YA Book Stack

Chemutai Glasheen is a sessional academic at Curtin University, as well as a teacher and author. She writes fiction aimed at young readers, drawing inspiration from her background and passion for human rights and education. Her short story collection I am the Mau and Other Stories was published by Fremantle Press in 2023. Her creative work has appeared in various publications: Unlimited Futures, Meniscus Volume 9 Issue 2 and ACE: Arresting Contemporary Stories by Emerging Writers. She has held a writer-in-residence position at the Centre for Stories and has been invited to speak or present at events such as the Perth Writers Festival, the Disrupted Festival of Ideas, In Conversation: Human Rights, and the Great Big Book Club Tea Party.

This episode includes a discussion of I am the Mau and other stories, as well as reading recommendations including:

• Unlimited Futures: Speculative, Visionary Blak+Black Fiction
• Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
• Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
• I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and Christina Lamb
• Chinua Achebe
• A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

Also discussed are:

• Identity formation through connections with other people 
• The value of stories about minority communities 
• Themes of place and displacement
• The appeal of the short story format for young readers (and the difficulty of the format for writers!)
• Exploring the balance between respecting and protecting cultural practices, while also accepting change when it is necessary
• The ways in which reading fiction can change opinion and help develop empathy and understanding

Erin Gough is a fiction writer living on Gadigal land in Sydney, whose award-winning work has been published globally. She is the author of three books for young adults: The Flywheel, which won the Ampersand Prize, Amelia Westlake, winner of the Readings Young Adult Book Prize and the NSW Premier’s Ethel Turner Prize for Young Adult Fiction, and Into the Mouth of the Wolf, recently shortlisted for the DANZ Children’s Book Award for Young Adult Fiction and the CBCA Award for Older Readers.

This episode includes a discussion of Into the Mouth of the Wolf by Erin Gough, as well as reading recommendations including:

An Open Swimmer by Tim Winton
The Flywheel by Erin Gough
Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough
How to Survive 1985 by Tegan Bennett Daylight
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven
Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit

Also discussed are:

• The power of audiobooks from a very young age (pre-independent reading)
• The importance of validating Australian literature by including it on the curriculum
• Finding the right story (and the right voice) as a writer
• Themes of social justice, climate justice, power and privilege, community, and loyalty and trust in young adult fiction
• Processing grief about what's happening to the environment through literature, and realising that "the way through is together"
• The process of world-building when it comes to a familiar yet dystopian setting
• The things an author writes that don't end up in the novel, and some techniques for developing character outside the pages of the book
• The changing nature of the young adult literary landscape in Australia over the last few years

This episode includes a discussion with Dr Lilly Brown, CEO of Magabala Books, as well as reading recommendations including:

My Place by Sally Morgan
Love Unleashed by Melanie Saward
Dr Anita Heiss
Story About Feeling by Bill Neidjie
Desert Tracks by Linda Wells and Marly Wells
Bindi by Kirli Saunders
Black Cockatoo by Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler
Hairy Holes 2 by Brenton E McKenna

Also discussed are:

• Books being more than just books
• The history and mission of Magabala Books, Australia's leading First Nations publishing house
• Ensuring that schools are safe learning places for all kids, through the literature we teach and the values we uphold in the English classroom
• Racial literacy and tips for building educator confidence when it comes to teaching First Nations texts
• The importance of National Reconciliation Week post-referendum, and how to meaningfully acknowledge this in schools
•  The difference between cultural responsibility and the colonial burden

Kay Kerr is an autistic journalist and author who writes fiction and non-fiction that explores the oftentimes surreal life experiences of neurodivergent young people. She has published two Young Adult novels, and a narrative non-fiction book. Kay has a new novel coming out this year (2025) with Pan Macmillan called Might Cry Later, as well as an essay in the UQP anthology of autistic writers: Someone Like Me. 

This episode includes a discussion of Love & Autism, Social Queue and Please Don't Hug Me, all by Kay Kerr, as well as reading recommendations including:

Peta Lyre's Rating Normal by Anna Whateley
Nina Kenwood novels
The Skin I'm In by Steph Tisdell

Also discussed are:

• Non-linear career paths
• Using romance texts in the classroom
• Writing diverse autistic characters, and using fiction to fight against outdated and monolithic understandings of what autism is
• The potential of 'communication' as a narrative theme to unpack in a text study

Solli Raphael is an award-winning author, poet, advocate, and acclaimed keynote speaker. His latest book, Starlight, aims to guide self-discovery and expression in kids and teens.

