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<p>The recent growth of Irish Young Adult (YA) literature has been accompanied by a broader variety of characters and themes, including the theme of queer sexualities. While this continues to be a contentious topic, Irish LGBTQ + YA literature has increased remarkably, and queer characters are making a space for themselves within this literary category. Another theme that, on the contrary, is still seldom approached in Irish texts for young adults, is that of religion. Despite the weight that religion, and particularly Catholicism, has had in Irish society, this is rarely explored in depth, usually approached through narratives of mythology or about the old gods. Nevertheless, there are some texts that depict religion as part of the narrative context. This article focuses particularly on three Irish YA novels that depict sapphic protagonists in an attempt to examine how they navigate their position as queer subjects within a Catholic all-girls school: Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s <i>All the Bad Apples</i> (2019), Adiba Jaigirdar’s <i>The Henna Wars</i>&#xa0;(2020) and Claire Henness’s <i>Like Other Girls</i>&#xa0;(2017). Taking into consideration the significance that the school setting has in literature for young adults, the aim is to explore if the protagonists’ experiences are conditioned by the values taught in their religious schools, and how they negotiate their sapphic identity within such a conservative environment.</p>

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Queerness and Religion: Navigating the Catholic School in Contemporary Irish Young Adult Fiction

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年4月11日

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  • Iria Seijas-Pérez

摘要

The recent growth of Irish Young Adult (YA) literature has been accompanied by a broader variety of characters and themes, including the theme of queer sexualities. While this continues to be a contentious topic, Irish LGBTQ + YA literature has increased remarkably, and queer characters are making a space for themselves within this literary category. Another theme that, on the contrary, is still seldom approached in Irish texts for young adults, is that of religion. Despite the weight that religion, and particularly Catholicism, has had in Irish society, this is rarely explored in depth, usually approached through narratives of mythology or about the old gods. Nevertheless, there are some texts that depict religion as part of the narrative context. This article focuses particularly on three Irish YA novels that depict sapphic protagonists in an attempt to examine how they navigate their position as queer subjects within a Catholic all-girls school: Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s All the Bad Apples (2019), Adiba Jaigirdar’s The Henna Wars (2020) and Claire Henness’s Like Other Girls (2017). Taking into consideration the significance that the school setting has in literature for young adults, the aim is to explore if the protagonists’ experiences are conditioned by the values taught in their religious schools, and how they negotiate their sapphic identity within such a conservative environment.