What is YASA?

The YA Studies Association (YASA) is an international organisation existing to increase the knowledge of, and research on, YA literature, media, and related fields and to encourage the cooperation of specialists, institutions, organisations, and individuals engaging with YA whether through research, teaching, or practice. We welcome scholars and practitioners at all stages and career levels and of any race, ethnicity, religion, class, ability, gender, sex, sexuality, and size.

The Association runs a monthly, virtual YA Theory Reading Group and a bimonthly Fiction Group available to members. Additionally, we run a biennial conference, with the the next iteration to come in November 2026! Check out our events page for more details about our exciting events.

Our Executive Board

  • Dr Jeremy Johnston

    PRESIDENT

    Jeremy Johnston is an Assistant Professor of Children’s and Young Adult Literature at Illinois State University. His teaching and research interests include literary adolescence, economics, and political philosophy. He currently serves on the ChLA Ombuds Committee and as President of the Young Adult Studies Association. His forthcoming book Productive Citizenship: Neoliberal Capitalism & the Young Adult Novel is under contract with the University Press of Mississippi.




  • Dr Susanne Abou Ghaida

    VICE PRESIDENT

    Susanne Abou Ghaida is a researcher specialized in Arabic children’s and adolescent literature. She has a PhD in Education from the University of Glasgow where she conducted doctoral research on the Arabic adolescent novel and constructions of adolescence. She has researched and written about a number of subjects, including oral history and memory; multicultural picture books; disability; and sexuality in Arabic children’s literature. Starting in January 2023, she will be a postdoctoral fellow at Aix-Marseille University researching The 13 Devils Arab espionage series for adolescents.


  • Nichol Brown

    SECRETARY

    Nichol Brown in a PhD candidate with a specialization in children’s literature at Illinois State University. Although originally from Pennsylvania, she hopped across the country to attend Arizona State University for her B.A. and M.A. in English. Now at ISU, Nichol currently teaches introductory children’s literature courses and assists with instructional design in the Center for Integrated Professional Development. When she carves out time for her own research, Nichol is drawn to posthumanist and feminist critiques of young adult literature, with a focus on fairy tale retellings.


  • Tânia Cerqueira

    MEMBERSHIP MANAGER

    Tânia Cerqueira is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto. Her thesis, funded by National Funds through FCT – Foundation for Science and Technology (2021.04547.BD), explores the relationship between the Gothic tradition and English fiction young adult dystopias. She holds a Master's degree in Anglo-American Studies from the same university and obtained it with a dissertation titled “‘Are you afraid of your own shadow?’: The Monster and the Construction of Identity in Monsters of Verity”. Her main research interests include young adult literature, with a focus on dystopian and Gothic narratives, monstrosity, and posthumanism.

  • Cassandra Whisenant

    SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

    Cassandra Whisenant is an English doctoral student at West Virginia University. Cassandra has a BS in Journalism and an MRes in Children’s Literature from the University of Reading, studying modern superhero comics and identity politics. Her PhD research centers around Latine adolescence and how gender, sexuality, race, religion, and identity shape conceptions of a defined adolescence.






  • Dr Caylee Tierney

    WEBSITE COORDINATOR

    Caylee Tierney is a University Associate at the University of Tasmania (Australia). Caylee researches in the areas of popular fiction, publishing studies and children’s fiction. Caylee’s academic work on children’s fantasy is published in the Australian Humanities Review and Fafnir.








Our Advisory Committee

The Advisory Committee is comprised of leaders in the field of YA studies, that is whose work, scholarly or creative, engages YA. This Committee plays an integral role in YASA’s governance. In this first term, the Advisory Committee played an especially valuable role in helping to shape our revised Constitution while also providing guidance and oversight where necessary.

Dr Leah Phillips
(Founder and Past President)
Senior Lecturer, English
Plymouth Marjon University

Dr Jennifer Gouck
(Past Secretary/Treasurer)
Occasional Lecturer and Tutor
University College Dublin

Dr Emily Booth
(Past Social Media Coordinator)
Casual Academic and Research Assistant
University of Technology in Sydney

Dr Melanie Ramdarshan Bold
Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor
Department of Information Studies
University College London

Dr Kelly Gardiner
Author and Lecturer
Creative and Professional Writing
La Trobe University

Dr Angel Daniel Matos
Assistant Professor
Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
Bowdoin College

Dr Lucy Pearson
Senior Lecturer in Children’s Literature
Children’s Literature Unit
Newcastle University

Dr Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
Associate Professor
Div. of Literacy, Culture, International Education
U of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education

Dr Stephanie Toliver
Assistant Professor
Literacy Studies and Secondary Humanities
University of Colorado, Boulder

Dr Alison Waller
Reader in Children’s Literature
National Centre for Research in Children’s Lit.
University of Roehampton

Our Partners

YASA partners with World Kid Lit, a non-profit organization aimed at promoting international reading for pleasure and diversity in children’s publishing, to spread the word about World Kid Lit month each September. World Kid Lit month is a time to explore international literature for children and young adults. Find out how to get involved here.