Top UKYA Authors!

After the recent announcement that the first UKYA convention will be held in London next year in July; the work of the new Children's Laureate Malorie Blackman, I've been thinking a lot about my favourite UKYA authors and those I'd like to see make an appearance at the festival. It's clear that the most popular books are from American authors at the moment. Of course, we've all heard mentions of The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments! I'd really like to see UK authors become more widely-recognised over the next few years, and think the two-day-convention held at London Comic-Con 2014 will really help get young people more interested in reading!

 

Patrick Ness

I was recently asked whether I count Patrick Ness as a UKYA author, and I felt that needed to be part of the list! Ness' writing is incredible - his storytelling is brilliant. I have so much praise for this author and not only because I was able to connect and love 'Chaos Walking' so much. There are so many layers to the characters' in this series, as I'm currently coming to the end of the final book I know I'm going to miss them! Todd Hewitt and Viola Eade are two of my favourite fictional characters, and Ness has an ability to write from both of their perspectives faultlessly. For anyone who has read 'A Monster Calls' you would have seen how versatile he is: it literally threw my emotions across the floor, but showed me how much of a great storyteller he is!

 

Holly Smale

I love the writing style and the characters that Smale has created in the 'Geek Girl' series. Not only is Harriet Manners, the main protagonist in her series an advocate for being yourself, it also makes you want to express your inner Geek. Her books also make you laugh-out-loud, as well as literally scream and shout when something goes wrong - not mentioning there's a fact on almost every page that I love to repeat to my friends! Also, I adore reading Holly's tweets! They are so funny - and she's always willing to talk to bloggers/reviewers!

 

Natasha Ngan

I've only recently read her debut novel, 'The Elites' and really enjoyed it! The reason Ngan is part of this list is because she deserves to be here! Her novel deals with so many problems we face in the world today, and her world-building and imagery is so detailed! It also had such a cultural feel to the whole book, something I loved.

 

Siobhan Curham 

I've read and loved everyone of Curham's novel and find I can relate so many aspects of the characters' daily life to my own. Curham writes with such a fresh voice, that is full of humour, wit and personality. I love seeing what she'll throw out next, especially since my worries about not liking 'Shipwrecked'. were put aside. I ended up comparing Shipwrecked to ice-cream in my review, and have taken to calling Siobhan ice-cream fiend! I'm really excited about her work against Anti-Bullying and how she is passionate towards that!

 

S.C Ransom

I have so much love for the 'Small Blue Thing' Series and believe this needs to be shared even more! S.C Ransom has some of the most beautiful-writing, if not the most beautiful writing, I have ever encountered, and the whole series was consistent when it came to that. I've been waiting for over a year now for her next book because I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

 

Sarah Crossan

If you read my last review, you probably saw that I was disappointed with the sequel to 'Breathe', 'Resist'. Although, that doesn't take away from the fact that the first book in the series was amazing! The way it was told, from the perspectives of Alina, Bea and Quinn, was perfect for the story to progress and it was really eye-opening to see what we could do to the environment.This series is also the first futuristic novel I've read that is set in the UK so, I loved seeing a different view-point.

Who are your favourite UKYA authors? Are you hoping to make it to the UKYA convention?