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Notes
Anonymous asked: Can you recommend any British YA authors please? Particularly fantasy? Thank you!
Yes! Please, everybody read more UKYA – you’re missing out on a whole world of incredible writing if you haven’t. I will recommend ten for you to discover. I’ve starred the fantasy.
(Also, the authors are all lovely people.)
Please let me know if you’d like me to point you in the direction of any more UKYA!
- Alice Oseman: Alice has done what I thought was impossible and made me enjoy a book set in a British high school. Her novel Solitaire is about a pessimistic teenager named Tori Spring, whose school suddenly comes under assault by pranksters. It looks sensitively at mental illness and features a well-developed romance between two male characters.
- Chibundu Onuzo: Her debut, The Spider King’s Daughter, is a contemporary YA set in Lagos, Nigeria, which I absolutely loved. It shifts between two very different sides of Lagos and follows the collision of two fascinating characters.
- Helena Coggan*: Author of The Catalyst, which is set in a London divided into the Gifted (magical) and the Ashkind (non-magical), and features a Parliament controlled by angels. The protagonist, Rose, is capable and complex, and the plot is not centred on romance.
- Holly Bourne: Holly has written several contemporary YA novels, but the one I’ve read is Am I Normal Yet?. It’s the first in a trilogy about three British girls who set up their own feminist society called the Spinster Club. The first book is a sensitive, well-researched story about OCD and anxiety.
- James Smythe: Writes adult and YA. He’s just published the first installment in a YA dystopian trilogy, titled Way Down Dark. It’s gritty and brutal, with non-stop action and a great female lead.
- Louise O’Neill: Irish, not British, but I want to include her here anyway. She’s written two books: Asking For It, about rape culture in a fictional Irish town, and Only Ever Yours, a dystopia in which women are bred purely for male pleasure. It’s a worthy YA successor to The Handmaid’s Tale. I strongly recommend Louise’s books if you’re interested in feminism.
- Lucy Saxon*: Author of a projected six-book YA high fantasy series, beginning with Take Back the Skies. She’s just published the first sequel, The Almost King. The world she’s created, Tellus, is beautiful and bizarre, featuring skyships, adventure, and six countries. It’s also interesting in that each book follows a different person and a different story within the same universe.
- Melinda Salisbury*: Melinda has written a gorgeous YA high fantasy novel called The Sin Eater’s Daughter, about a young woman named Twylla who is executioner to the queen. I’m only halfway through it, but the worldbuilding is stunning. The sequel, The Sleeping Prince, is out in February.
- Taran Matharu*: Taran is the author of the Summoner series, which was a massive hit on Wattpad before being picked up by a publisher. The first book, The Novice, is about a young man named Fletcher who discovers he can summon demons.
- Tom Pollock*: I’ve just finished the first book in his Skyscraper Throne urban fantasy YA trilogy. The City’s Son is a fantastic reimagining of London, featuring glass dancers, train spirits, and sinister cranes. It’s essentially a fable about greed and urban renewal. If you liked reading about London in The Mime Order, I think you’d really love this one. It also features a Muslim character in a central role.