Robyn Dennison joins Emma for YA Book Stack to chat about her debut novel, Blind Spot. Blind Spot was shortlisted for the Text Prize in 2021. 'Intense' seems to be a fitting word to describe the novel but Blind Spot is not without moments of celebration and light. At its core, Blind Spot follows Dale, the male protagonist, who witnesses but doesn't intervene in the sexual assault of a girl from his school and the fall-out of his inaction as he grapples with why he didn't do anything. While this incident is the motivator for the narrative, the novel also provides the reader with warm and relaxed representations of queer relationships, positive demonstrations of consent and healthy relationships, and a cast of nuanced, dynamic, and complex characters.  In many respects, Blind Spot gives readers the opportunity and the script to explore difficult things "that hopefully don't happen, but maybe they have, or maybe they will."

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Please note: this episode of YA Book Stack discusses sexual violence, disordered eating, and substance use.

Robyn Dennison's fiction has appeared in Australian literary journals, including as a runner-up for the Overland VU Short Story Prize. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, where she teaches creative writing. Blind Spot, her first novel, was shortlisted for the Text Prize.