In regards to Jennifer and Lili’s comments I think there are innovative writers both in the US and Australia. I get the feeling that Lili’s right about USian YA publishers having the room to publish more books that stretch the YA boundaries that Australian publishers do. But I suspect that’s a matter of size: 22 million of us and 300 million of them. A&U was certainly taking a punt publishing Margo Lanagan’s category defying short story collections.

The lack of coverage back home is deeply depressing. And those answers you quote, Lili, just make me want to cry. Sheesh!

Ammy: Yay for the interwebs, eh? I feel like most of my recs come that way, too.

Of course, I’ve also HEARD about some books and gone on to read them (Magic or Madness, for example), but most of my book-hunting is done by putting in effort and running around a lot of internet sites.

when asking literary editors of newspapers why in Oz, there is so little space devoted to YA, they answer either like this:
‘teenagers don’t read newspapers’ (blatant lie, also not just teenagers read ya, and even if they did they still have parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and teachers)
or like this:
‘it’s a niche market, can’t devote more than a small proportion’
right. unlike non-fiction books about the transition from brass to steel buttons on military uniforms in WW1. Everyone wants to read that.
Or poetry.

(although in defense of the age, i believe there is a good-sized review in it today of nick and norah and king dork by our very own mike shuttleworth. haven’t got out of pyjamas yet to buy paper, so not sure.)

if a regular newspaper, or the new york times, deigns to review a children’s book, they generally put it in the children’s ghetto section. and if (miracle) they get a real review, they are generally quick to point out how “these books aren’t just for the kiddies anymore” or something.

so, what i guess i mean is, the bigbighuge successful books are dictated by two things: marketing and word-of-mouth. w-o-m, obviously, creating slower to take hold but longer-lasting success.

and oz writers are the bomb, because they are (very generally speaking) funnier and more edgy than mainstream usian ones. I don’t mean edgy in the “ew, faeries shooting heroin into their eyeballs” sort of way, but rather in the “holy crap i can’t believe i just read that wow” sort of a way. in both oz fantasy and realistic ya, the writing is allowed to be more wild, i think — often it seems as if the books here are written to a formula.

now maybe oz book are also written to a formula – but the recipe is different, and i haven’t quite figured out what’s in it yet.

sure, it might be a bit about exoticism, i guess, because the kids seem *like* usian characters, but also different. funnier and more thoughtful. they are characters you want to get to know. plus it’s interesting to get different perspectives on the world, particularly if you are from a rather closed country that thinks it’s the bee’s knees.

also, basically, if you can make me cry and laugh on the same page, you win.

i’m thinking of marrying melina marchetta, jaclyn moriarty, simmone, lisa shanahan and barry jonsberg. and you, naturally. rowr!

and as for not being taken seriously b/c you write (or read) ya….unfortunately i’ve seen it a lot more than i’d like. when i was younger, books for teens were called “light reading.” as an adult, people think it’s funny that you still want to read about teenagers. after all, they don’t matter. *sarcasm* teens and kids aren’t taken seriously b/c of their “youth and inexperience.” high school isn’t “the real world.” so naturally, the books written for a ya audience aren’t thought to have much worth either. grrrrrrr.