In defence of YA

You might have listened into the Radio National Books and Arts Daily program a couple of weeks ago when Andrew McDonald, Bec Kavanagh and I were there to champion our Kill Your Darlings YA Championship choices. Such a great chance to promote the championship and, though it was a very terrifying experience, it was great and scary and fun to be on the radio. I was very brave the other day and listened back to some of the program. Michael Cathcart asked us a question that I really wish I had heard properly, and responded better to, on the day. So here goes:

"Young adult fiction is sometimes seen as the poor cousin to adult fiction. Some authors I know get really frustrated when their publishers market them as young adult writers. What's it stand for?"

The idea that a YA novel is somehow inherently less worthy than a novel for adults is a really terrible and annoying belief, and one that has always driven me absolutely bananas. Worse, it ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. But the question does highlight what is unfortunately a quite common misconception about young adult literature and hopefully the Kill Your Darlings championship will go some way to enlightening the wider literary world. Let's call this open for discussion.

What does a young adult book stand for? As I said on the show, a YA book is about the teenage experience. The best YA books strive for - and achieve - a strong and accurate reflection of the experience of young adults. A common trait of a YA novel is a conclusion that gives the reader a sense of hope about the future, or at least a clue about how to best tackle life after childhood, after the teenage years. An adult book does the same thing, it's just that the protagonists are older.

Literary young adult novels are sophisticated, clever, philosophical. Their prose is complex, Carver-esque simple, florid, fast-paced, slow and sexy. Some YA is delightful and trashy. Some of it is awful. YA is not a genre, so all young adults novels aren't equal or comparable. A YA novel - and here I'm speaking generally - maybe doesn’t spend quite as long navel-gazing as some adult novels. Maybe. But the navel-gazing is definitely still there, picking at the fluff and feeling sorry for itself. A YA novel will probably have a strong focus on characterisation, because if you don’t get the character right a teenager is going to see right through you. Because a YA reader is discerning and intelligent.

Isn't it a remarkable talent to be able to tap into the unknowable, the complicated, the contradictory mind of a teenager? To understand them, and to create stories about them? And for them? Offer some kind of blueprint for life - without being patronising or didactic? All the best YA books do this, and they do it beautifully. I hate to think people feel frustrated by this label, because writing for young adults requires something pretty special.

So let's have some celebrations and cake for the amazing YA writers, whose characters might not have yet turned twenty! Here's to more beautifully written YA books! Let's see more reviews of YA books in our newspapers! Let's have three cheers for the vibrant international YA community!

My ideas and theories and perspectives on young adult fiction are not all my own. I've been taught and inspired by a brilliant bunch of YA enthusiasts over the years. If you're reading this and thinking it sounds familiar, you can be pretty sure I've been listening to you, and I think you are the bees knees. You might be a YA specialist like Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, Lili Wilkinson, or Cordelia Rice, who are never afraid to say what they think, and who think some pretty amazing things. You might be John motherfuckin' Green, who has a win of Nerdfighters from all over the world never forgetting to be awesome, and who writes books about kids smarter than I'll ever be. Or my mama bear: YA lover and specialist herself, who gave me the best things to read when I was a teen.

The Tillermans

Maybe life was like the sea, and all the people were like boats ... Or maybe each boat was a kind of family. Then, what kind of boat would the Tillermans be? A little one, bobbling about, with the mast fallen off? A grubby, worn-down workboat, with Dicey hanging on to the rudder for dear life.
  Everybody who was born was coast on to the sea. Winds would blow them in all directions. Tides would rise and turn, in their own rhythm. And the boats - they just went along as best they could, trying to find a harbour.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt, first published in 1981, is one of those quintessential classic American children's books. Or at least one of those thick-paged, yellowing novels from the 1970s and 80s that have the same feel, the same smell, the same dorky, now-dated cover illustrations. The characters and the worlds they inhabit are small, but the stories are so rich. I don't feel like the authors are trying to impress me with how cool the characters are, but the focus is on creating relationships that ring true, that tell stories of sadness without being shocking or depressing, that capture a little bit of a life so fully.

Dicey and her brothers and sister (James, Sammy and Maybeth) are abandoned by their mother and find themselves alone in a car park in a strange city. When she doesn't come back Dicey decides they will walk to Bridgeport, where they had been headed before their mother left them, to go and stay with a relative there. Within a few pages you know these children so well and your heart fairly breaks for them as they hope to find their Momma waiting for them in Bridgeport.

