IN BRIEF


Children’s News The YA Book Prize 2020


Jackson, Blackman and Hardinge among those in the running for the YA Book Prize


The 10-strong shortlist for this year’s YA Book Prize sees a diverse mix of authors and genres, and blends established, household-name writers with first-time authors


The Bookseller @thebookseller D


ébut author Holly Jackson is up against heavyweight names, including Malorie Blackman and Frances Hardinge, on the shortlist for the YA Book Prize 2020. Jackson’s first novel, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Egmont), is the story of a teenage sleuth who investigates a five-year-old murder case in her small town as part of a school project (see Author Interview, p17 in this Children’s Special). It was last year’s top-selling children’s and YA début in the UK, and is currently shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and a British Book Award, and longlisted for the Branford Boase Award. Former Children’s


Laureate Blackman is included on the shortlist for a second time with the fiſth novel in her Noughts & Crosses series, Crossfire (Penguin). The thriller sees two warring teenagers kidnapped, as


elsewhere the Prime Minister must turn to his oldest friend for help when he is


LAST YEAR’S WINNER, SARA BARNARD


The YA10 The 10 titles competing to be crowned the winner of the 2020 YA Book Prize


Black Flamingo Dean Atta


This is a timely coming- of-age story, told in


The YA Book Prize is run in association with Hay Festival.


06 27th March 2020


verse. It follows Michael as he comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen.


Crossfire Malorie Blackman


Thirty-four years have passed since Sephy, a Cross, met Callum, a Nought. Their love


was forbidden, power- ful—and deadly.


The Places I’ve Cried in Public Holly Bourne


Amelie fell hard for Reese. And she thought he loved her too. But she’s starting to realise that real love isn’t supposed to hurt...


Meat Market Juno Dawson


When gangly Jana is


unexpectedly scouted to become a supermodel, she discovers that the further you rise, the more devastating your fall.


It is such an exciting time in YA fiction. Tere are more diverse voices and narratives being represented than ever before


Megan Crabbe, YA Book Prize judge


framed for murder. Hardinge, who has also been shortlisted for the prize once before, is selected


this year for her fantasy novel Deeplight (Macmillan), which tells the story of two street urchins trying to survive in a watery world of magic and ancient sea gods. Holly Bourne and Juno Dawson both make the shortlist for a third time, with The Places I’ve Cried in Public (Usborne) and Meat Market (Quercus Children’s Books) respectively. Bourne’s novel sees the protagonist unravel the breakdown of a toxic relationship, while Dawson’s story follows a girl from a south London estate who is catapulted into the glamor- ous yet grimy world of fashion. Dawson is joined on the YA10 list by Hachete Children’s Books stablemates Dean Ata and Kiran Millwood Hargrave, who are both shortlisted for their first YA novels. Poet Ata’s The Black Flamingo (Hodder Children’s Books), which won the Stonewall Book Award and is currently shortlisted for the 2020 CILIP Carnegie Award, follows Michael as he comes to terms with his identit as


a mixed-race gay teen, and finds his wings at universit, where he begins performing as a drag


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