This Week in YA — Issue #62
Welcome to the Voyage newsletter!
It’s another new week and another installment of this newsletter for you this week, my fellow YA enthusiasts. We’re in the midst of Spring releases now, with plenty of amazing books in the pipeline. I have so many 2023 books I can’t wait to read! As part of this plethora of amazingness on the way, we’ve got another interview with a fabulous YA author this week, along with plenty of news and resources to share as usual.
News and Resources
First off, congratulations are in order because YA superstar Laurie Halse Anderson Wins Lindgren Memorial Award!
For fantasy fans, Epic Reads recently shared 7 YA Fantasy Series Hitting Shelves This Year.
For historical fans, I actually popped over to Teen Librarian Toolbox myself to talk about Historical Women in Young Adult Literature.
I loved this list of 10+ YA Books I’d Curate for my #Booktok Table over on 24hryabookblog. Nothing against Colleen Hoover, but it’s so nice to see some different titles in the same sentence as #Booktok!
When it comes to audio books, I’m personally a fan of libro.fm (great way to support your favorite indie bookstore), but in case you don’t know about Chirp, check out Chirp Books: New & Noteworthy in Teen & Young Adult.
Teen Vogue offers some fantastic coverage about book banning with Why Are Books Banned? Part of a Broader Effort to Oppress Girls and Nonbinary People.
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 an interview with artist and author Sarah Lyu, whose sophomore YA novel, I Will Find You Again, publishes today. I was lucky enough to get an early peek at this book, and wow! When I first picked it up, I seriously meant to read a page or two and hit fifty pages before I even realized. If you like books that don’t let up, this one is definitely for you.
5 Questions Interview with Sarah Lyu, YA author
ABOUT I WILL FIND YOU AGAIN
All the Bright Places meets Ace of Spades in this smart, twisty teen thriller about a girl who can’t stop pushing herself to be the best—even after losing her best friend and the love of her life.
Welcome to Meadowlark, Long Island—expensive homes and good schools, ambition and loneliness. Meet Chase Ohara and Lia Vestiano: the driven overachiever and the impulsive wanderer, the future CEO and the free spirit. Best friends for years—weekend trips to Montauk, sleepovers on a yacht—and then, first love. True love.
But when Lia disappears, Chase’s life turns into a series of grim snapshots. Anger. Grief. Running. Pink pills in an Altoids tin. A cheating ring at school. Heartbreak and lies. A catastrophic secret.
And the shocking truth that will change everything about the way Chase sees Lia—and herself.
ABOUT SARAH LYU
Sarah Lyu grew up outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. She loves a good hike and can often be found with a paintbrush in one hand and a cup of milky tea in the other. Sarah is the author of The Best Lies and I Will Find You Again. You can visit her at SarahLyu.com.
1. Who: Who are your instabuy, go-to YA authors? And which new talent have you discovered recently?
E. Lockhart, John Green, Tess Sharpe, Jennifer Niven. I’m newly obsessed with Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Ryan La Sala!
2. What: What was the most joyful moment in preparing to bring I Will Find You Again into the world?
Honestly, it’s been the response. I wrote a really personal story about two girls who fall in love and fall apart under the near constant pressure from parents, school, and society at large to sacrifice happiness for the idea of success. It’s really about the question of how to feel enough in a world that seemingly tells us that we’ll never be enough. I wasn’t sure something that feels so personal to me would resonate with others but the early feedback has been really lovely.
3. Where: Where is the state of YA right now, from where you sit? Where do you hope to see it go next?
It’s a really exciting time in YA. There’s always room for improvement, but it’s important to acknowledge that there’s never been a better time to be a queer writer/reader, or a writer/reader of color. Even ten years ago, the landscape was very different, and publishing isn’t exactly known for its fast turnarounds. My biggest concern right now is the growing political headwinds and legal challenges, not just in YA, but in all of children’s publishing. I optimistically think the general support is there, but the engagement isn’t high which lets the vocal few dominate the conversation and physically shut down libraries or ban books by queer and/or BIPOC authors. This is a serious issue, and my hope is that we can come together as a writing/reading community and fight for our readers.
4. When: Looking ahead to next year (or beyond), what exciting things are next on the horizon for you?
I’m excited to work on my next project, which is also about a love that saves you but with very different themes. Most of all, I’m thrilled Chase and Lia’s story will be out in the world this March and I hope readers will fall in love with them like I have.
5. Why: Why YA? What draws you to writing for this age group?
The teen years are so beautiful and intense. Everything is possible and nothing feels right. It’s such a transformative and foundational period full of first experiences. So much of what happened in my teens still looms large in my mind, and for better or worse, shape the person I am today. It’s an honor to write YA and I feel very lucky to have found a home here.
Writing Inspiration from Kip
As you might have gathered above, I am officially obsessed with I Will Find You Again, and I’m pretty sure most people who read it will feel the same way. So as a writer, I found myself asking as I was reading, how did she do that? Or more generally: what makes readers obsessively turn pages?
It’s great to have an example like this book on hand to answer that question. The three elements in this story that hooked me from the start were character, tension, and pacing. That probably sounds terribly vague, so let’s take a deeper dive. Chase’s character hooked me on page one with this line: “What they don’t know: It’s 2AM on the fifth night in a row that I haven’t been able to sleep and the world feels like it’s spinning away from me.” This feeling is so relatable to today’s teens—and even adults. My empathy with Chase as a character continued to grow from there as we gradually learn what brought her to this point, which leads me to the tension. We already know from the book’s summary that Chase’s best friend and first love Lia has disappeared. The hints we get about both this and their romance and breakup are incredibly engaging. Finally, the snappy pacing—short chapters and small chunks of information—really works here to hook readers. No one likes an infodump, and the way it’s fed to us piecemeal here certainly compelled me to turn the page.
Hope this quick analysis helps you in your own writing—and hope you love this fantastic book!
Thank you for joining me on this voyage!