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:
Ashley Hickson-Lovence is the author of The 392, Your Show, Wild East—overall winner of the East Anglian Book Awards 2024, and a poetry collection Why I am Not a Bus Driver. He has a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of East Anglia. His nominations include the Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature 2023 and the Carnegie Medal for Writing 2025. His forthcoming novel About to Fall Apart will be released with Faber in April 2026.
Born in East London, Denise Brown now lives in a picturesque harbour town in Scotland where there is a castle at the end of the street. Always an introvert, Denise loves family time and walking her dog, a cocker spaniel named Lion (she claims that he is more of a mouse). She has always loved getting lost in books, and always dreamed of being a writer; she still pinches herself every day when she opens up her laptop and gets to write for a living.
Brían Dungan is a writer and film-maker from Dublin who was lucky enough to turn not just one childhood dream into a reality, but two! After twenty five years in the film industry working on shows like Game of Thrones, Black Mirror and The Last Duel, his first novel, Wintour’s Game, was published in August, 2024 by Little Tiger. The second instalment in the trilogy, Wintour’s Fate is due out on August 7th and work on number three is already underway!
About their books:
Title: WWhen fourteen-year-old Ronny’s life is struck by tragedy, his mum decides it’s finally time they move out of East London. In his new city, as a Black teenager in a mostly white school, Ronny feels like a complete outsider and struggles to balance keeping his head down with his ambition of becoming a rapper. But when a local poet comes into class, Ronny discovers a world he’s never considered before. Rap is like spoken word, bars equal poetry – and maybe the combination of both could be the key to achieving his dreams?
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
Title: NO ONE KEEPS A SECRET
Author: Denise Brown
Pitch: When three teenagers track down a missing chihuahua to an abandoned theme park, they discover a corpse strangled by his own camera strap and find themselves caught up in a murder investigation. The victim was supposed to be 400 miles away in London. He’d promised a lot of people a lot of money. And every single one of them has an alibi. Haigh, Cherry, and Sunrise soon discover that their rural village isn’t quite as dull and predictable as they thought it was.
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
Title: WINTOUR’S FATE
Author: Brían Dungan
Pitch: Saved from the fire that claimed The Temple, Alex is unexpectedly reunited with Christine, a figure from her past who holds the key to her future. But when she disappears, it’s up to Alex to journey into the Temporal underworld to get her back.
Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
In your opinion, how has social media helped foster the UKYA community?
Ashley Hickson-Lovence: Forged a healthy online community on what can sometimes be toxic platforms so the gap between writer and reader is narrowed. Openly and actively engaged with BookTok trends to appeal to younger reader. All UKYA writers are passionate about getting more young people reading and excited about literature social media has helped increase visibility and build a buzz needed to appeal and attract.
Denise Brown: From experience with my own daughters and their friends, I’ve found that social media provides the biggest reach to the YA audience when it comes to searching for new books to read. My daughters avidly follow BookTokers, for example, and will always check out book recommendations. Instagram also is a great way to connect with YA readers and authors, and the visual experience opens up a world of opportunities to help connect images to stories.
Brían Dungan: The role of social media has never been more important in reaching, particularly, a YA audience. It’s their world, we just live in it.
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?
Ashley Hickson-Lovence: Do more in schools. Use more high-profile names to engage and promote. Positive PR. Build a buzz.
Denise Brown: I see the UKYA community on social media as a safe, friendly space in which authors can communicate with their readers. Having said this, I would love to see more widespread literary events throughout the UK that are easily accessible to YA readers, perhaps in libraries and local independent bookstores or online. Living in rural Scotland, it isn’t always easy for me to connect in person with readers.
Brían Dungan: It’s a bit of a two-edged sword. The unfortunate reality is that many teenagers currently live a richer virtual life than physical one, so if we wish to reach them as an audience then we need to engage with them in a way that they feel they can own and control. And that’s on-line. But school visits, library tours and youth outreach programmes are all great ways to engage with the YA audience in a real, tangible way. And as a writer, watching them respond in Q&As is an invaluable way to learn more about your own readership.
How do you think the YA market is going to change thanks to emerging technologies like AI?
Ashley Hickson-Lovence: Not sure exactly but AI is here to stay
Denise Brown: Unfortunately, I think that the YA market will eventually become saturated with AI generated books. What worries me about this is that this literature won’t challenge young adults to think outside the box. It will be bland, censored work. The tech companies producing books using AI won’t be concerned about inclusion and diversity, their focus will be on profits. So I think that now, more than ever, UKYA authors need to keep on writing about the kind of characters and themes they want our young adults to read about.
Brían Dungan: Since the dawn of time we have shared our experiences through storytelling. New tools have come and gone but STORIES have survived it all. As a storyteller, I can’t see how AI would affect the way I work. But perhaps it will find its way into the market in the way work is reproduced, marketed and distributed? People will always want to tell stories. That’s just the way we’re made. I can’t see AI irrevocably changing that.
What steps would you like publishing needs to take in response to the rise of AI?
Ashley Hickson-Lovence: Transparency and education of its increased use. We need to understand/embrace tech and AI. It’s the future. In fact, it’s the now.
Denise Brown: I think that agents, publishers, and authors should take steps to ensure that our work is protected from theft by the tech companies to train AI. Or ensure that we are fairly compensated. It is devastating and disheartening for authors to find that the work they put their heart and soul into has been stolen to train a computer to write books that will in turn flood the market.
Brían Dungan: The work of writers and creators needs to be protected so that it cannot be ingested and harvested for use in AI “learning”. It took me a long time to figure out how to do this. If AI is so smart let it figure it out for itself!
Thank you all! 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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