Joelene Pynnonen Says: 2015 Pan Macmillan YA Roadshow

Spending an evening in the company of a group of people who are as passionate as they are knowledgeable about books is about as close as it gets to paradise on Earth. Add a sinfully creamy crème brûlée with the barest sliver of a caramelised crust and it’s closer to heaven.

This pretty much sums up my night on Monday when I went to the 2015 Pan Macmillan Roadshow. Claire Craig, the company’s Children’s Publisher, kindly spent some of her very much in-demand time talking YA, children’s books, and the industry in Australia with me. She had a great deal of insight into all of those topics. Books are constantly variable, and the shift that’s happening in YA right now favours local Australian authors. Not for patriotic reasons. Readers – younger ones especially – don’t care where their books come from. They just want an enthralling read. Increasingly, it seems, Aussie authors are stepping up to fill that demand.

On that note, one of Claire’s personal favourites for the year is local author Fiona Wood’s Cloudwish. A relatively new author, Fiona Wood has never-the-less managed to amass a slew of awards and nominations for her first two novels. Claire was so passionate about this author that I’ve requested her novel and will be bumping it to the top of my TBR pile the moment I have it. Cloudwish follows Vietnamese-Australian Vân Uoc Phan as she tries to maintain a low profile and navigate high school. Unfortunately the best laid plans all too often collapse… Fitting in, standing out; a clash of cultures, and surviving high school; everything about this book makes me want to curl up with a copy of it and lock out the world.

To no one’s surprise, the 65-Storey Treehouse is doing amazing things for the book industry. Released in August, it is the fastest selling Australian title in history moving 70, 000 copies in its first week.

Rainbow Rowell has a new book out in October. Carry On is Rowell’s first foray into all-out fantasy. It’s linked to Fangirl in as much as it’s the story of Simon Snow, the fictional character who is the basis for Cath and Wren’s fanfic, and sounds fantastic. And the question on everyone’s lips – okay, okay, the question on my lips – is will there be slash?

With these amazing titles, I can see that my 2016 reading list is going to balloon this Christmas. Now I just have to decide what to read first…