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Jennifer Byrne Presents: Teen titles dominate! The YA publishing industry

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Jennifer Byrne
Jennifer Byrne Presents: Teen titles dominate! The YA publishing industry

SUBJECTS:  English

YEARS:  9–10


The Young Adult, or YA, publishing industry has exploded in recent years.

But what is driving this surge in novels for teenagers?

Join a panel of YA writers as they explore why this once niche market has become a literary Phenomenon.


Things to think about

  1. 1.At what age did you graduate from reading children's books to YA novels? What was it about YA fiction that appealed to you? Explain what you look for when choosing a new book to read.
  2. 2.What do the different authors on the panel suggest that teenagers want to experience in the books they read? What was difficult for teenagers of John Marsden's generation? Why did Melina Marchetta start writing? What two reasons does Steph Bowe give for why she still chooses to read YA fiction as an adult?
  3. 3.Why is there a need for YA fiction? Is there anything wrong with teenagers reading books for children or books for adults? Steph Bowe mentions that YA novels have characters who are 'trying to figure out who they are'. Why would such characters appeal to teenage readers?
  4. 4.The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger, is often considered to be the first novel that truly explored teenager identity. Both John Marsden and Morris Gleitzman say that its protagonist Holden Caulfield spoke to them. If you have read this original and influential novel, write a review discussing whether it is still relevant to teenagers today. Discuss how this conversation about YA books might extend to cinema.



Production Date: 16 Oct 2012


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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