This Week in YA — Issue #56
Welcome to the Voyage newsletter!
It’s another new week and another installment of this newsletter for you this week, my fellow YA enthusiasts. The American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards were announced yesterday, so I’m sure all of us want to take a few moments to celebrate all the wonderful winners (link below). Looking ahead, there are also plenty of great books coming out this year, so we’ve got our eyes on tons of them as well.
News and Resources
The ALA Youth Media Awards have been announced! Check out the list of winners, including tons of YA titles, here. Congratulations to all those honored!
The Rise: A Feminist Book Project has posted their picks as well, including a ton of fantastic YA titles from 2022.
As far as new books go, Karen at Teen Librarian Toolbox posted By the Numbers, a look at YA being published in 2023 (so far).
Teen Vogue recently shared 11 YA Books by South Asian Authors to Watch for in 2023, so be sure to get those on your radar.
Silvana at Book Riot asks (and answers) What Are the Most Popular TikTok YA Mystery Books Right Now? Love these picks!
Finally, book banning is unfortunately still going strong, and New Training Tells Florida School Librarians Which Books Are Off-Limits. Please keep doing all you can to support the freedom to read!
The 5 Questions Interview Series
Each week, this newsletter will include interviews with industry professionals sharing insight about the who, what, where, when, why in YA today.
Today we’ve got a joint interview with co-authors Jarrod Shusterman and Sofía Lapuente, whose YA novel, Retro, just released last week. I was lucky enough to read an early copy, and you all are going to love the twists and turns in this one. You might recognize the Shusterman name from other fantastic YA novels written by (or co-written with) Jarrod’s father, Neal Shusterman, but Retro is definitely a unique tale that could only have been written by these two.
5 Questions Interview with Jarrod Shusterman and Sofía Lapuente, YA co-authors
ABOUT RETRO
What starts off as a lighthearted competition to live without modern technology for a year turns into a fight for survival in this unputdownable young adult thriller by New York Times bestselling author Jarrod Shusterman and debut author Sofía Lapuente.
It was never meant to happen this way.
Things were never supposed to get this out of hand.
After a cyberbullying incident at her school goes viral, Luna Iglesias finds herself at the heart of a brewing controversy. When the social media company Limbo—who are also implicated in the scandal—sweeps in with an offer that sounds like an opportunity to turn over a new leaf and receive a scholarship to the college of her dreams, she’s happy to jump on the new trend. It’s called the Retro Challenge, where contestants live without modern technology, wear vintage clothes, party as if the future weren’t already written, and fall in love as if they were living in a movie.
At first, the challenge is fun. But then things get dangerous. Kids start disappearing, including Luna’s friends. There are voices in the woods. Bloodred markings on the trees. And Luna increasingly begins to wonder if all these strange happenings are connected with the Retro Challenge.
Secrets. Lies. Betrayal. The weight of her family on her shoulders. There’s so much on the line for Luna, not to mention she’s falling in love with the last guy she expected. Unless she can figure out the truth behind who’s sabotaging the challenge, the next person to disappear may be Luna herself.
ABOUT JARROD SHUSTERMAN
Jarrod Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling coauthor of novel Dry, which he is adapting for a major Hollywood film studio with Neal Shusterman. He is also the coauthor of the accoladed novel Roxy. His books have all received critical acclaim and multiple starred reviews.
Sofi Lapuente and Jarrod are partners in every sense of the word, with love and multiculturalism as an ethos—living between Madrid, Spain, and Los Angeles, California. If they are not working, it means they’re eating. For behind-the-scenes author content and stupidly funny videos, follow them on Instagram and TikTok @SofiandJarrod.
ABOUT SOFÍA LAPUENTE
Sofía Lapuente is an author, screenwriter, and avid world traveler who immigrated from Spain to the United States to realize her dream of storytelling. Since then, she has received a master’s degree in fine arts at UCLA, worked as a producer and casting director on an Emmy nominated show, and received coauthor credits in Gleanings, the fourth installment of the bestselling Arc of a Scythe trilogy, with her partner, Jarrod. Together, the couple writes and produces film and television under their production company Dos Lobos Entertainment.
1. Who: Who are your instabuy, go-to YA authors? And which new talent have you discovered recently?
Jarrod: I will have to concede that I’ve grown up reading my dad’s books, Neal Shusterman, which really shaped my viewpoint on storytelling. When books like Unwind are your bedtime stories it kind of affects you as kid. And I don’t instabuy the books of my dad, I instasteal them from his house when he’s not looking ☺ But for instabuying, I’d definitely have to say, all of our author friends!
