tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post43747275466118324..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Y.A. at Hay - Celia ReesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-43547520121450984062012-06-30T17:53:25.608+01:002012-06-30T17:53:25.608+01:00Excellent post, Celia! The point about "dept...Excellent post, Celia! The point about "depth and breadth of the vision, the resonance and relevance, the imaginative reach, the complexity of the realised worlds, the quality and power of the writing" resonates and is so critical. I'm wary of the gate-keeping mentality, as Anne is. As young adults we read "adult" books and today's young adults do too. It's up to YA authors to write in the same way, keeping it relevant to today's teens, reflecting the world we all live in. The thing that YA fiction does, that we never had as teens, are the teen protagonists, seeing the world through the eyes of a peer and so creating something that is perhaps more "relate-able". But restricting topics that appeal to adults as much as young adults, is a dangerous thing - YA readers need to be able to read in "stretched boundaries" indicative of the very name of the age category - young adult - rather than in boundaries prescribed by a seemingly omnipotent gatekeeper. Their reading should help them grow as people.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04871239587214383387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-88377295953775727742012-06-30T15:43:01.092+01:002012-06-30T15:43:01.092+01:00Thank you for this post, Celia. You are good at st...Thank you for this post, Celia. You are good at stirring things up in a worthwhile way! The best writers don't pander to expectations.<br />However<br />I am with Nick Green - and incidentally David Almond - every book is an act of hope.K.M.Lockwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540392557430776265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-44040449099629485682012-06-21T21:19:00.707+01:002012-06-21T21:19:00.707+01:00A thought-provoking post, Celia.
I think the ver...A thought-provoking post, Celia. <br />I think the very best of YA does stand up to comparison with these great writers. There is also a lot of slick, readable, commercial dross out there but perhaps the teen/YA market has room for all? I was a great reader of 'proper' books from the 'grown-up' bit of the library from 10 or 11, but also loved murder-mysteries and good old Jilly Cooper for a bit of light relief...jongleusehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06754014776263314905noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-1270627372878181422012-06-21T18:11:14.233+01:002012-06-21T18:11:14.233+01:00Wow, some food for thought.
I refuse to listen t...Wow, some food for thought. <br /><br />I refuse to listen to these age groups, so I like to read all sorts: YA, children's, adult. It all depends on the story. I like to think (and hope) that readers don't listen too much to these forced categories. These are how the publishers like to think, not how people buy. <br /><br />Makes me want to go write...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-61308974238747241722012-06-21T12:46:59.518+01:002012-06-21T12:46:59.518+01:00Really enjoyed this post and agree with it entirel...Really enjoyed this post and agree with it entirely. Although I write for it (reluctantly, at the moment), I sort of wish the genre YA had never been invented. Not at all because I look down on teenage readers, but for the reasons you mention - the limits. I think these limits are getting more and more strictly defined and guarded the more YA becomes a commercially successful genre - or maybe the more our culture seems to want to at once demonise and protect and control young people. <br /><br />I've noticed my local library has made some interesting shelving decisions when it comes to YA. Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels is in the adult section. So is Linda Newbery's Set in Stone.Lilyhttp://www.lilyhyde.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-69404091194600276542012-06-21T12:34:11.917+01:002012-06-21T12:34:11.917+01:00A most pointed post to leave on - and ABBA will mi...A most pointed post to leave on - and ABBA will miss you. <br /><br />HOPE that you'll visit again soon.Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-24013357451794332692012-06-21T12:24:17.026+01:002012-06-21T12:24:17.026+01:00I must agree with your original position, Celia, o...I must agree with your original position, Celia, on leaving the reader with hope. Even 'Animal Farm' and '1984' leave the reader with hope. How? Well, by the fact that you have read them, and been able to read them. Only when you live in a place that denies you the right to read such books can you talk about the absence of hope. Books ARE hope.Nick Greenhttp://www.nickgreenbooks.webeden.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-59851643557336714632012-06-21T10:08:45.223+01:002012-06-21T10:08:45.223+01:00This is an excellent post and I agree with it enti...This is an excellent post and I agree with it entirely! Shame you're not going to be writing on ABBA any longer but hope you'll come back one day or do guest posts or something. Nicola Morgan has sensible things to say about writers TRYING to write a crossover novel! It's a vain hope. And of course teenagers found plenty to read in the old days. I'm even older than you and I never had any problem. To the writers you cite I'd add Mervyn Peake, John Galsworthy ( best soap ever: Forsyte Saga...all the books!) Mazo de la Roche, Georgette Heyer, etc. Loads more. And it's very interesting to me that a YA novel,(reviewed as such in Carousel) Shield of Achilles has won the Orange Prize...and why not? Lots to think about...adelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15826710558292792068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-20188396738529059802012-06-21T08:42:27.968+01:002012-06-21T08:42:27.968+01:00Do you think the "there must be hope" th...Do you think the "there must be hope" thing is a specifically YA shibboleth though, or more the human tendency to crave a happy ending? Lots of non-young adults also like a happy ending...Emma Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02718171070716804800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-40436875229136825472012-06-21T07:48:45.788+01:002012-06-21T07:48:45.788+01:00A post to make one think: it's so easy to acce...A post to make one think: it's so easy to accept these shibboleths without questioning them. I agree with you: I never used to prowl around the library, wondering why I couldn't find anything to read. The only slight difficulty was getting into the adult library, to access the riches available there. I think I used my sister's ticket till I was deemed old enough to have a ticket of my own. I read widely and richly - many of the books you mention and lots of others besides, non-fiction as well as fiction, classics as well as modern. I certainly don't remember recoiling from anything in the way that I do now, because it was too harsh or didn't have a happy ending. I think perhaps as a teenager, it was a case of stepping into other worlds, other shoes - without necessarily relating the content directly to oneself.Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-61066803627138229732012-06-21T07:42:28.611+01:002012-06-21T07:42:28.611+01:00Fantastic post, Celia. I SO agree - young adults n...Fantastic post, Celia. I SO agree - young adults need and deserve complexity and something to make them think. I *hate* the gate-keeping mentality that tries to get us all writing within the walled garden that middle American parents wished their children lived in. (This is my reason for wanting to start Two Maggots - to have a gate-keeper free zone with no limits except quality.)<br /><br />I read all those authors, of course, and so do my Big Bint - she read you, and Malorie Blackman, and then went on to John Wyndham and the rest. So we are adding an extra step in writing specifically for young adults, that perhaps makes the transition smoother, but the clue is in the label: 'young adults' are adults, and books written for adults *are* written for them.<br /><br />We all write for people, surely?Stroppy Authorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16560035800075465845noreply@blogger.com