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TALKING ABOUT YALC: PART 2

For the next Talking About YALC installment, the supersonic Katherine Woodfine chats to POP about her personal YALC highlights, Malorie Blackman and the behind-the-scenes dream team. Enjoy! 

 

Now that the dust has settled on the brilliantly successful first ever YALC, how does it feel to have been part of such a well-received event

Amazing! We were absolutely delighted by the amazing level of enthusiasm for YALC, and it has been brilliant hearing everyone’s feedback.  What we really wanted to do was to reach people who might not normally attend a traditional literature event, and create a real buzz around books for young adults – and I think this is something we all felt we definitely achieved.

There’s a lot we can learn from this event, and a lot we can improve if we’re able to continue it in future, but overall it was a great success, and a really special and memorable experience.

 

There was an amazing cast of authors at YALC, and there must have been so many people helping behind the scenes, too – how did you bring together your YALC dream team?

We were so lucky to have such brilliant support for YALC – they really were a dream team.

A group of the UK’s YA publishers had already had some initial conversations about the event before we got involved, so they were really enthusiastic from the get-go. All of the publishers were incredibly supportive throughout, but I must particularly mention the YALC publisher working group - a small group of publicists who volunteered to get more involved in helping to take the event forward. Their advice and support was invaluable in planning the event and their practical support during the weekend itself was amazing – they were always on hand to pitch in, and at one point even fed me pizza when I was about to drop! I definitely wouldn’t have been standing by the end of the weekend if it wasn’t for them. It was great working with them - I like to think of us a bit like The Avengers.

 

 

 

Showmasters, who run the London Film and Comic Con, were also hugely supportive of the event from the start, and their team of staff worked incredibly hard to make YALC a success. The Waterstones team was brilliant too: Waterstones High Street Kensington, who provided our bookshop, have been working with London Film and Comic Con for a while, so they really knew their stuff. They worked tirelessly through the weekend, and we couldn’t have done it without them. We also had 20 brilliant volunteers from Booktrust who gave up some of their weekend to come down, don a YALC t-shirt, and pitch in. And I also must mention our fantastic Children’s Laureate PR agency Riot Communications, who did such an amazing job on press for the event.

Finally, Malorie herself was, of course as always, an utter delight to work with, and the perfect person to head up the event. The support and enthusiasm from all authors involved was brilliant – they all really got into the spirit of YALC, and seemed to have a ball!

 

When YALC was in the early stages of planning, did you predict that the event would be big?

I think we always knew it was an ambitious project – but it definitely grew beyond our original vision. So many authors and publishers were keen to be involved, and so many great opportunities came up that we had to expand our initial plans.

 

What were your personal YALC highlights?

There were honestly so many – it’s impossible to choose. Seeing the sheer numbers of young people who came, all the amazing cosplayers, trending on Twitter for three days, getting to try on James Dawson’s Queen of Teen crown in the Green Room . . . it was all brilliant. But one moment that really stands out in my mind is when the doors were first opened on the Friday evening: immediately lots of people surged over to the Book Zone, and one girl picked up a book and settled herself straight down to read. I think that was the magic moment that I realised "this is actually going to work!"

 

What do you think makes YA a unique form of writing, with such wide appeal? 

That’s an interesting question: I think it’s partly that "YA" itself is actually such a wide category. Books that we describe as "YA" deal with all kinds of topics, across all kinds of genres. They’re not even necessarily books "about" young people, but often about the issues and questions that are of interest to young people – like coming to terms with your identity, overcoming challenges, falling in love – that are in fact hugely relevant to all of us, whatever our age.

I also think it’s because of the quality of our YA publishing – we have so many brilliant authors writing for young people. Lots of the YA writing I read is very high quality, and isn’t afraid to take risks, and I think that’s ultimately a big part of where its appeal lies.

 

There were so many positive comments about YALC on social networks and across the media. How does it feel to be supported so avidly by fans of YA as well as publishers and the press?

