#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
Helen Comerford writes funny and fantastical tales, with diverse casts of characters, for children and young adults. She is fuelled by a love of all things super-powered, feminism, and chocolate raisins. Helen spent a decade as a theatre stage manager, walking and talking *very quietly* backstage in theatres around the country. Her time working at Shakespeare’s Globe, and with Wise Children Theatre Company, cemented her love of theatre and allowed her to travel around the world looking for stories. After squeezing her writing into days off and train journeys, Helen left the touring life to settle in South Wales and dedicate herself to writing joyful (and ridiculous) books. When she’s not writing, you can find her hiking around the Welsh countryside with her dog, Cocoa.
Rachel Faturoti is a British-Nigerian author, writing facilitator, screenwriter and poet. She has published three middle grade novels with Hachette, a young adult novel with Jacaranda and has a short story in the spooky YA anthology, A Taste of Darkness, with Scholastic. Rachel has an MA in Creative Writing from Brunel University and is completing an MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes at the Metanoia Institute.
Elisabeth Pike is a freelance writer and maker. She lives in Shropshire. Her novel, Murmuration, a YA dystopia with a touch of magic is out now.
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About Their Books:
Title: THE LOVE INTEREST
Author: Helen Comerford
Pitch: In this feminist superhero romcom, Jenna Ray is rescued by the new hero, Blaze, and the world decides that she is going to be his Love Interest. This the last thing Jenna wants, even if Blaze is cute, but villains, disasters and other heroes keep pushing them together …
Find on Goodreads.
Title: THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, short story within A TASTE OF DARKNESS
Author: Rachel Faturoti
Pitch: A Beauty and the Beast inspired short story with assassins and non-human creatures.
Find on Goodreads.
Title: MURMURATION
Author: Elisabeth Pike
Pitch: Murmuration, a YA magic realist dystopia, will delight fans of The Hunger Games with its high-stakes adventure and tender love story. Jay is desperate to leave the island to find his missing mother, but when the birds come and the adults disappear, his only job is to keep everyone alive.
Find on Goodreads.
What do you think is special about UKYA?
Helen Comerford: Definitely the humour. There’s something about the cynical humour of the Brits that pairs so perfectly with utter chaos of being a teen. There’s a lot of heart in UKYA too and the variety of stories being told is so inspirational. Readers can (increasingly) see themselves represented in UKYA in a growing range of stories and that’s super empowering.
Rachel Faturoti: UKYA is special because it is varied in terms of character, subject matter and genre. Each year we are getting more incredible homegrown YA novels, which further diversifies its scope and reach.
Elisabeth Pike: I have found a very supportive community through WriteMentor and some wonderful cheerleaders of my writing which is incredible really, considering I wasn’t really intending to write YA, it just kind of happened!
What distinguishes a YA book from middle grade or adult? Why do you think it’s so popular at the moment?
Helen Comerford: There’s something very freeing about reading (and writing YA), the stakes can be sky high, but, unlike adult fiction, you don’t have to acknowledge the ever expanding worries of adult life (jobs, rent, back health). In YA, the characters are figuring out who they are and who they want to be, which isn’t something that ever really stops. I think that’s why reading coming for age stories is something that still resonates deeply with adults.
Rachel Faturoti: The main aspect that distinguishes a YA from a middle grade or adult novel is the subject matter. YA needs to appeal to the 12-18 market and that means having stories that are relatable to readers of those ages. YA is so popular at the moment because your pre-teen and teenage years are very crucial in shaping your identity and outlook on life. For YA readers, you’re reading about characters in relatable everyday situations or seeing a character overthrow cruel rulers while fighting for what they believe in, or having a character discover they have mystical powers. In YA, there is a book for everyone.
Elisabeth Pike: Its that tension between wanting to be an adult and not quite being there yet. I love writing about that and still feel it in my own life (even though I am 42 now!) Also learning who you are and how to find your voice. Still learning that too.
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?
Helen Comerford: YA is such a broad category, especially if you’re working off the 12-18 years definition. That’s a massive cross-section of people with vastly differing maturity levels, so we need a range of books. I do think the more frequent use of the Upper YA and even New Adult labels might help readers pick books that suit them. We also can’t forget the teenagers who aren’t ready for the more adult scenes in upper YA, yet. They need books too! That’s where ‘The Love Interest’ falls (funny, action-packed, sweet and swoony, ‘clean teen’) and that’s where I’ll keep writing.
Rachel Faturoti: UKYA strikes a good balance, but I do believe we need more teen books for the younger YA readers. Many books published are for older readers because there’s not really a designated ‘teen’ spot in all bookshops and some people think there’s no real market for those books, but it was these teen books that had such an impact on me as a younger reader before I was ready to read older books.
Elisabeth Pike: I think YA is a space of possibility and of dreaming and it is good to keep it that way. Adult books are about knowing whereas the YA space is still about dreaming.
How do you think UKYA will evolve in the coming five years?
Helen Comerford: I think more genre cross overs could happen. Romantasy is so huge and (as a romance lover) I’m particularly excited to see romance blending more with other genres – like sci-fi. We need more YA sci-fi romances, especially ones with diverse casts of characters.
Rachel Faturoti: I want to see more diversity in terms of the writers of YA novels and I hope we’re moving in the direction where we have characters from different cultures.
Elisabeth Pike: More representation. More imagination. More indie books hopefully! More stories coming to life. I would love to see more indie authors empowered to self-release their stories.
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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