Val Silver and the Dragon's Secret: nonbinary identity in Australian middle grade fantasy literature

This thesis explores nonbinary gender identity in Middle Grade (MG) fiction across a range of texts, focusing on the potential of shapeshifting in the fantasy genre as affirming and empowering. I consider how nonbinary protagonists are given agency and visibility in MG fiction, and the role of shapeshifters in contributing positively to portraying genders outside the binary in children’s literature. The thesis is comprised of two parts: the exegesis, which offers a critical analysis of the historical and contemporary representation of nonbinary gender in children’s literature, and the creative work, an MG novel that puts these ideas into practice. In understanding nonbinary identity as complex and fluid, I consider the breadth of depictions, language, and narratives that make up representation in novels for children. Drawing specifically on queer bildungsroman thematic trends, I consider how the narrative structure connects to children in the liminal stage between childhood and adolescence. I explore how carnivalesque elements in a fantasy novel can provide opportunity to make nonbinary gender visible while still engaging in a coming-of-age story. Drawing from the monomythic narrative structure, I utilise fantasy tropes while queering elements traditional to the genre. I argue shapeshifting resonates with both queer and MG storytelling. Through investigating the role of the human/nonhuman shapeshifter as a posthuman subject, I examine the opportunities and implications of casting nonbinary characters as nonhuman. Through the creative project Val Silver and the Dragon’s Secret, and the accompanying exegesis, I present a nonbinary protagonist within a diverse cast of shapeshifting characters in a fantastical world, based loosely on medieval bestiary. I reflect on the use of shapeshifting, a magical boarding school setting through a portal fantasy, and a close third-person voice. In reflecting on the creative work, I examine how the project contributes to the evolution of texts featuring nonbinary representation while connecting with new possibilities for the portrayal of a marginalised identity.