This episode includes a discussion of Starlight by Solli Raphael, as well as reading recommendations including:

Window by Jeannie Baker
Morris Gleitzman
Deborah Abela
Limelight by Solli Raphael
Spotlight by Solli Raphael
Robert Frost
Maya Angelou

Also discussed are:

• The experience of becoming a published author as a teenager
• Finding joy in both classic and contemporary poetry
• Injecting more philosophy into the English curriculum
• The importance of having conversations around identity

In this episode of YA Book Stack, Karys is joined by Keshe Chow (she/her), a #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy, romance, and speculative fiction. Born in Malaysia, Keshe moved to Australia when she was two years old. Currently she resides in Naarm (Melbourne) with her husband, two kids, one cat, and way too many house plants. They discuss Keshe's novel, The Girl with No Reflection as well as reading recommendations including:

• "Fauna of Mirrors" from The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borge
• Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
• Various titles by Sue Lynn Tan
• The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker
• Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge
• Soulmatch by Rebecca Danzenbaker
• An Ocean Apart by Jill Tew
• I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang

Also discussed in this episode:

• The role of genre fiction within the English curriculum
• World-building, voice and character development
• Chinese mythology, and themes of feminism and patriarchy
• The importance of representation in text studies

Karys McEwen is a school librarian, children’s author, bookseller, vice president of the Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia, and education advisor for the Melbourne Writers Festival. She is passionate about the role libraries and books can play in the wellbeing of young people, and she is currently writing a Substack newsletter for educators and parents called I Read A Lot. Her debut middle grade novel, All the Little Tricky Things, was published by Text Publishing in 2022, and her second middle grade novel, The Paperbark Tree Committee, is coming out on 1 April, 2025.

Emily Gale has worked in the children’s book industry for 25 years in various roles including in-house editor, consultant to a literary agent, children’s book buyer, reviewer, freelance manuscript assessor, and as a writer-in-residence in a high school library. Some of her books for various ages from YA to early readers include I Am Out With Lanterns, The Other Side of Summer and Aussie Stem Stars: Gisela Kaplan. Her latest novels are Elsewhere Girls and Outlaw Girls, with Nova Weetman, and The Goodbye Year.

You can find Emily on Series 3 of Story Tools, creative writing videos to inspire and instruct children in the art of storytelling. And she has a Substack newsletter called Voracious.

This episode includes a discussion of summer reading recommendations including:
Some Shall Break by Ellie Marney
Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer by Amy Doak
This Camp is Doomed by Anna Zobel
The Midwatch by Judith Rossell
The First Summer of Callie McGee by A L Tait
The Wedding Forecast by Nina Kenwood
Thunderhead by Sophie Beer
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller

Also discussed are: 

• This year's Davitt Awards
• Girl books and boy books (and how outdated that concept is)
• Illustrated novels for olders readers
• The importance of adults reading what kids are reading

In the first YA Book Stack interview for 2023, Will Kostakis shares his inspiration for his new novel, We Could Be Something. The book is marketed as a ‘rollercoaster’ about two young men, each on their own journey of discovery. The novel is just that – a heartwarming, fun and funny read for high school students following the lives of two young people, two decades apart in Sydney's Darlinghurst. We Could Be Something sits on the cusp of students’ favourite genres – part coming-out story, part love story, part break-up story, and part family drama. Through the eyes of two characters, Harvey and Sotiris, the novel explores dreams, ambition, family and friendship, and how to manage the weight of possibilities when characters are standing on the edge of the rest of their lives. In this YA Book Stack interview, Will talks about his motivations for the text, including his thoughts on the spate of banning of LGBTQIA+ publications and his recent experiences during school visits, as well as the personal nature of his writing and the immense pride he feels for this publication.

For more on YA Book Stack visit the VATE website.

Will Kostakis is an award-winning author for young adults, best known for his contemporary novels The First Third and The Sidekicks. An advocate for young readers and writers, Will was awarded the 2020 Maurice Saxby Award by the School Library Association of New South Wales for his service to children’s and young adult literature. We Could Be Something is his latest novel.

Holden Sheppard's The Brink doesn't shy away from delving into material that is relevant to the lives of young people. From mental health, masculinity, family and friendships to sexuality and love, each page of the The Brink is laden with Holden's trademark gritty and honest depiction of the relationships and lives of young adults. In this YA Book Stack interview, Holden elaborates on some of the key ideas within The Brink, shares his writing motivations and his embodied creative writing process. Holden and Emma also discuss the important role of literature in ensuring authentic and accurate representation for young, same-sex attracted people and Holden responds to some of the critiques that his work is, simply put, too sexy for the classroom.

For more on YA Book Stack, visit the VATE website.

Note: there are two curse words in this episode that have been left in for creative flavour.

Holden Sheppard is an award-winning West Australian author. His debut novel, Invisible Boys (Fremantle Press, 2019), was published to both critical and commercial success. It won the WA Premier's Prize for an Emerging Writer, was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and was named as a Notable Book by the Children's Book Council of Australia. Holden's powerful second novel, The Brink, was published in 2022 by Text Publishing. Visit Holden here: https://www.holdensheppard.com/.