#ya10

Can you sum up The Monstrous Child in one sentence? Hel, the Norse goddess of the dead, tells her grim story of love and betrayal in her own sarcastic, funny, “yeah whatever” teen voice.

Why did you write The Monstrous Child? Because Hel’s voice came to me one morning when I was sitting on the New York subway. She said: “You’d think after my brother the snake was born they’d have stopped at one.” I recognised her immediately. Hel is the young goddess who is human from the waist up, and a decaying corpse from the waist down, who Odin hurled into the Underworld and forced to rule the dead. I also think it’s illuminating to write about the modern world through the prism of myth.

What does it mean to be on the YA Book Prize shortlist? The Monstrous Child is my first YA book so I am especially thrilled to be shortlisted. I loved writing for an older age group, which allowed me to explore my interest in myth while developing themes about love, rejection, vulnerability, and young women’s feelings about their bodies.

Which book made you a fan of YA? Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now.

What is special about YA from the UK and Ireland? I love the huge variety of subjects—just look how eclectic the shortlist is—and how fearlessly YA writers tackle big and urgent themes about growing up, society, and the nature of good and evil.

Can you sum up The Call in one sentence? I usually describe The Call as a Harry Potter where everybody dies.

Why did you write The Call? Every writer gets story ideas by the dozen. Sometimes they're just isolated images, or an opening line. Whatever it is, it acts like an irritant, sticking in your head until you can match the initial inspiration with characters and setting and plot. The image that gave birth to The Call was a person disappearing in a crowded room. I had to know where they went and what happened to them. It obsessed me for weeks.

What does it mean to be on the YA Book Prize shortlist? It means reaching readers that might not normally consider my work. That's very nerve-wracking, of course!

Which book made you a fan of YA? The late Tanith Lee's Silver Metal Lover. It's the story of a romance between a robot and a human girl. This sounded like the world's worst idea for a story when I first heard about it and I wouldn't have touched it if I hadn't already been familiar with the dark nasty brilliance of her writing. Silver Metal Lover is a magnificent stew of science fiction world-building, dystopia and heartbreak. Please read it.

What is special about YA from the UK and Ireland? I don't want to speak for other writers, but in my case, coming from Ireland, I had thousands of years of tradition and mythology to draw upon. The Call couldn't have been conceived without those resources.

We asked #YA10 author @sarabforbooks 5 questions about her shortlisted book and her favourite YA.

Can you sum up Beautiful Broken Things in one sentence? Longtime best friends Caddy and Rosie learn about friendship, love and recovery when Suzanne hurricanes into their lives.

Why did you write Beautiful Broken Things? Because it wouldn't let me go! The characters have been with me for a long time. I wanted to explore the "after" of a traumatic experience, the way the effects can linger and what the impact can be on a young person and their relationships.

What does it mean to be on the YA Book Prize shortlist? A huge amount. This is *the* prize that honours and celebrates YA in all its variety and diversity. Just look at the list - there's such a range of genre, content and style, taking readers from the depths of space to inner London. There's something for everyone in YA, and this prize recognises that. I feel very honoured and proud to be on the list.

Which book made you a fan of YA? It wasn't a single book, so I couldn't name just one. There wasn't much of what we now call YA around when I was actually a teenager, especially not from the UK, but I loved Sarra Manning and Malorie Blackman. Across the sea, I was a big fan of Jaclyn Moriarty in Australia and Sarah Dessen in the US.

What is special about YA from the UK and Ireland? I think it's very honest - you don't see much romanticising, which is a great thing. It's down-to-earth and often quite unflinching. You can tell you're reading a British/Irish YA book from the first page.

We’re proud to announce the shortlist for the YA Book Prize 2017:

Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman

The Graces by Laure Eve

How Not to Disappear by Clare Furniss

Paper Butterflies by Lisa Heathfield

Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence

The Call by Peadar O’Guilin

The Monstrous Child by Francesca Simon

Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

Crongton Knights by Alex Wheatle