#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
Melinda Salisbury is the four-time Carnegie medal nominated author of multiple teen and YA books, including The Sin Eater’s Daughter, Hold Back the Tide, Her Dark Wings, and Echostar. Her books have been published in multiple languages. When she’s not writing, she works as a volunteer at a local independent cinema and spends a lot of time watching movies
Raised on a healthy diet of fantasy and fairy tales, Bex Hogan has spent much of her life lost in daydreams. Writing her stories down was a natural progression and now she enjoys sharing her time between living in the real world and escaping to her imagination. A Cornish girl at heart, Bex now lives in Cambridgeshire with her beautiful family. She is the author of BLACK HEAT, a standalone YA fantasy, and the ISLES OF STORM AND SORROW trilogy which are YA fantasy adventures set on the high seas (all out now with Hachette Children’s Group). Her first two books in a new fantasy middle grade series, BRONTE TEMPESTRA AND THE LIGHTNING STEEDS and BRONTE TEMPESTRA AND THE ICE WARRIORS, are out now with Piccadilly Press, with two more coming in 2025. Her next YA fantasy, NETTLE, is out in October 2024 with Zephyr.
About Their Books:
Title: THE FOUNDATION
Author: Melinda Salisbury
Pitch: When keen gamer Ivy Finch has an online encounter that turns into offline danger, her parents send her to the Ash Tree Foundation to learn about internet safety. But the people she meets there might be more dangerous than anyone else she’s ever met…
Find on Goodreads.
Title: NETTLE
Author: Bex Hogan
Pitch: Stolen away to the faery realm, Nettle makes a deal with the faery king. If she can complete three tasks for him, he will heal her dying grandmother. But the tasks are impossible and Nettle must find a way past the trickery if she ever hopes to return home.
Find on Goodreads.
What do you think is special about UKYA?
Melinda Salisbury: Right now, that it perseveres! In the face of the constant influx of novels from the US, streaming, social media, lack of Government support, decreasing coverage by the press, fewer festivals and events, and dire marketing budgets, the fact that there are still writers and publishing professionals who are hell-bent on bringing good quality books written by UK authors SPECIFICALLY for UK readers is incredible. The UK is made of up of deeply and richly storied lands and UK publishing, despite the odds, fights to keep that tradition up. That’s special.
Bex Hogan: We have such a wealth of homegrown talent in the UK, bringing huge range and diversity to the YA on offer. From contemporary to fantasy there really is something for everyone, and so many gems to discover, that perhaps have a little more edge than some of the works from across the pond.
What distinguishes a YA book from middle grade or adult? Why do you think it’s so popular at the moment?
Zeena Gosrani: When I write YA I try to hold true to conveying those moments in life when you start to make decisions on your own terms – ‘coming of age’ moments, is, I think, the accepted phrase. The moments when you realise that the adults in your life are flawed, sometimes damaged, sometimes wrong; when you have to make hard, often unfair choices; when you have to begin taking responsibility for yourself and your actions and decisions. But also that new opportunities will arise for you; that things that never seemed possible before suddenly are and the world gets bigger in more exciting ways.
Most of all, YA novels are, for me, about the time when characters ‘become’ who they’re going to be. That circumstances and choices and actions all lead to this moment of becoming and I think all YA novels, regardless of genre, reflect that in some way. By the end of YA stories the characters have gone through an entire metamorphosis, changed by the story they’ve lived through. And while this is true in middle grade and adult books too, in YA the growth is much more pronounced, both final AND burgeoning, which of course reflects the entire process of being a teenager. You start it as a child and end it as an adult. You’re no longer who you were, physically, mentally or emotionally, but you’re still on the threshold of the rest of your life. There’s still everything to play for.
I think that’s also what makes YA so popular. Teens can read YA books and see experiences that are, if not the exact same as their own, then at least spiritually similar, and hopefully feel reassured that everything they’re going through will one day end and there will be a bright new beginning they can have on their own terms. Something that validates their experiences and makes them feel less alone in them, while also promising something better, hopefully.
