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The Centre for Youth Literature has picked the brains of Australia’s YA publishers to gain insight into their work, and their titles. For the next few weeks we will be featuring interviews with a number of individuals on their work in YA publishing.

 Now to introduce….Claire.

I’m the children’s publisher at Pan Macmillan Australia, based in Sydney and responsible for commissioning, developing and producing a boutique list of titles, from junior fiction through to young adult.

What is the first book you worked on and in what capacity?
I was living in Cambridge, UK, and working for the literary magazine GRANTA. The first issue I ever worked on was GRANTA No. 19 – ‘More Dirt’. It was a who’s who of extraordinary American writers such as Richard Ford, Jayne Anne Phillips and John Updike.

Officially, I was the subscription manager but we were a very small team so everyone did a little of everything, such as proofing and actually pasting up the magazine (this was in the old days). I wasn’t very good at the pasting-up part and still remember the panic of searching for a paragraph I had accidentally chucked in the rubbish bin.*

What is the most anticipated release of this year?
This is an impossible question to answer in the singular so my most anticipated releases this year are GIRL DEFECTIVE by Simmone Howell in March, WILDLIFE by Fiona Wood in June, THE HOWLING BOY by Cath Crowley in September and the sequel to A CORNER OF WHITE by Jaclyn Moriarty in October.

Pan Macmillan has a year of magical YAs.

What are the popular themes in YA right now?
YA is such an elastic category but ‘voice’ and ‘heart’ are still as important as ever, regardless of the theme. As a reaction to the recent paranormal and dystopian deluge, ‘real teen’ fiction is possibly gaining more traction and GIRL DEFECTIVE, WILDLIFE and THE HOWLING BOY are all superlative examples of this.

Which fictional character would you like to be?
Oh no! Another singular question. Well, Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. (I read this when I was sixteen and it was my first real experience of ‘voice’.) Or maybe Emma from Jane Austen’s Emma, or …

*I found it.

YA is magical, as has been your time on Read Alert.  Thank you Claire for sharing

The Centre for Youth Literature has picked the brains of Australia’s YA publishers to gain insight into their work, and their titles.  For the next few weeks we will be featuring interviews with a number of individuals on their work in YA publishing.
My name is Mary Verney and I am an editor at Walker Books Australia, a subsidiary to the world-renowned English publisher of children’s books. The Walker office is based in Newtown, Sydney and we publish everything from board books to YA fiction. It is my job to work with authors to make their manuscript the best it can be before it goes to print and enters the world. It is a wonderful job and I consider myself very luck to be part of such a great industry. I started out in retail, managing a book department for Myer in Brisbane. After completing a Diploma of Editing and Publishing, I moved to Sydney to work for Pan Macmillan as an editorial assistant. I’ve been working at Walker Books for three years, first as a junior editor, now as an editor.

What is the first book you worked on and in what capacity?
The first YA book I worked when I was a junior editor at Walker, was The Project by Brian Falkner. It is an action-packed adventure that jumps between modern-day Iowa and Germany during World War II. A lot of fact checking was required and that was my job. Around the same time I was proofreading the first of the Rosie Black Chronicles, Genesis.

What is the most anticipated release of this year?
I’d have to say the second book in The Tribe series – The Disappearance of Ember Crow. I’m working on the manuscript at the moment, and it is wonderful – it starts with a bang, and the stakes just couldn’t get any higher for our protagonist Ashala and her Tribe. The author, Ambelin Kwaymullina, has really stepped up the pace in this second novel and the reader will be hooked from the very first line! It is being published later in the year.

What are the popular themes in YA right now?
I think dystopian fiction has knocked the vampires off their perch. The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf has done really well; readers have connected with Ashala and her struggle and are also intrigued by the elements of spiritual wisdom that Ambelin has woven throughout the novel. Lara Morgan’s series The Rosie Black Chronicles is another fantastic take on the fictional future of Australia and has been very popular. Both books have environmental themes and that is quiet a hot topic.Many novels for the YA readership deal with belonging. Finding out who you are and where you fit in is such a big part of entering adulthood that it will always be something writers of YA fiction explore. I love novels like Little Sister by Aimee Said and Cinnamon Rain by Emma Cameron for their exploration of friendship, family and belonging.

Which fictional character would you like to be?
Oh, that is a hard question … I think at the moment I’d have to say Georgie Spider from The Tribe series. Her ability – to see various possible futures – is pretty amazing. Plus she has a calm dreamy quality that I really like. She always knows the right thing to say as well, which is a great trait to have. Plus I’m really keen to see where her character goes over the course of the series.

A big thank you to Mary for her time away from editing what is sure to be a great addition to the Australian YA scene.

The Centre for Youth Literature has picked the brains of Australia’s YA publishers to gain insight into their work, and their titles.  For the next few weeks we will be featuring interviews with a number of individuals on their work in YA publishing.

Why hello, I’m Stephanie Stepan, Children’s and YA publicist over at Text Publishing. You may not know me, but I’m certain you know our authors!

