By Madison Butkus
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Sponsored by the Cary Library Foundation (CLF), the Needham Free Public Library (NFPL) shared an online event titled “Writing Young Adult (YA) Novels.” This is a part of the Cary Library’s “Library Cafe'' series that has been happening throughout the past two years.
The panel of guests for this event included three Boston-area Young Adult authors: T.M. Blanchet, Autumn Allen, and Desmond Hall. The Cary Library went on to write, “We'll explore the different ways each writer interprets and embraces YA storytelling to craft meaningful and moving stories that inspire readers of all ages. The Young Adult genre —which includes fantasy, realistic and historical fiction, thrillers, and much more—is only growing in reach and relevance, and our panelists will address what drew them to writing YA and how their writing careers have developed.”
Before starting this discussion, each panelist was given a brief introduction about themselves and the works that they write. Autumn Allen is currently a senior editor at Barefoot Books and a lecturer in children’s literature at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the author of the historical young adult novel “All You Have To Do" which was a People Magazine must-read for fall 2023 and a Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of 2023. In the near future, she will have two picture books releasing, “Step On Board: Sculpting A Memorial To Harriet Tubman,” illustrated by Ekua Holmes, and "Answered Prayers.”
Desmond Hall, born in Jamaica, West Indies, moved to Jamaica, Queens for a period of time until now residing in the outskirts of Boston with his wife and two daughters. Throughout his career, he has worked an array of jobs, including as a high school biology and English teacher in East New York, Brooklyn, a counselor for teenage ex-cons after their release from Rikers Island, and Spike Lee’s creative director at Spike DDB. He is currently the author of the hardy YA novel “Your Corner Dark" which confronts the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica and further shows how far a teen is willing to go for their family.
T.M. Blanchet is the internationally tolerated, New York Times best-reading author of “Herrick's End,” “Herrick's Lie,” and “Herrick’s Key,” Books 1-3 of The Neath Trilogy. Before becoming a full time writer, she was a former reporter, award-winning humor columnist, magazine editor, and founded the nonprofit organization Operation Delta Dog: Service Dogs for Veterans, back in 2013.
Throughout this presentation, each author described how they got into YA writing, how to write the growth seen within their characters, how they made a teenagers voice come alive while writing as adults, the journey they took in order to get their works published, and so much more. They also discussed what their favorite interactions have been when talking with their readers.
For Hall, he explained that it is always an amazing complement and shock when a reader tells him something that he fully intended to come across within the work. When this happens, it feels as though he was able to accomplish what he wanted to do from the beginning and get a reader to understand the message he worked hard to get across.
For Blanchet, she loves when readers tell her that they could not put the book down while reading or they had to stay up late into the night just to finish it. Within her three books, she leaves every chapter on a cliff-hanger so this is a huge compliment in her eyes.
For Allen, the emotion that is felt by readers is what compliments her the most. When writing her works, she touches on hard topics and portrays that tough emotional side throughout. Readers saying to her that they cried during this scene, or felt disgusted in this other scene, makes her feel as though they fully understood the character she was trying to portray and thus went through all the emotions just like the character did.
This type of conversation was a huge hit with audience members and, towards the end of the discussion, they were allowed to ask any panel member a question. More talks like these, as well as “Science Cafe'' talks, are being shared through the NFPL. For more information, please visit their website at www.needhamlibrary.org.