Really brilliant - it was so important to us that this event was for young people themselves, and not just for the industry. One of my favourite things about the whole event was seeing how excited people were, both during the weekend itself and in the run-up. It certainly wouldn’t have been what it was without all the support and enthusiasm of the YA fans and book bloggers, who really got behind the event from the start.

I also loved seeing the positive reactions from those who weren’t super keen readers – people who’d perhaps come to LFCC for the films, TV or gaming elements, but who were really excited when they realised that authors like Malorie Blackman or Derek Landy were there, and that they could meet them and have books signed. The whole reason we wanted to hold the event at a venue like LFCC is so that we could showcase just how exciting YA is to new audiences, as well as the existing community, so it was great to see that in action.

 

Where does YALC go from here?

We’re currently evaluating the project and talking to all the partners involved about how we could take it forward. There’s a huge amount of enthusiasm for continuing it as an annual event from all concerned – so watch this space!

Describe YALC 2014 in five words or phrases

I thought I’d go off piste here and describe it with five of my favourite pictures instead

1. Holly Smale gets a selfie with a reader

2. Lucy Saxon surrounded by excited fans at the book signing

3. Our YALC book wall. This was such a last minute burst of inspiration. We knew we wanted to display lots of books, so people could look at them, but I couldn’t work out quite how to make it work. Then suddenly I had a vision of lots of coloured ribbons . . . and this was the result

4. Even Chewbacca came along to YALC

5. Malorie meeting some of the kids who came along to the event thanks to bursaries from the Siobhan Dowd Trust

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Today I am very excited to be posting a guest blog from the lovely Caroline Carpenter, Editorial Assistant at The Bookseller. I couldn't go to YALC, and so I've loved hearing about it - in conversation, over Twitter, anywhere - and that was my motivation when it came to asking a few people to tell me their YALC tales. Big, big thanks to Caroline for being the first!

 

The first ever YALC

As I entered the London Film and Comic Convention in Earls Court, passing several Mothers of Dragons and light sabres on the way, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the UK’s first ever Young Adult Literature Convention.

In the Book Zone at the back of the hall, I found publishers selling books, a chill-out area with a wall of hanging books and lots of keen YA fans already milling about. The panel area was a small stage with chairs set out in front. Though there were no walls separating us from the rest of the attendees, surprisingly it was easy to hear what all the speakers said. 

How to get published

The first panel of the day was ‘How to get published’ with authors Phil Earle and Sally Green, chaired by Puffin Books’ editorial director Ben Horslen. It was interesting to hear how both of the authors came to writing, considering neither of them planned to. For Earle, working as a bookseller and being handed a copy of Louis Sachar’s Holes “turned a light on” and he eventually began writing himself, while Green discovered a love of writing while studying with the Open University.

Considering the shake-up going on in the industry at the moment, I was intrigued by Green’s statement that she didn’t even consider self-publishing as she doesn’t feel tech savvy enough and instead went down a very traditional route. She was also vocal about how sharing her work with others and getting and giving feedback during her Creative Writing course really helped her writing.

It was great to have Earle speaking as both a writer and a publishing insider (children’s sales and marketing director at David Fickling Books). He spoke openly of his worry approaching publishers having been on the other side of things and not wanting to embarrass himself or feel that anyone was doing him a favour.

Both writers were honest about the fact that part of their reason for choosing their publisher, Puffin, was down to vanity and wanting to have a brand with such a legacy on their books. They also gave out plenty of golden nuggets of advice, telling aspiring writers not to chase the market and instead  “write the book that you want to read”.

I'm too sexy for this book!

Next, the newly-crowned Queen of Teen James Dawson chaired a panel consisting of fellow authors Cat Clarke, Non Pratt and Beth Reekles on the subject of sex in YA. I was impressed by how specific he was with his questions in relation to the other writers’ work and found this a really lively, fun panel with lots coming out of it.

All the authors on the panel were clear that, though their approaches ranged from Pratt’s graphic sex scene in Trouble to Reekles’ more tame fade-to-black scene for her younger readers in The Kissing Booth, they felt a duty to write about sex in YA as it reflects the reality of life for teenagers.