We publish children’s and YA authors such as Rebecca Stead, Paula Weston, David Levithan, John Green, Sally Rippin and Vikki Wakefield. Now, we publicists are a tricky breed to pin down. A large part of our job goes on behind the scenes where we organise things like interviews and reviews that later appear in magazines, newspapers, online and on radio and TV. You can also find us with authors at events and writers’ festivals around the country.

What is the first book you worked on and in what capacity?
The first book I worked on was an absolute gem called WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead. I consider myself very lucky to have worked on this book as a publicist. Firstly, it’s not every day that book like this lands on your desk and secondly, Rebecca Stead may just be the nicest author ever. If you haven’t yet had the joy of meeting Miranda in Rebecca Stead’s WHEN YOU REACH ME I suggest you don’t wait a minute longer. And I’m certain you’ll also love Georges, the narrator of Rebecca’s latest novel LIAR & SPY. He really is the most remarkable spy.

What is the most anticipated release of this year?
Where to begin? I note that this question seems to be asking for a singular title, but you can’t very well ask me for just one! Here at Text Publishing we can’t stop talking about Alyssa Brugman’s first YA novel in several years, ALEX AS WELL (Feb 2013). Refreshing and fearless doesn’t even begin to describe this unforgettable book. We’re also counting down the days until the release of debut author Tim Hehir’s JULIUS AND THE WATCHMAKER (May 2013). It’s a fabulous time-travel adventure set mostly in Victorian era London. If you loved Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret or Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, then this book is for you.

As you can see, we love our home grown novelists here at Text, and this coming June we’re celebrating the best in Aussie writing with the Text YA Classics series.  Watch our for long-time favourites such as Joan Phipson’s The Watcher in the Garden, Ivan Southall’s Hill’s End, Patricia Wrightson’s I Own the Racecourse and Nan Chauncy’s They Found a Cave.

You’ve probably also noticed a lot of love for New Adult. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if this is really all that different from the YA we know and love. I feel like it could just be a new found excuse for older readers to join the YA fan club. And of course, all welcome.

Which fictional character would you like to be?
It took me all of an eye blink to find my answer to this question. And then I couldn’t stop smiling (ok, maybe blushing) at the thought of it. You can turn me into Gaby Winters any day. You probably know Gaby as one of the sassy lead characters in Paula Weston’s SHADOWS (Book I of the Rephaim series). Sure, she can kick-ass with some pretty top fight moves, but all I really want to do is hangout with the hottest boy in town, Rafa. The frisson between Gaby and Rafa has all our hearts racing at Text HQ and, for anyone who loved SHADOWS, there is a sensational scene in Book II, HAZE (June 2013), that really does require a fan while reading.

A big thank you to Steph for sharing what excites her about young adult literature and the interesting titles soon to hit the shelves.

The Centre for Youth Literature has picked the brains of Australia’s YA publishers to gain insight into their work, and their titles. For the next few weeks we will be featuring interviews with a number of individuals on their work in YA publishing.  Join us every Tuesday as we gain insight into the Australian YA publishing industry.

My name is Jennifer Kean and I’m the Publicity Manager at Hardie Grant Egmont. There is a lot of variety in my role, particularly because of the way our company is structured. I am working across a variety of titles from picture books, junior fiction series through to stand alone YA fiction. These lists are both local and UK originated releases, so the publicity requirements for these books and their authors and illustrators differ greatly.

My job description involves tailoring publicity plans or campaigns to best suit the title that I’m working on. I look after publicity for our books across Australia and New Zealand.

I work with a variety of media – newspapers, magazines, teacher and librarian journals, industry publications, as well as TV and radio – to get review coverage, media coverage and interviews.

I also work with contacts at many bookstores, schools and libraries as well as a number of writing festival committees and publishing industry groups to organise book launches, book signing events and author/illustrator appearances.

What is the first book you worked on and in what capacity?
Go Girl! was the first series that I worked on in a publicity capacity back in 2008. I organised two back-to-back events at Readings, Hawthorn and Readings, Carlton. We were celebrating the launch of our Go Girl! HQ merchandisers with in-store “Draw Yourself as a Go Girl” events.

What is the most anticipated release of this year?
Our crossover-YA romance series Smitten is one of our hottest releases for 2013. These stories about adventures in far off places, amazing new jobs in glamorous cities and finding romance along the way, will sweep you off your feet and keep you up late at night. Just like any new crush should! We will be publishing 9 titles by the end of the year, each supported with an extensive marketing and publicity campaign.

What are the popular themes in YA right now?
Romance is a huge trend right now, whether it’s the falling over your high heels kind of love featured in Smitten or a sweet, quirky romance captured so well by Melissa Keil in her debut novel Life In Outer Space. I suspect most publishers will be looking at releasing YA romance titles that don’t have a vampire or werewolf in sight, particularly in light of the success 50 Shades of Grey had in the adult market last year.

Which fictional character would you like to be?
Tatiana Metanova from Paullina Simon’s ‘The Bronze Horseman‘ historical fiction trilogy. Her heroic spirit and the powerful love that she has for Alexander Belov triumphs over the devastation of a country at war. It’s a heart-stopping love story… aaah if only Alexander wasn’t just alive on the pages!

Thank you so much for your insight, Jen!