#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
Bryony Pearce is the author of over a dozen novels for children and young adults and of novels and short stories for adults. She has won a number of awards, including the Leeds Book Award, Cheshire Schools Book Award, Wirral Book Award, Science Fiction Weekender, Best SFW author and has been shortlisted for the Branford Boase and the Dagger Awards. Her writing is often dark and thrilling, sometimes humorous, and includes horror, thriller and science fiction. She lives in the Forest of Dean with her family and, in addition to her own writing, she teaches a course on creative writing at City university, mentors other writers, works for Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and The Book Edit, does regular creative writing workshops and talks in schools, has performed at the Edinburgh literature festival, YALC and Comicon, as well as SFW, Wychwood festival, Just So Festival and many others. She loves to meet readers and to support emerging writers.
M. A. Bennett is half-Venetian. She grew up in North Yorkshire in the grounds of a big stately home where her Granny was the housekeeper. She studied history at four universities including Oxford and Venice. She worked in the film and music industries before becoming a writer. She now lives in London with three cats, two children and one husband.
About Their Books:
Title: APHRODITE
Author: Bryony Pearce
Pitch: This Greek Goddess emerged from the sea, powerful, beautiful and ready to learn who she is and to kick some ass!
.
Title: YOUNG GOTHIC
Author: M. A. Bennett
Pitch: Four young creatives spend a spooky summer in a villa by lake Geneva, in an attempt to recreate the environment in which Mary Shelley wrote FRANKENSTEIN. But when they bring their own monsters to life, somebody ends up dead…
Find on Goodreads.
What do you think is special about UKYA?
Bryony Pearce: High quality, impactful stories, with important messages and familiar language and vocabulary and often familiar places, aimed at British readers
M. A. Bennett: There’s so much of it, and it is such high quality. Normally I’d be all bitter about the competition 🙂 but it’s actually so nice to see it burgeoning. It means young British adults are reading, and how can that be anything but good?
What distinguishes a YA book from middle grade or adult? Why do you think it’s so popular at the moment?
Bryony Pearce: YA novels have teen protagonists (rather than preteen or adult) and deal with issues that are important to teen readers, at a level that speaks to them (not down to them). It has been perennially popular since its inception, but more so in recent years, perhaps due to the popularity of TV series such as Shadow and Bone and other recent works based on YA novels. Young readers now know that YA books are imaginative, exciting and speak to them.
M. A. Bennett: I think the reach of it is so wide. An advanced reader who has just gone to secondary school can read the ‘younger’ end of YA, whereas plenty of adults also read YA, from undergraduates, to commuters, to retirees.
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?
Bryony Pearce: I think that there have always been ‘adult’ books enjoyed by young readers – Judy Bloom’s Forever, Flowers in the Attic and so on. With the popularity of series like ACOTAR, publishers are venturing into allowing, or encouraging authors to write sex scenes for YA readers, in a way that they have not confidently done before. More and more, older YA does appear to be inhabiting a space previously occupied by NA. I do feel that there is a place for ‘erotic’ fiction for teens. However, I also feel that this should be distinguished from ‘clean teen’ or YA fiction for younger YA readers, as not all teens want to, or are ready for this kind of content.
M. A. Bennett: It’s a really important bridge between Middle Grade and Adult. All authors want reading to be a life-long habit, so I think with good recommendations caregivers can navigate their children to the right books for them. I think that with the slightly more adult content, there has necessarily been a bigger role for teachers, librarians and booksellers to play, but they tend to be wonderful at steering readers in the right direction.
How do you think UKYA will evolve in the coming five years?
Bryony Pearce: I think we’ll see more fantasy and science fiction (as sci-fi tends to follow where fantasy goes), I think we’ll see more delineation between books that contain those more mature themes and those aimed at the 13-15 audience and I am expecting the love of myths to continue.
M. A. Bennett: I’m hoping that there will be a leaning towards the Gothic! I can already see it happening with influences from TV like Wednesday and Stranger Things…
For more interviews, check here and don’t forget to check instagram (here) for book recommendations from these authors and more!
#UKYASpotlight 
Leave a comment