Welcome to the UKYA Fortnight!
I’ve been planning this fortnight for months now and have two weeks of UKYA filled awesomeness.
The first week (15th-21st) is going to be focused on authors and I have lots of interviews and guest posts scheduled with some of the best UKYA authors out there. I’m so excited to finally be able to share them with you.
The second week (22nd-28th) is filled with amazing blogger stuff and I have bookshelf tours, book showcases and more to show you. I have some absolutely brilliant bloggers guest posting so I can’t wait to show you their posts.
Towards the end of the first week, I will be hosting a UKYA Twitter chat! I’ve never hosted one before but I’ve joined in with a few chats before and they’ve been a lot of fun. I have lots of games planned and lots of other questions, so I’d love to see a lot of you there!It will be on Friday 19th July at 6:30 PM British Summer Time. For more information, you can tweet me @LucyTheReader.
So, why have I chosen to host this UKYA Fortnight?
Supporting the UKYA community is very important to me. Many of our British authors are overshadowed by foreign authors, mainly those from the US. This doesn’t mean that those books are any better than UK fiction and so I think UKYA should get its own fair share in the market.
I don’t post a lot about UKYA books here on the blog because the majority of the books that I read are US YA. Of the 92 books I’ve read so far this year at the time of writing this post, only 33 of these books have been UKYA; only one third. That is a dramatic improvement from last year when I probably didn’t read over 15 UKYA books. I’d like to start improving this and I’d like to start getting more people reading UKYA because it does get pushed out quite a lot.
I don’t post a lot about UKYA books here on the blog because the majority of the books that I read are US YA. Of the 92 books I’ve read so far this year at the time of writing this post, only 33 of these books have been UKYA; only one third. That is a dramatic improvement from last year when I probably didn’t read over 15 UKYA books. I’d like to start improving this and I’d like to start getting more people reading UKYA because it does get pushed out quite a lot.
I’ll be posting a lot about how you can support the UKYA community next week, so keep an eye out for all of the posts.
Enjoy UKYA Fortnight!
12 Comments
Rachel (Booktastic Reviews) :D
15 July, 2013 at 9:58 amObviously, since I’m also British (*high five*), I totally love this idea! I really feel like UKYA authors need to be in the limelight more!
So I’ve put up your banner for your twitter chat on my blog! 😀
Can’t wait for everything you have planned over the next two weeks! 🙂
Lucy
15 July, 2013 at 5:48 pmThank you, Rachel! Much appreciated! *high fives back*
Zoe Crook
15 July, 2013 at 12:13 pmEEEP! I’m so excited! It’s a brilliant idea to embrace British authors and let UKYA books more well known. I just realised the other day that my top 3 books are all written by American authors. Obviously, since they’re my favourites, they’re amazing, but I’d love to read more UKYA books.
Are you doing a post on your favourite UK books? I need recommendations as I don’t really know if books are UKYA or not. 😛
Looking forward to the Twitter chat! Good luck with the next two weeks, Lucy <3
Lucy
15 July, 2013 at 5:52 pmThere will be plenty of recommendation posts coming up- from me, from authors, and from other bloggers. Keep an eye out, Zoe!
Thank you! I look forward to seeing you there. 🙂
Rachel Ward
15 July, 2013 at 3:57 pmThanks for doing this, Lucy. It’s such a cool idea. I read lots of US books, too, but there are so many British authors who deserve more of the limelight. Yay for you! xx
Lucy
15 July, 2013 at 5:56 pmAs I’ve probably repeatedly said above, I do think it’s important that a certain amount of attention is paid to our native authors. The books are just so good!
Ruby :)
15 July, 2013 at 4:26 pmWoah I’m so excited about this! I always feel guilty about not reading as much UKYA as I should so I’m going to try and get a bit more into it!
I’ll definitely be joining in with your Twitter chat and I can’t wait to find out more about the UKYA community across the next two weeks! And ooooohhh (looking at the comment above) I can say that I’m huge fan of Rachel Ward’s books, so at least I like SOME ukya! ;P
Lucy
15 July, 2013 at 5:59 pmHopefully this fortnight will inspire you, Ruby!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Debbie Turner
15 July, 2013 at 6:20 pmYay I’m so excited to see what your fortnight entails! Your twitter chat sounds AWESOME as well, I’m sure it will all go beautifully and you’ll be planning another one!
Sophie Louise
15 July, 2013 at 7:33 pmSo excited to see your supporting UKYA. I think it’s really important with the latest buzz from books like The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Mortal Instruments – along with The Fault in Our Stars – all being USYA. I’m so excited for the big twitter chat. Will be tweeting along! I really love UKYA books though. My favourites are Breathe & Geek Girl – cannot wait until both sequels!
So Many Books, So Little Time
16 July, 2013 at 7:06 pmReally looking forward to all the posts over the next two weeks!
Amber @ The Mile Long Bookshelf
24 July, 2013 at 5:38 pmWOO! Loving this event so far.