This Week in YA — Issue #76
Welcome to the Voyage newsletter!
It’s another new week and another installment of this newsletter for you this week, my fellow YA enthusiasts. Lots of exciting things are brewing this summer, including the cover reveal for the first Voyage anthology. Isn’t it gorgeous? And as usual, we’ve gathered up all kinds of YA news and another interview with a debut YA author for you to check out below. Happy reading!
News and Resources
First off, in award news, 2023 Lambda Literary Award Winners Are Revealed, so congratulations to all!
In other Pride Month news, check out 6 Upcoming LGBTQ+ Adaptations We’re Thrilled To See.
Book banning is still very much in the headlines, including In the Field: School Librarians Share Their Battles with Book Banning.
Bridgerton fans will definitely want to head over to Teen Vogue to read Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story Reignites Questions of Who Gets a Happily Ever After in Historical Romance.
YA mysteries and thrillers remain super popular, so if you’re considering writing in the genre, CrimeReads has Liz Lawson and Kathleen Glasgow on Crafting YA Mysteries.
Finally, if you find the idea of working in a bookstore as appealing as I do, you’ll want to take a look at Want a Living Wage? You Won't Find It Working at Most Indie Bookstores on Book Riot.
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 author Deborah Crossland, whose debut YA novel, The Quiet Part Out Loud, releases today! I’m really excited for this college-set YA (something I’ve loved since Nina LaCour’s We Are Okay), and hope it’ll appeal to you too. Read on to find out all about it.
5 Questions Interview with Deborah Crossland, YA author
ABOUT THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD
For fans of You’ve Reached Sam and A Heart in a Body in the World, this searing and heartrending teen novel follows an ex-couple as they struggle to reunite in the wake of a devastating earthquake.
High school sweethearts Mia Clementine and Alfie Thanasis had a plan to escape their town for college in the east. Mia would leave her hard-core evangelical home for Sarah Lawrence College, and Alfie would have a new place to pursue his three loves: baseball, poetry, and Mia. But when Alfie got offered a scholarship to the University of San Francisco the same week the entire town found out about Mia’s mom’s affair with their church’s pastor, Mia’s world imploded and she pushed everyone away…including Alfie.
Five months after the worst summer ever, Mia is crashing at her best friend’s dorm at San Francisco State, just a few miles away from the University of San Francisco, praying she never runs into the boy whose heart she broke. And Alfie is trying to make the most of his freshman year while struggling to reconcile with the abrupt ending of his first love.
When Mia and Alfie’s paths cross for the briefest of moments, Mia realizes she never should have let him go and Alfie’s suppressed memories and feelings boil to the surface. But their reunion is cut short when a massive earthquake rocks San Francisco, leaving them to stumble desperately across the rubble in search of the ex they still love before the city crumbles—taking one, or both, of them with it.
ABOUT DEBORAH CROSSLAND
Deborah Crossland teaches English and mythology at her local community college, studies mythology and depth psychology in her Ph.D. program, and writes myth-based, contemporary novels for young adults. She is also a founding board member of the nonprofit Fernweh Collective, which focuses on cultural education through experiential learning. You can find her talking all things myth on Fernweh Collective’s happy hour video on YouTube. She lives in Northern California with her husband and her daughter’s very spoiled retired service dog.
1. Who: Who are your instabuy, go-to YA authors? And which new talent have you discovered recently?
Oh no, this is the hardest question! If I’m being honest, the list is probably too long to sound reasonable, so I’ll name a few. Anytime Nic Stone has a book coming out, I’m automatically buying it. Her stories are not only poignant and beautifully written, there is a wisdom that appeals to an audience beyond young adult readers. Jenn Bennett and Rachel Griffin are autobuys, too. Both are excellent story tellers! Oh, and there’s Heather Demetrios and Dante Medema. Ashley Schumacher, too. See? I cannot be controlled! As far as new voices, I really loved Rebecca Carprara’s Spin. Anytime mythology gets a revamp, I’m there!
2. What: What was the most joyful moment in preparing to bring The Quiet Part Out Loud into the world?
So far, I think seeing the cover for the first time was pretty amazing. It’s very cool to see an artist interpret your work that was personal for so long. Also, I was blown away by the sheer amount of people who work on books behind the scenes and how much they do to make a single page so readable. Of course, getting angry text messages from my critique partners as they read through early drafts was fun, too!
3. Where: Where is the state of YA right now, from where you sit? Where do you hope to see it go next?
YA is exploding with all sorts of diversity, and I’m so happy I get to write alongside so many inclusive voices. Nothing makes my teacher heart happier than when a student identifies wholly with a main character of the book they’re reading. Having said that, I realize publishing, as a whole, has a long way to go to achieve true diversity. I’d love for YA to continue to lead the fray so libraries and bookstore truly represent all teens.
4. When: Looking ahead to next year (or beyond), what exciting things are next on the horizon for you?
When I finished work on The Quiet Part Out Loud right around the same time as I defended my dissertation, so I was sort of in this liminal place, unsure of where to go next. My safe place is always with mythology, so I started reading about Eros and Psyche’s love story. In a way, Psyche is also in a dark, in-between place, and I couldn’t stop thinking about her journey toward discovering who Eros really was, especially why she carried a knife to visit her love! Now, I’m using all of that by working on a story about a girl who is in the process of discovering true self after losing her boyfriend—and her memory—in a tragic accident.
5. Why: Why YA? What drew you to writing this book for this age group?
I’ve worked with teens for the last fifteen years, first as a high school English teacher, then as a dual-enrollment college professor and spoken word poetry coach. In between those roles, I’ve been a confidant, coach, mentor, and friend. Teen years are so complex with all the new experiences, and every emotion is so big, it’s hard not to want to write for them! Research shows that when we read, our brains perceive us as the character we’re reading about. That means we learn the lessons they do, and that’s especially important for teenagers embarking on the larger world. I love that I can play a part in increasing a teen’s empathy and expanding their world view to include tolerance and love.
Writing Inspiration from Kip
I love how Deborah’s background as a graduate student and college professor obviously informed her choices for this story. “Write what you know” is as old writing advice as any, but it’s great when you can see it paying off in action in a case where the author’s experience so clearly played a role.
I especially love Deborah’s response to the question about writing for this age group. I completely agree with everything she said. Teen years are complex, especially these days! And the emotions are indeed huge, and so very real. I feel like so many adults underestimate teenagers or dismiss their experiences as “drama” when it’s so much more than that.
Deborah’s response shows how central it is for young adult authors to respect teenagers and their feelings—something that’s certainly important to everyone writing and publishing YA. I know it’s probably preaching to the choir to those who love YA, but especially when it seems at times that YA books are winding up in the hands of as many adults as teens, we need to remember that we’re writing for the actual teenagers, despite who else might be reading our books.
Thank you for joining me on this voyage!