The Annual Event is a month long celebration of all things UKYA, highlighting books by British and Irish authors (resident and national) and asking their views on topic affecting the community. All views are the author’s own.
About the Authors:
Malcolm Duffy has spent most of his career at the advertising coalface, digging for ideas. Having produced a mountain of work, he decided it was time to move to the charity sector, and he became Creative Director of Comic Relief. It was here he had the inspiration for his first YA book, Me Mam, Me Dad, Me. The book went down well, so he decided to write some more. Book five is out, early 2026.
Emma Smith is an indie author from the north of England, writing UKYA novels with an emphasis on self-discovery, community and nature. Her books can mainly be described as YA mysteries and coming-of-ages, and take place in gorgeous locations such as the Yorkshire coast, Northumberland, Cornwall and the Lake District. She is also a lover of the British countryside, travel, long walks, illustration and coffee – and you can find all of these things throughout her books!
Amy McCaw is a YA author and YouTuber. She’s the author of the Mina and the Undead series, YA murder mysteries set in 1995 New Orleans. She also co-curated the A Taste of Darkness horror anthology with Maria Kuzniar and wrote the upcoming 80s Dracula retelling, They Own the Night.
About their books:
Title: SEVEN MILLION SUNFLOWERS
Author: Malcolm Duffy
Pitch: Seven Million Sunflowers explores the two sides of war. The fear and horror, as well as the generosity shown by strangers. Kat, a teenage girl, leaves her friends and relatives behind and comes to the UK with her Mum and brother to escape the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kat discovers kindness and hope. She also learns something else, that escaping a war doesn’t always bring peace.
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
Title: EDEN
Author: Emma Smith
Pitch: Eden is a contemporary YA mystery – with a dystopian twist! Set on the coast of Cornwall, we meet Tamsin, who has lived in and out of the care system her whole life when she receives an invitation to the prestigious boarding school, Eden House. It’s posed as paradise… but Tamsin soon discovers dark secrets behind its walls.
Find on Goodreads.
Title: THEY OWN THE NIGHT
Author: Amy McCaw
Pitch: Mia and Johnny have always been there for each other – particularly since their father was revealed to be a serial killer and is serving a life sentence. But when journalist-wannabe Johnny accepts an offer he cannot refuse – the chance to interview a reclusive mega rock star who disappeared from public view three years ago, Mia finds herself stuck on campus when two male students are found dead.
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
In your opinion, how has social media helped foster the UKYA community?
Emma Smith: I wasn’t aware that UKYA was such a tightknit community until I joined social media, and found whole accounts dedicated to lifting these voices and sharing recommendations. I think the use of hashtags in particular puts emphasis on UKYA as a genre, not just a category, and helps readers find similar books they may find more relatable than those set in the US or other countries around the world.
Amy McCaw: I was a blogger before I became an author, and online spaces have always been brilliant places to chat with other readers and for people to find books to get excited about. Especially since the pandemic, it feels like people have found different ways of shouting about the books they love and often get their recommendations from social media.
In which ways do you think we can responsibly use social media to introduce YA titles to teenagers? How can we go beyond social media to reach them, given conversations in several countries around re-thinking current legislation on such platforms for minors?
Malcolm Duffy: You need to fish where the fish are. Whichever platforms YAs are on, is where you need to be.
Emma Smith: Book fairs and author talks play a huge role in making YA fiction accessible and exciting to young people, especially in schools and local libraries. In some ways, restricting access to social media could work in favour of protecting minors and allowing them to read age-appropriate fiction, without unlimited access to explicit content. BookTok in particular has made YA seem less desirable, in my opinion. Though this would impact independently published authors who rely on social media marketing, such as myself, I think it would benefit those who traditionally publish and are currently competing against a growing number of teenagers reaching for adult books.
Amy McCaw: That’s a really good question! It’s sometimes hard to judge the age appropriateness of a book when you hear about it online, so I think it’s about making sure this is clear, and using places like Tiktok that are frequented by teenagers to get YA books in their hands.
Beyond social media, libraries and bookshops become even more important for championing books and getting them to the right readers.
How do you think the YA market is going to change thanks to emerging technologies like AI?
Malcolm Duffy: Sorry, can’t help on that one.
Emma Smith: Likely not. The YA market, more than any other, is focused on the coming-of-age of young people; it’s heavily emotional, and ultimately very human. These aren’t things AI could ever fully understand or replicate.
Amy McCaw: The subject of YA is a really difficult one, because of the connotations for creative people’s work to be used without consent to train the very AI that some companies would very much like to use to replace them. I’m trying not to use AI creatively for that reason, as I can’t guarantee that a beautiful image I create using AI hasn’t been built using someone else’s work. It’s hard to know what the impact of AI will be on YA books. I do hope there ends up being some positives and that the use of it can be closely regulated, as at the moment it feels quite negative!
What steps would you like publishing needs to take in response to the rise of AI?
Malcolm Duffy: Protect the rights of authors. Promote the human stories behind each book.
Emma Smith: We need to take a tighter grip on the use of materials used to train AI, and put more emphasis on clever and decadent writing, even within YA and children’s fiction, where more simplistic writing has become normalised.
Amy McCaw: I think the law really needs to catch up to protect creatives including authors and illustrators from their work being used to train AI. I’m sure no one wants the books of the future to be illustrated and written by a soulless computer program that has been built on stolen intellectual property!
Thank you all! 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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