Sofi: As for YA we are fans of Kat Cho, Claribel A Ortega, Adalyn Grace, Gina Chen, and Alex Aster, Stephanie, Susan Lee, Kristin Dwyer, Margaret Stohl (and the list goes on)! But we are biased because we’re all friends! For me, I’m reading adult. Anything Taylor Jenkins Reid. How she world builds in a historical fiction setting is just brilliant, and really makes you believe that these people, places and events are truly real!
2. What: What was the most joyful moment in preparing to bring Retro into the world?
Jarrod: There were a few moments for me. I remember when we were on a road trip driving along the mountainside of Yellowstone and we got the call from our agent that we landed the contract. Then there were certain moments of break-throughs that we had while writing which were quite euphoric!
Sofi: But the best part was when we finish the draft and it’s time to email it in, and we carry the laptop around the house like it’s a baby lion king, ready to press ENTER at any moment. However, the biggest rush has been going to meet other authors at places like YallFest. The love and connection between YA authors and readers is a once in a lifetime and unique thing that made me realize that I really felt like I belonged in this writing world and community <3
3. Where: Where is the state of YA right now, from where you sit? Where do you hope to see it go next?
Sofi: This is such a good question! What we see are authentic and diverse stories, breaking into commercial high concept story telling. And it’s already happening in so many unique ways. Tracy Deon with Legendborn, or how Adam Silvera crafted They Both Die at the End. It’s why Luna’s Hispanic heritage is important to the story’s telling in Retro.
Jarrod: Why not create imaginative stories where characters’ cultures are their superpowers? Why not let culture be the context, rather than the all-encompassing content of a narrative. We also see a blending of genre and tone that is very apparent in television. Comedy, horror, supernatural mysteries like the series Wednesday. There are so many ways YA literature can go, and we are so excited to be a part of that expansion. Which is why Retro is a fun thriller and a total mix of many genre elements!
4. When: Looking ahead to next year (or beyond), what exciting things are next on the horizon for you?
Sofi: We are actually finishing up our first Adult novel, which we plan to start showing publishers this year, so we are very excited about that! It’s a drama/comedy actually based on my crazy life, and my friends’ lives, as immigrants in the United States. Because there’s terrible tough things, but also a lot of beautiful moments with friends full of love and laughter. Life has so many aspects about it, the highs and the lows—and for us we want our books to always be entertaining—with the right amount of chili peppers. We’re even developing the second Adult novel as well, which we are REALLY amped to write.
Jarrod: We’re always coming up with new ideas! And we’re pretty deep into our second YA novel together which is a total secret. And we think that with everything we write, we get a little bit better. And we always believe that our best work is ahead of us, never behind! So there is a lot on the horizon. And we’re not opposed to a Retro sequel if the audience demands that of us ;)
5. Why: Why YA? What draws you to writing for this age group?
Jarrod: For me it was because I was raised in this environment and world. I was consuming it in my household, living with an author who was helping to develop the YA culture as a whole. I just loved that time of my life, and in some ways I felt like I’ve never “grown up” and I don’t want to. It was a time of freedom, self-exploration, passion. Why do you have to be less than eighteen to live an awesome life like that? So I write every day in protest of adulting.
Sofi: I found the whole YA world fascinating. But I didn’t realize it was truly my home until I experienced the amazing author community, librarians, and readers. And the YA scene has only gotten cooler as the years go on. I think it’s in its prime, and the sky’s the limit! We are also really inspired by readers and librarians. They are the fuel that keeps us going, because we are writing for them. So many people DM us on Instagram asking insightful questions, and we get to learn what people are interested in reading about. So feel free to follow us on IG and TikTok: @sofiandjarrod for fun behind the scenes author content. We promise to entertain you! Thank you so much and we can’t wait for you all to read Retro!
Writing Inspiration from Kip
In past years, I worked a flexible schedule from home, so I could always tune in and view the ALAYMA award announcements live. Now that I work in a school library, I was busy reading to kids when the announcements were made, but I of course ran to check the results as soon as I had a free moment. But whether watching live or catching up later, it’s always a thrill to see fabulous titles and authors (and illustrators and translators) honored. I’m especially excited for All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, which is now not only a National Book Award winner and New York Times bestseller, but also the Printz winner!
However, we also have to remember that only a small portion of authors whose books were published last year had works recognized at the ceremony. And so many fantastic books came out last year! I had my own top ten favorites of the year too, and not all of them won awards. So besides congratulating the big winners, I also want to send on a huge bravo to everyone whose book didn’t win big—your book surely means everything to the readers who loved it!
And to everyone with a book out this year, remember to soak it up and enjoy every moment!
Thank you for joining me on this voyage!