UKYA EXTRAVAGANZA

Paula Rawsthorne is delighted to shout about a great UK YA event.

On the 28^th February, Birmingham High Street Waterstones will be hosting an event to showcase and celebrate UK YA writing. Writers and readers will get a chance to meet and chat about the books they love as well as discovering new UK YA fiction.  They’ll be plenty of readings, discussion and opportunities for book signings.

The fact that tickets for this event sold out within hours of going on sale, proves that there’s a real passion for UK YA fiction. I hope they’ll be more events like this to showcase the wealth of YA books by UK authors that cover every genre and topic imaginable.

I’m delighted to be amongst the 35 authors who’ll be involved in this exciting afternoon organised by YA authors, Emma Pass (Acid)  Kerry Drewery (A Dream of Lights) and the events managers at Birmingham H.S. Waterstones.  Below is the impressive list of the authors who are going to be there, including two of my fellow writers on ‘The Edge’, Keren David (Salvage) and Bryony Pearce (Angel’s Fury).

It’s such a wonderful opportunity to shout about, just some of the many, brilliant YA books. It would be great if Young Adult fiction got the attention it deserved.  In America, Young Adult fiction receives decent media coverage and isn’t seen as a category restricted to teen readers.  UK YA books get little media exposure unless, perhaps, a debut author receives  a ‘newsworthy’ advance.  However, word is spreading, often because of our fantastic book blogging community  (with bloggers like Lucy Powrie  and many more) (#UKYA) and word of mouth amongst teenagers.   It also seems that more adults, as well as teenagers, are discovered that YA books can offer them quality writing and engrossing stories that aren’t afraid to take on challenging subjects. 

In the run up to the Birmingham event the 35 authors involved are doing a UKYAExtravaganza Blog Tour in conjunction with our fantastic YA blogging community.   Find out who is posting and where  (@UKYAExtravaganza)  I’m looking forward to being interviewed by Luna over at Luna’s Little Library on the 14^th Feb.  

You can check out all the novels published by the authors involved in the Extravaganza on Goodreads   

I’m really looking forward to meeting fellow writers and readers on the 28^th.  I hope it’s the first of many such events.  Let’s keep spreading the word about all the impressive UK Young Adult fiction out there.

 What else do you think we should be doing to raise the profile of UK YA fiction?

 

Paula Rawsthorne is the author of award winning YA thrillers ‘The Truth About Celia Frost’ and ‘Blood Tracks’.  @PaulaRawsthorne        Paula’s Website