About the Authors
Jennifer Burkinshaw taught English, Drama and Classics for twenty years in several schools, including four years in Paris. She later completed an MA in Creative Writing for Children at Manchester Metropolitan University and is also an alumna of the Golden Egg Academy. Now retired, at least from teaching, Jennifer lives with her husband in West Yorkshire but enjoys travelling to new places, particularly if they have mountains, including most recently to beautiful Romania. Igloo is her debut novel; her second, Happiness Seeker, will be released later in 2023. Jennifer Burkinshaw Image
Kesia Lupo is the author of YA fantasies We Are Bloody and Thunder and We Are Bound by Stars and thriller Let’s Play Murder, all published by Bloomsbury. She daylights as a literary agent and is a UK expat living near San Francisco.
Josie Jaffrey is a fantasy and historical fiction author who writes about lost worlds, dystopian societies and paranormal monsters (vampires are her favourite). She has published multiple novels and short stories. Most of those are set in the Silverse, an apocalyptic world filled with vampires and zombies. Josie lives in Oxford with her husband and two cats (Sparky and Gussie), who graciously permit human cohabitation in return for regular feeding and cuddles. The resulting cat fluff makes it difficult for Josie to wear black, which is largely why she gave up being a goth. Although the cats are definitely worth it, she still misses her old wardrobe.
About Their Books:
Title: IGLOO
Author: Jennifer Burkinshaw
Pitch: When Nirvanaand Jean-Louis chance to meet in an igloo he’d built in his village in the French Alps on Christmas Eve, they soon realise they are each other’s best Christmas presents ever!
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Title: LET’S PLAY MURDER
Author: Kesia Lupo
Pitch: Squid Game meets Agatha Christie as a group of strangers are pulled into a 1989-set murder mystery VR game that goes deadly wrong.
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Title: THE WOLF AND THE WATER
Author: Josie Jaffrey
Pitch: Atlantis-inspired murder mystery, with romance, in which disabled Kala tries to solve her father’s murder before her city is flooded by a hidden sea.
Find on Goodreads.
What do you love most about writing for the YA audience?
Jennifer Burkinshaw: Because I still feel to be seventeen in my head, I love the intensity of your emotions when you’re a young adult; how everything is heightened when so much of what you do and feel is for the first time. So I love the opportunity to write characters who feel that strongly, and to write stories that are pacy but also with moments of reflection.
Kesia Lupo: Readers are super engaged and there’s a strong YA community.
Josie Jaffrey: There’s something powerful about stories for and about the YA age group, because they have limitless potential. It’s a time in your life when you feel you could be and do anything. Your future isn’t yet set in stone, in fact it’s barely written, and that’s equal parts terrifying and exciting. It makes for wide open vistas of story.
How has writing YA changed your perspective on the world?
Jennifer Burkinshaw: From meeting teenagers at school, library and bookshop visits, it’s clear today’s young adults are very aware and concerned about their world and the problems of those who live in it. This can put a lot of demands on them at a time when they’re already having to deal with so much change and pressure in their young lives. All of which is why young adults need novels of all kinds to read for pleasure – whatever appeals to them, stories to escape into; stories to let them know they’re not alone.
Kesia Lupo: I’ve been consciously writing YA since I was 25 – eight years later I feel as connected to teens as I did when I started. I love that I’ve kept that link alive and have so much love and respect for younger people growing up in these crazy times.
Josie Jaffrey: It’s made me realise just how much people can change in those brief years where they’re discovering who they are. I think a lot of young people go through numerous iterations of potential selves when they’re working out who they are and who they want to be, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Young people need licence to make mistakes, and to change their minds, in fiction and in real life, online and offline.
What trends are you most excited about in UKYA at the moment and to come?
Jennifer Burkinshaw: My hope and expectation is that UKYA fiction continues to be as inclusive, varied in genre, and as superbly written and edited as it already is.
Kesia Lupo: I’m loving YA thrillers right now (part of why I wrote one!) and I’m excited for how horror appears to be growing in popularity.
Josie Jaffrey: Vampires. Always vampires 😂 They’re perennially popular and it’s so good to see them coming back around again.
What do you think is special about UKYA? (Books and/or community)
Jennifer Burkinshaw: From my experience of it, there couldn’t be a more supportive community than UKYA writers. Instead of thinking of ourselves as in competition, we recognise what a tough industry we’re in, whilst knowing reading is a life-line for people of all ages. The support from other writers, including really famous ones, makes all the difference.
Kesia Lupo: The community is still relatively small, so you feel like you can connect with all the big names. It’s also diverse and very passionate!
Josie Jaffrey: The community is so invested in the stories. There’s nothing more incredible than seeing a reader dive headfirst into your work and get excited about the things that, until that point, have only been living in your head. You just don’t get the same degree of engagement writing for older audiences. It’s magical.
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