Q&A Patrice Lawrence
One way or another
Patrice Lawrence won last year’s YA Book Prize with her first novel, Orangeboy, and is shortlisted this year with its follow-up. She discusses diversit, day jobs and Blondie with Caroline Carpenter
Orangeboy, your début novel, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize for Older Readers and the YA Book Prize 2017. Were you surprised by its success? Yes! Especially as I originally had no idea that I was writing YA. I thought I was writing a crime novel with a 16-year-old protago- nist. I also had no idea how publishing and marketing worked! Hachete was the only publisher interested on submission, so it felt like the book was a risk. I didn’t see many books like it in bookshops and there is very litle YA by writers of colour, so although it was fabulous to be published, I carried on with the day job and hunkered down to write Indigo Donut. I still haven’t quite processed the fact that it has won prizes.
www.thebookseller.com
Has your your life changed since winning the YA Book Prize, and if so, how? In many ways, yes. It enabled me to take time off working a day job to write more books, but also to visit schools. It’s inspir- ing and fun to be able to talk to the young people I write for and about. I am the first in my family to be born in England, to a working-class family. I want young people, especially those who don’t see themselves reflected in books or the school curriculum, to know that their voices mater. I want them to feel as though they are able to become the next generation of writers. I have had the opportunit to meet many, many people I admire in person and to say “thank you” to the people who have
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