Where Can I Find Diverse Young Adult Fiction Short Stories Online?

So I've been combing through places for YA short fiction lately, mostly for a project I'm working on. I know some folks point to the usual suspects like 'Tor.com' or YA-specific anthologies, but honestly, a lot of the real diversity in voices and forms is tucked away in literary journals you wouldn't necessarily think of as YA hubs. Places like 'The Masters Review' often have a 'Young Adult' category, and 'Strange Horizons' publishes amazing speculative shorts that skew older teen but with way more formal experimentation than a typical anthology. I found this incredible piece about a non-binary mer-person navigating high school politics in 'khōréō' magazine, which is all about migration and diaspora. It felt way more specific and authentic than a lot of the 'issue-driven' stories in mainstream YA collections.

Another route is looking at contests and prizes. The 'Brittle Paper' Awards highlight African speculative fiction, and they always have a short story category that features young protagonists in wildly imaginative settings. It's not marketed as YA, but the themes of identity and future-building are spot on. Also, don't sleep on some of the newer digital-only imprints from bigger publishers. HarperCollins has 'HarperTeen Impulse,' which releases short digital originals often by debut authors from underrepresented groups. The selection is hit or miss, but when it hits, it's a fresh perspective you won't find on the shelf. My advice is basically to sidestep the term 'YA' sometimes and search for short fiction by identity or theme—you'll often find the characters are teenagers anyway, and the stories have fewer commercial constraints.

Oh, try looking at subscription box companion sites! I'm not even kidding. Some of those bookish subscription services commission exclusive short stories from authors as bonus content for their boxes, and they often post them online for free later. I stumbled across a whole series of LGBTQ+ contemporary shorts on 'Owlcrate's' blog last year, all with teen protagonists, written by authors like Julian Winters and Leah Johnson. They were sweet, sharp, and exactly the kind of quick read I needed between novels. It's a weird little corner of the internet, but it's become my favorite rabbit hole for finding new voices.