There's a lot of walking involved, a lot of trudging, lots of stale donuts eaten and every penny they can get their hands on can go five ways. As the children walk, they talk about their Momma - who clearly became a very sad woman unable to care for her family - they sing together and they form an unbreakable unit. When Bridgeport doesn't turn out the way they expected, the Tillermans head off again, in search of an estranged, eccentric grandmother.

This review made me so sad. Of course we're not all going to like the same stories etc etc, and the books have more supporters than critics on Goodreads so I shouldn't complain, but at least try to tell me what made you stop reading.

Homecoming definitely has a wholesome whiff about it, for sure, but in a way that acknowledges and appreciates the dark side of the world and doesn't dismiss it or run away from it. All the children (and most of the grown-ups) learn about right and wrong, about what's important in life - and learn that all these things are difficult and changeable and confusing. The people that the Tillermans encounter on their travels, and the kindness (and cruelty) of strangers, the sea motif and the ideas of home and family all make for the best kind of book, in my opinion.

Homecoming's sequel, Dicey's Song, won the Newbery Medal in 1983.

The Tillerman Cycle: Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, The Runner, Sons from Afar, Come a Stranger, Seventeen Against the Dealer.

show off and share nicely

Community Engagement in the Digital Age

They were the two most discussed topics of the ABA conference: "Community" and "How The Internet Can Make Or Break Books".

In this session they came together with altogether wonderful results. Pip Lincolne of Meet Me At Mike's fame joined Becky Anderson (who I talked about here), Kate Eltham and Suzy Wilson (the owner of Riverbend books) and each gave a presentation on the ways they are using and taking advantage of BlogTumblrTwitFace, blogging and the real world to cultivate vibrant communities around their businesses.

It is important to think "outside the shop"

What is important when starting to establish a community is not what we are retailing, but what we believe in.

When blogging (or tweeting or facebooking) engage with your followers in your own voice - a personal touch - and make sure you interact with people. If someone leaves a comment, make sure you reply. Pip cautioned us not to limit ouselves to just blogging about your product (ie. books) but to engage with the world and all kinds of topics that create a unique identity around your business.

Remember to link to other people and things that you talk about, that you find interesting. And if a competitor has done something good, give them a thumbs up - credit people who are doing great things. Share the love around.

If you don't know how to use all these strange internet tools - never fear! Suzy at Riverbend has been running social media classes from her shop so that people of all ages and interests can get connected.

A Community That Cares

Meet and get to know your customers (they are your people). Create events on- and offline where your customers can meet.

The Queensland Writers Centre supports around 30,000 writers local all over that massive northern state. Kate discussed how the Queensland floods were a real "coming of age" for social media and the disaster collapsed social and emotional distance. The writers centre, along with the Australia Council, has recently launched The Three Cs Project, which will support the development of arts and community projects in flood-ravaged towns like Rockhampton.


There are so many worthy community projects to be a part of. Meet Me At Mike's began Softies for Mirabel four years ago to support the Mirabel Foundation and they provide toys for children whose families have been affected by drugs and alcohol.

As well as their social media classes, Riverbend Books hosts incredibly popular, themed foodie nights and a knitting bookclub called Knits and Novels. They also offer great little "My First Book Bag" book starter kits for their smallest shoppers and local customers can even get their purchases delivered by bike!

Anderson's Bookshop hosts events, - such as blood drives to coincide with any vampire book release - supports local not-for-profits and involves the whole community, including local restaurants and other retailers.

Anderson's Bookshop hosted J.K. Rowling in 1998 to celebrate the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone* with around ninety local kids...but nine short years later thousands upon thousands of Harry Potter fans turned up for the street party. Isn't that the most wonderful thought? As a massive HP fan myself I just keep thinking: if only we could do it all again...for I don't think another series will ever match its wonderfulness.


Aren't these beautiful sentiments? Sharing, caring, being interesting and interested. All wonderful ingredients for a happy world and happier lives. And the internet can help!

What's important is to remember that it's more than retailing. As Pip said: "sincerity is the thing".


Pop on over to The Cultured Animal to read her post The Times They Are a-Changin'.

*Though of course they were reading the Sorcerer's Stone...