YA lit

Michael Cart on libraries, and “What is YA?”

I first spoke to Michael Cart, former president of YALSA and a columnist for Booklist, when I interviewed him for my New York Times essay a year ago, and I was instantly enamoured by his knowledge of and passion for YA literature. Recently he interviewed me for a podcast that’s up now on the YALSA… Read more »

“I Hate YA Novels”

“I hate YA novels; they bore me,” says Caitlin Flanagan in The Atlantic.* Flanagan loves her Bill O’Reillyesque hyperbole, whether she’s writing about teens doling out blow jobs like factory girls, irritating women angsting over how to treat “the help”, or hating Hillary. When I read Flanagan’s work I always get the sense that she’s… Read more »

NYTBR essay outtakes, Volume 2: Markus Zusak Interview

I was thrilled to interview Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, a novel I loved. In this interview he mentions To Kill A Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye, two classic novels which were originally published for adults, but are hugely popular among teens. Interestingly, several executives at major publishers told me that… Read more »

NYTBR essay outtakes, Volume 1: Mark Haddon Interview

Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was published in two simultaneous editions in Britian, one for adults and one for young adults. In America, it was almost published as YA–when the book was at auction here, a YA publisher bid on it, but did not win; it was published only… Read more »

New York Times Book Review Essay

My essay is in the New York Times Book Review! I’m really excited about this essay. I had a great time doing all the interviews—I interviewed over 25 authors, librarians, publishers, editors, and booksellers about the current state of YA literature, and the fine line between YA and adult lit, and I learned so much… Read more »