#UKYASpotlight is a month-long event across social media to promote YA books by British and Irish authors (resident and national). For more information, click here.
About the Authors
O. R. Sorrel has been writing rude things on the internet since they were 17, starting with a blog about their father. Their debut queer apocalyptic comedy Apocalypse Cow came out in June 2024, after winning the Guppy Open Submission Competition by some bizarre stroke of fate. They are now mostly eating gluten-free biscuits and crying over dog videos.
Diana Anyakwo grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. She is of mixed Irish and Nigerian heritage. She moved to the UK when she was a teenager and later graduated from the University of Manchester. Her debut young adult novel, My Life as a Chameleon, has been shortlisted for the 2024 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards and longlisted for the 2024 Jhalak Prize and Diverse Book Awards. Diana’s writing has appeared in The Telegraph and Black Ballad magazine. She currently lives and works in Manchester.
Shade Lapite is British-Nigerian and lives in Canada. Her debut novel, Goddess Crown, is a YA fantasy adventure about a girl raised in secret who discovers her royal heritage and must leave her sheltered home for the subtle dangers of the royal court. Shade works in digital marketing. She blogs regularly at Coffeebookshelves.com, highlighting and celebrating genre books by authors of colour.
About Their Books:
Title: APOCALYPSE COW
Author: O. R. Sorrel
Pitch: Add mutant badgers and a heavy dose of gay panic to Shaun of the Dead, and you’ve got Apocalypse Cow
Find on Goodreads.
Title: MY LIFE AS A CHAMELEON
Author: Diana Anyakwo
Pitch: A coming of age story about an Irish Nigerian teenager called Lily growing up in Nigeria and Manchester in the 1980s-90s. Lily often feels caught between two worlds and struggles to fit in within her own family and in the different schools she goes to. It’s a story about family secrets and how they can destroy even the strongest bonds. Ultimately. it’s a story about finding your place in the world.
Find on Goodreads.
Title: GODDESS CROWN
Author: Shade Lapite
Pitch: In this thrilling fantasy, a girl raised in secret is forced to leave her sheltered rural home for the dangers of the royal court, where she becomes caught up in deadly power struggles and romantic intrigue. Set in a fantasy West Africa, and centered around a sword wielding, daring heroine.
Find on Goodreads.
What do you think is special about UKYA?
O. R. Sorrel: I think it’s an amazing space where people are so funny, creative, and borderline unhinged. There are so many books out there now I wish I’d had when I was a teenager and I’m so happy all the queer kids have so much to choose from now.
Diana Anyakwo: I think there is so much diversity in UKYA now, with so many different genres to choose form and so many different diverse stories.
Shade Lapite: As a result of the British empire, the UK is a melting pot of global cultures and this is increasingly reflected in the range of YA books it produces.
What distinguishes a YA book from middle grade or adult? Why do you think it’s so popular at the moment?
O. R. Sorrel: YA covers all the things teens and young people are desperate to know more about. It’s a bit spicier than MG, and a lot snappier than adult fiction. I’m 30 and I exclusively read YA.
Diana Anyakwo: I think a YA book can handle dark themes and topics that teenager’s face in their every day lives and it can use any genre to explore these topics. I think it’s a special category because it can cross the line into both the heart warming and hopefulness of middle grade book while still dealing with challenging topics that teenagers want to read about.
Shade Lapite: The protagonists in YA are making the shift from child to adult and while the sharpness of the learning curve will differ for each person, that friction always produces drama. I think YA continues to grow in popularity because it bravely experiments and sometimes goes to places and considers ideas even adult fiction isn’t ready for.
There has been a lot of talk about the adultification of YA and what that means for teen readers. What sort of balance do you think UKYA strikes between teens and older readers? Do you think this balance needs to shift in a particular direction and how?
O. R. Sorrel: I think YA has such a broad span these days – the characters are anywhere from 14 to 19, which is a huge gulf of life happenings. When I was a teenager I wished all the books I read were hornier and used more swears because that was my reality – I was a horny, foul-mouthed undiagnosed homosexual in a world of innuendos and “bloody hell”s. So in short, no, I don’t think YA needs a shift, I think we need to give young people more credit in deciding what they want to read at the stage they want to read it.
Diana Anyakwo: I think there is a huge range of YA books, some more appropriate for younger readers and others a cross over into new adult and adult books. I think YA does emphasis the issues teenager’s are facing through use of voice and through the themes explored. I think it is usually very clear when a book is for older reader because the themes are different, more relevant to the adult stage of life. I don’t think we need to shift in a particular direction I think we need to have as much choice of types of books as possible so that teenagers can make their own choice what they want to read.
Shade lapite: I think UK publishers are good at walking the line of being realistic that teens will have adult experiences but ensuring authors treat those experiences sensitively, mindful of the target audience. Stats show that YA is popular with female adults but it’s important that the focus remains on teen readers.
How do you think UKYA will evolve in the coming five years?
O. R. Sorrel: I think (hope) it’s about to get a lot more queer
Diana Anyakwo: There seems to be a lot of romantasy books coming out so I do think these might be the main focus. I historical romances will also be big in the future, there seems to be a real appetite for period dramas especially those with a diverse cast of characters.
Shade Lapite: I see continued progress being made in the racial diversity of writers and their protagonists.
For more interviews, check here and don’t forget to check instagram (here) for book recommendations from these authors and more!
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