THE TECHNOLOGY TEENAGERS USE TO DRIVE their parents up the wall may change, but the feelings associated with growing up don’t. The most successful and relatable YA authors grasp the essential emotions of being a teen. The writers tackle wildly varied subjects, from embracing asexuality to solving decades-old mysteries to navigating a post-climate-apocalypse world. But at the base of it all, feelings drive YA literature. Getting inside a teenager’s head.
“When I’m trying to tell a story, it helps me to think about my audience and what things, ideas, or issues are most relevant to them,” says Jay Coles, author of Tyler Johnson Was Here and the more recent Things We Couldn’t Say.
Of course, the latest generation of YA readers is coping with something no recent generation has experienced – a global pandemic that forced many of them out of school for months and shut down everyday activities teens took for granted, from playing sports to hanging with friends to getting their driver’s licenses. Perhaps now more than ever, these near-adults crave ways to feel seen after so much isolation. Literature has always played witness to teens’ pain, fears, and triumphs.
To take the pulse of the YA industry today and see what’s changed (and what hasn’t) almost two years into the pandemic, spoke with a dozen young adult writers, a few of whom requested anonymity to render honest opinions without worry of backlash in this small industry tidal pool. A portrait of an evolving, yet not entirely evolved, genre emerged, with short- and long-term impacts from the COVID-19 outbreak that could reshape things for the better. Every author expressed the high value of YA for teens, preteens, and
