UKYA

UKYA FORTNIGHT: Guest Post by Keris Stainton, Author of Jessie Hearts NYC

Posted on 16 July, 2013
I’m really pleased to be welcoming Keris Stainton to the blog today. Keris is a fab UKYA author and so I feel very honoured to have her here today.
We are incredibly lucky to have so many wonderful UKYA authors, but you wouldn’t necessarily know it. For some reason – glamour? budgets? – American authors seem to be promoted much more than UK authors and it’s such a shame. I’m not saying there aren’t completely brilliant US YA books out there – there absolutely are and some of my favourite books are by American authors – but there are so many UKYA books that just seem to be… overlooked.

Following a Twitter discussion about the above (these days, most things in my life happen as a result of Twitter discussions) – and the wonderful UKYA author Keren David finding a GoodReads featuring someone looking for UK-set YA novels and being recommended Swallows & Amazons and Harry Potter –

I set up UKYA, a blog to celebrate and catalogue (sort of) UKYA books.

I wanted to have a central hub where people could go to find UKYA books by theme and location. Keren and Susie Day, another wonderful UKYA author, help me set it up and now I mix posting details of UKYA books new and old (in no particular order, just those I happen to come across) and guest posts from authors and bloggers.

I’d actually really like to expand the guest posts and have the site be more active – the UKYA community is so vibrant and diverse, I’d love the site to reflect that – so if anyone reading this post would like to write something for us, we’d love to have you!


 
 

Keris Stainton is the author of three UKYA novels – Della Says OMG!, Jessie Hearts NYC, Emma Hearts LA – with (she hopes) more coming soon. She’s addicted to tea, American TV, and Twitter.

Lucy Powrie is a blogger, YouTuber and author from the UK. When she's not reading, she enjoys cuddling guinea pigs and eating Oreo chocolate, but let's be real: she's mostly always reading.

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8 Comments

  • Reply
    Zoe Crook
    16 July, 2013 at 4:23 pm

    Ooh, I love Keris Stainton! I’ve read all her books apart from Emma <3 LA which I must read soon.

    I agree that UKYA books seem to be overlooked a lot more than US books, and the community of UKYA is amazing. Some of my favourite books are from the US but we need more British books 🙂 Great post!

    • Reply
      Keris
      17 July, 2013 at 4:59 pm

      Thanks, Zoe 🙂

  • Reply
    Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf
    16 July, 2013 at 5:11 pm

    Keris Stainton is one of my favourite authors! I love all her books, especially Emma Hearts LA.

    I agree about US books being more well known than UK books. The thing is, usually I can never tell if I’m reading a book by a UK or a US author! Maybe if we had labels on books saying ‘UKYA’ or ‘USYA’ it would raise awareness and also make it more obvious when we’re reading UKYA! 🙂

    Really enjoying these posts, Lucy.

    • Reply
      dellasays
      17 July, 2013 at 5:00 pm

      Thanks, Amber. I did have a chat with a publisher about maybe having a little UKYA logo on book spines, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere, unfortunately.

    • Reply
      Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf
      24 July, 2013 at 5:40 pm

      Oh, that’s a shame! At least you’re well known already for supporting UKYA and being a UKYA author. 🙂

  • Reply
    So Many Books, So Little Time
    16 July, 2013 at 7:04 pm

    I love Keris and the UKYA blog! It’s so great to champion our authors when, as Keris said, they get so little airing over here.

  • Reply
    Anya
    19 July, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    Yay for UKYA! Great start to the fortnight, Lucy, and great post Keris!

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