Umschlagbild der britischen Ausgabe von «How I live now» von Meg Rosoff
Der aktuelle Scout Report nimmt die Auszeichnung von Meg Rosoff mit dem Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award zum Anlass, in der Rubrik «In the News» eine kommentierte Linkliste zum boomenden Genre der Young Adult Fiction zur Verfügung zu stellen:
«When Meg Rosoff, the American-born, London-based, writer of young adult fiction, won the prestigious (and lucrative) Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award last week, no one seemed particularly surprised. Ms. Rosoff has long been an admired author in the genre. Her novels How I Live Now and Just In Case have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and garnered wide critical acclaim. What is surprising about the award, in fact, is not the recipient, but the literary and financial prowess of the genre itself.
Young Adult fiction has exploded over the past twenty years. In 1997, the industry published about 3,000 young adult novels. By 2009, this number had jumped to 30,000, with total worldwide sales exceeding three billion dollars. So what happened? For one thing, the books got better. Authors began taking serious risks in their young adult fiction. Young adults began buying more books, of course, but adults, too, started to get interested in the adventures of Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen. Whatever the reasons for the explosion, two things are certain: young adult fiction is here to stay, and, for the moment anyway, Meg Rosoff is the reigning queen of the genre. [CNH]
The first link takes readers to a dispatch on Meg Rosoff’s Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the U.S. News and World Report. Next, an embedded video on the Guardian’s website shows Ms. Rosoff explaining why it’s important to confront difficult questions and tackle uncomfortable topics in young adult literature. The third link takes readers to the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award website, where currently there are a number of entries about Ms. Rosoff and her award, as well as articles about the award itself, other nominees, and other related topics. Next, the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), provides readers with the latest information on young adult fiction and nonfiction, with a blog, award information, and recommended titles. The fifth link takes readers to a brief history of young adult literature from CNN, where they can absorb that backstory of how YA became a global force. Finally, an excellent article by David W. Brown, published in the Atlantic in 2011, describes how young adult fiction developed into the robust and complex genre we see today.»