Pondering why sex in YA is still a taboo, Clarke raised some good points, highlighting the “ridiculous” discrepancy between this attitude and parents letting their children watch highly sexualised television shows such as Game of Thrones or reading violent books such as The Hunger Games. She suggested this is because there is an attitude that books should be “good for you”, which she called “crazy, because books are for entertainment!” Dawson made another good point - that it’s better for curious teenagers to find answers about sex in novels than the internet.

The panel seemed to be in agreement on most of the issues raised. All of the authors were opposed to the idea of age ratings on books and they all acknowledged the “trickle down effect” of 50 Shades of Grey on sex in books becoming more acceptable, though Clarke noted that most sex in YA is “doing something very different” to 50 Shades, with less focus on titillation. They all dismissed the label New Adult, with Pratt calling it “a marketing tool” and Reekles saying it merely “labels books for gatekeepers”.

Crossover: not just for kids

I also listened to a panel on the crossover appeal of YA, consisting of authors Matt Haig, Meg Rosoff, Anthony McGowan, Nick Lake, with David Maybury chairing. Out of all the panels I saw, I felt like this was the least engaging as not many questions were posed to the authors, which meant the conversation had a lack of focus and direction.

A few of the things discussed stood out for me, such as McGowan saying that the “intensity” of being a teen is what attracts him to writing YA, and Lake noting that YA readers seem to be “more willing to read across genres” than adult readers. They also talked about the distinction between YA books and an adult book about teenagers, with Lake saying that YA is told from the perspective of a teen looking out whereas an adult book is like looking in at a teenager’s life.

Controversially, during this discussion McGowan said that he doesn’t like fantasy or escapist books as he thinks books should make people question the world we live in and want to change their lives. He also said that he thinks teenagers should be reading books such as War and Peace rather than obsessively reading Twilight.

I was quite shocked to hear his comments in the setting of this convention, when everyone attending was there to celebrate YA despite the snobbery that often comes with it. That said, it did seem like he was playing devil’s advocate somewhat and hearing a different point of view did provide some debate. The other authors were quick to disagree with him, with Rosoff reminding him to “know your audience!” and Haig saying that “a book doesn’t have to be long and complex to be interesting or profound”.

Sisters doing it for themselves

The final panel I attended that day was about heroines in YA with writers Julie Mayhew, Tanya Byrne, Holly Smale and Sara Manning. It was really refreshing to get their perspective on both YA books about girls and what it’s like to be a female writing YA.

They talked about the pressure for YA heroines to be “strong” and “perfect”. Mayhew said that writing perfect teen heroines was “unrealistic” and unhelpful as teenage girls are already “under a lot of pressure to be perfect”. The example of The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen was brought up and Smale admitted that Katniss is a strong heroine that she doesn’t identify with, so in her own Geek Girl series she wanted to create a heroine “who’s brave in a different, more vulnerable and relatable, way”. There was general agreement with Byrne’s statement that “there is more than one type of teenage girl to represent in YA”.

When they were asked by an audience member if they felt they were taken less seriously by the publishing industry as female authors, Byrne said that she feels the covers given to books by female authors makes a “huge difference” to how they are perceived and who reads them, suggesting that less specific covers would encourage more diverse readerships. Manning said that she definitely felt taken less seriously as a woman, but Harrop disagreed, saying that YA is “one of the best places to be a woman in the media”, thanks to the high proportion of women writing and publishing YA.

After wondering around the Film and Comic Convention for a bit (and getting some snaps of Hodor from Game of Thrones!), I headed back to the Book Zone for a workshop on fan fiction and communities with Eva Caiden from Movellas and Elizabeth Minkel, a freelance journalist and expert on fan culture. As it was the end of the day and most people were queuing to pick up some free books, this was a much more intimate affair than the panels. I don’t know if I learned much that was new to me here but it was a good environment to ask questions and discuss ideas in and I got to see the passion of some teenagers that attended the session too, which is what it’s all about after all!

Leaving YALC, I felt like I had experienced something really positive and informative. Huge congratulations are due to everyone who helped make it happen for a job well done. I hope that it becomes a regular event and is even bigger and better next year!

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