And for some adults, whose options and chances for big change often become narrower as they age and responsibilities and expectations take precedence, I imagine it’s soothing to immerse yourself in stories that take place before life feels irreversible. YA books feature characters who are just beginning their journey into adulthood – everything is still possible, the world is still brand new and they’re still young and resilient enough to bounce back from disappointments. The choices are still vast. The idea of growth and change, that you can become something new BUT there’s still so much ahead of you – I think that’s very appealing.
Bex Hogan: The teenage years are so unique, so full of possibility and discovery. Whether you’re living through them, or recalling them, reading through the lens of a young person venturing into the world for the first time has so much appeal. It’s a reminder to all that risks are worth taking, that mistakes are allowed to be made, and that ultimately we have the power to be who we want to be. That’s affirming whatever age you are!
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?
Melinda Salisbury: I think in many respects YA is letting down teenagers at the moment as it caters to the tastes and desires of the older readers who buy YA books. Fantasy, escapism and aspiration are important in stories – we read not only to see our own lives and experiences reflected back at us, but to be inspired and excited about potential possibilities; we read to dream a little, I think. And so there should be big, larger-than-life moments in stories (if we wanted the always-absolutely-accurate, we should non-fiction), and moments that are a little bit improbable and fantastical. We should want to suspend some disbelief when we read books, and allow the characters experiences that aren’t necessarily likely or “real” – otherwise what’s the point in reading at all?
But in YA books these things should still honour real-life teen and young adult experiences and lately that doesn’t seem to always be the case; satisfying the demands and expectations of adult readers is being given precedence. I think much of this comes down to the fact that YA is such a nebulous non-category in the first place; it encompasses all genres and a fairly wide range of ages in real terms – fifteen and seventeen are light years away from each other in terms of actually being a teenager and how much changes for you during that time, but they’re treated as the same under the YA umbrella.
What I’d like to see is all the genres and kinds of YA being more thoughtfully categorised, so all readers can much more easily find the books they’re looking for! And we really do need something like a New Adult category to make a more solid and accepted comeback so the people who are looking for books that reflect the experiences of characters over eighteen but who are not fully transitioned into ‘adult life’ can find them too.
Bex Hogan I think UKYA offers a great deal for the teen end of readership – the challenge is getting it into the right hands. It’s hard to shout louder than some of the big YA titles that have crossover appeal, so thank goodness for passionate booksellers and school librarians. More than anything I think there’s a need to step away from this idea that YA has to always contain romance. Of course that’s all part of the growing up experience, but not the only aspect, and not necessarily one that everyone experiences. Lots of readers I’ve spoken to just aren’t interested in it, they want adventure and escapism. I’m simply advocating for choice.
How do you think UKYA will evolve in the coming five years?
Melinda Salisbury: I don’t know but I know how I’d like it to evolve! I’d like to see more risk-taking in the types and range of stories that are told and sold. I worry publishing is becoming increasingly risk-averse in a time when people really need access to stories that push boundaries, challenge the status quo and offer something different – everything is starting to feel a little homogenous lately; there is a faint whiff of hegemony in what’s being published that concerns me – I said above what makes UKYA special is its perseverance in the face of the odds and I wish that would extend into being bolder and more daring in the variety of stories that are published. I know for many reasons it has to be about what’s seen as commercially viable, but God, I wish it was about making great, life-changing art.
And I’d like to see all fiction publishing say a very firm and definite ‘No’ to the idea that AI and LLMs can be part of this. The creation and telling of stories is a fundamentally human act – it’s who we are, our entire world, our history and present and future is in the words we use to make sense of it and how we pass those words on. We ARE stories. I am terrified we’re going to hand this fundamental part of ourselves to LLMs and AI and lose even more than we already have.
Bex Hogan: I certainly hope we’ll see more brilliant talent emerging! I think we might see more mash-ups of genre, and personally I’d love to see some UKYA fantasy graphic novels.
For more interviews, check here and don’t forget to check instagram (here) for book recommendations from these authors and more!
#UKYASpotlight 
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