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:
Liz Hyder is the writer of two award-winning, acclaimed YA books. Bearmouth, her debut, a dystopian thriller, was the winner of the Branford Boase Award, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers, and was the Times’s Children’s Book of the Year. The Twelve, her latest, a time-slip fantasy, won the Nero Book Award for Children and the Tir na n-Og Children’s Book Award in the English language. She also writes for adults. Originally from London, she now lives in the Marches in a small town with a ruined castle and a river. She is often to be found wandering in a forest or with her nose in a book..
Molly Morris is a YA author with a penchant for the bizarre. She writes speculative YA rom-coms that explore real world themes with a little pinch of magic.
Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick is a writer and illustrator. Her YA books are set in Ireland and have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Carnegie Medal. Runs on coffee and chocolate.
About their books:
Title: THE TWELVE
Author: Liz Hyder
Pitch: The Twelve is a time-slip fantasy adventure set on the wild Welsh coast of Pembrokeshire in the depths of winter. On the darkest day of the year, Kit’s younger sister, Libby, vanishes. Blinked from existence, Kit is the only one to remember her – until she meets a local boy, Story. Together, they must find Libby and return her home, healing a rift in time, but first they must find out who and what The Twelve really are…
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
Title: REWIND TO US
Author: Molly Morris
Pitch: Social media has been an incredible resource for finding new UKYA authors and being able to connect with them. UKYA authors are so amazing in that everyone is unfailingly supportive of one another, whether that be bigging each other’s books up, or providing advice and insight into the writing and publishing world. And with everyone scattered around the UK, social media is an indispensable tool for bringing everyone together.
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
Title: ON MIDNIGHT BEACH
Author: Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
Pitch: It’s a summer like no other. The days are hot, hot, hot, and a dolphin has turned up in Ross Bay. Emer Monaghan sneaks to the beach at midnight to swim with the wild visitor … and to meet Dog Cullen with his lovely eyes, one green, one blue. Who cares if the neighbouring town is raging about the fortune ‘dolphin fever’ brings to Emer’s village? Emer has never felt so alive. But the temperature keeps rising until something dangerous simmers in the air. Suddenly everything – EVERYTHING – seems worth fighting for. A retelling of the legend of CúChulainn.
Find on Goodreads. Find on Bookshop.org (affiliate link).
In your opinion, how has social media helped foster the UKYA community?
Liz Hyder: It’s helped bring people together who otherwise might not get a chance to meet or chat. For me, it also links like-minds and fosters interesting conversations which can also help share information.
Molly Morris: Social media has been an incredible resource for finding new UKYA authors and being able to connect with them. UKYA authors are so amazing in that everyone is unfailingly supportive of one another, whether that be bigging each other’s books up, or providing advice and insight into the writing and publishing world. And with everyone scattered around the UK, social media is an indispensable tool for bringing everyone together.
Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick: I find the community on Instagram really friendly. It’s great to see other writers, their cover reveals, hear about what’s coming next from them, their adventures in publishing and stories from festivals and school visits. It’s given me a real idea of the breadth of YA – age-wise, subject-wise, genre-wise.
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?
Liz Hyder:I think we need to be more broad-minded and look outside of social media for genuine connection with readers. Face to face meetings, workshops and talks in schools all foster a strong relationship and can also help inspire younger writers too.
Molly Morris: Maybe I’m too cynical, but I’m not totally convinced social media is appropriate in any way for teenagers. I’d love to see young people having conversations in person, going to events and talking with their friends about recommendations, rather than relying on platforms like TikTok. In general, I’d love to see the UKYA community engage more with librarians, teachers and booksellers, and in turn, teens turning to these resources to find new books and access to their favourite authors. I know that’s a bit of a pipe dream these days, but a kid (me, in this instance) can hope.
Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick: I don’t do TikTok – I think there’s an unspoken age limit, which I’m absolutely fine with! When I post about my work on social media I’m really flagging my work to the gatekeepers – school librarians, book sellers, reviewers – rather than directly to teens. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping my books find their way to the intended audience through them. Other than this and school visits, I haven’t figured out any other way to do it.
How do you think the YA market is going to change thanks to emerging technologies like AI?
Liz Hyder: Hard to say… I think bigger publishers will probably have already started exploring the idea of publishing AI-written books to be honest. In which case, I think there needs to be clear labelling of anything that’s created from AI – basically in my mind, that means it’s been created through thievery.
Molly Morris: Other than writers writing more about how much they hate AI? I’m not sure how the YA market will change, but I’d like to think it won’t impact writers in that they won’t see a rise in AI-written books, because I’d equally like to think readers and the publishing world will resist them. Writing stories that people can connect with on a human level is something AI will never be able to genuinely replicate, and the more we resist it, the less it will infiltrate the UKYA market.
Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick: We’ve already watched the music industry collapse and lose its version of the midlist. It’s always been so difficult to survive as a midlist author. Having actual governments pass legislation which allows tech moguls skim our voices is shocking to me. I worry that the ‘hot’ genres, like romantasy, will be flooded with ‘bookalikes’, overstuffing the market with weak soulless copies of successful titles, killing one golden goose before moving on to the next.
What steps would you like publishing needs to take in response to the rise of AI?
Liz Hyder: I’d like them to take the issue of copyright seriously, very few publishers have been vocal about what’s been happening with writers works and words being stolen and used to train AI. We need more publishers to speak out against it.
Molly Morris: I can understand how AI can help with streamlining things like marketing and other tasks that require light content generation, but other than that, I don’t think AI has any place in publishing. I’d like to see this stay the case, and for publishing to resist books that have been AI-generated in any way (however small), because I think it’s a very slippery and dangerous slope.
Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick: I think publishers and the Society of Authors have been fighting back, and big name authors have spoken out very strongly. But it becomes a bit hopeless when an actual Labour government in the UK appears to think ordinary workers’ rights should fall in front of the wishes of Big Tech. It’s as if they are mesmerised by the Shiny Rich People.
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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