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" back in my youth. Also "The Haunting of Hill House." I think I read either "Life Among the Savages" or "Raising Demons," too.
ReplyDeleteIn recent years, I've tried to read more of her short stories. I was finding them kind of dated.
But I need to do a Jackson reread.
I agree, there should totally be a YA section.
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