{"id":11760,"date":"2013-09-27T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=11760"},"modified":"2013-09-27T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-27T10:00:00","slug":"ya-literature-definition-contest-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/?p=11760","title":{"rendered":"The Ultimate YA Definition?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, Maine bookseller Kenny Brechner<\/a> (DDG Booksellers<\/a>) invited readers<\/a> to define the somewhat slippery category of reading we call young adult literature. He offered acclaim and prizes for ShelfTalker contestants attempting to nail down the cagy beast, and here, now, are the results.
\nKenny writes:
\nIt is a wonderfully appropriate irony to acknowledge that the reason we cannot adopt a simple or clever definition of Young Adult Literature is because the defining characteristics of young adulthood obviate answers of that kind. Clever definitions, such as Napoleon\u2019s description of History as \u201ca pack of lies agreed upon,\u201d can be fun and informative, but are, above all, clinical, a state which is the antithesis of the YA condition.
\nA telling theme which runs though the thoughtful answers provided to our contest is that Young Adult literature requires of its protagonists that an immediacy of emotional response, and a freshness of intellectual perspective, be associated with their transition to adulthood. That being so, YA lit certainly deserves a definition worthy of its character.
\nThe idea that YA is tied to transition is very well captured by Paul\u2019s definition. \u201cIf youth was measured by a clock, and the end were to occur when both hands struck twelve, then YA stories are those that take place between\u00a011:59\u00a0and a couple seconds after\u00a0midnight. I think that they end when the protagonist (generally a teenager) has a foot \u2013 or maybe just a toe \u2013 planted on both sides of the innocence\/experience fence.\u201d
\nAnother key point is that YA narratives are not retrospective. As Judy points out \u201cFirst or third person, present or past tense can all be YA. What is important is the immediacy of the story and the point of view of the teen. This is different from adult fiction that reflects back on what happened to the protagonist as a teenager.\u201d Rachel also speaks to this idea in noting that \u201cYA is less about the intended audience and more about the experience\u2013YA lit speaks to the teenager, current or past, in its readers, regardless of the protagonist\u2019s age. Conversely, adult literature speaks from an adult experience of life, even when the protagonist is a teen.\u201d
\nThese are the key characteristics which define the genre, immediacy of experience and a coming of age immersed in actual experience, unvarnished by time and the dampening of emotion.\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps this explains the strong appeal of YA literature to adults who wish to revisit that peculiar and powerful world in themselves.
\nAll right, then, the winning definition is this composite one:
\nIf youth was measured by a clock, and the end were to occur when both hands struck twelve, then YA stories are those that take place between\u00a011:59\u00a0and a couple seconds after\u00a0midnight. They end when the protagonist\u00a0\u00a0has a foot \u2013 or maybe just a toe \u2013 planted on both sides of the innocence\/experience fence. First or third person, present or past tense can all be YA. What is important is the immediacy of the story and the point of view of the teen. YA lit speaks to the teenager, current or past, in its readers, regardless of the protagonist\u2019s age.
\nOur three winners will, as promised, receive:
\n1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Respect, admiration, and a deep sense of personal satisfaction.
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And\u2026 a secret prize will also be mailed to them, one that could retrospectively change their lives forever!
\nMany thanks to everyone who chimed in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which YA literature is defined. Definitely. Mostly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}