Read through the chaos: why teen lit matters 

It ain’t easy being a 21st century teen. There’s the existential dread (only marginally climate collapse-related), the lack of privacy, the increasing social disconnect and the relentless digital stream: strangers online telling teens what to wear, how to act and what they’re worth. 

Amid this roiling adolescent storm, Young Adult fiction is, for many, a safe port. It approaches the messy mayhem of the teenage experience with kindness, compassion and curiosity. From Judy Blume and John Green to homegrown heroes Melina Marchetta and Ambelin Kwaymullina, YA makes the world go ’round – and its cultural impact extends well beyond the borders of adolescence. 

Join award-winning authors Biffy James (Completely Normal (and Other Lies), Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, 2023) and Keshe Chow (The Girl with No Reflection, Penguin Random House, 2024) and writer/youth-librarian-in-training Lydia Schofield as they examine why teen lit matters. 

Featuring

Biffy James

Biffy James discovered YA when, at 11 years old, she picked up her first Sweet Valley High book. She then spent her own high school years waiting for her life to resemble a ‘90s teen rom-com and feeling utterly bewildered when it really (really) didn’t. Biffy now writes about what being 16 can actually feel like, while living in Melbourne. Her debut novel, Completely Normal (and Other Lies) (Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing, 2023), was the winner of the QLD Premier's Award for Young Adult Fiction, the inaugural Gab Williams prize, the CBCA Shadow Judging book of the Year award, the CBCA Honour Book of the Year award and was shortlisted for the Readings Young Adult Book of the Year Award, the NSW Premier's Literary Award, and the Ampersand Prize. 

Find Biffy at Instagram @biffy_james and Linktree @biffyjames