from Byron Bay to Brisbane Writer's Fest...

As I plan on attending Brisbane Writer's Festival this weekend with the lovely Amber from the writing ant, I am reminded that I have been the slackest blogger on the planet since Byron Bay Writer's Festival, so slack that I haven't yet blogged about Byron Bay Writer's Festival.

Perhaps one reason is that I had so much to say about it that I felt overwhelmed at the task and have been putting it off.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jo Butler, commissioning editor of literary fiction for Harper Collins, who is so lovely, yet may have mistaken me for an absolute tosser as I blushed and stuttered my way through an awkward introduction. I couldn't help it! I was so nervous! Very unlike me! I know how to speak, I'm actually quite fond of it, so not being able to get out "Hi I'm Alison Smith" was so embarrassing- I hang my head in shame!

The literary world is so filled with such accomplished and intellectual people that I feel dwarfed and almost out of place; meeting authors, agents and publishers makes me feel like I've stolen back stage passes to a David Guetta concert wearing shirt that says "I love yodeling and do not belong here."

One such author to have surely been bamboozled by my blundering tongue was Daniel Ducrou, author of the Byron Journals (whose book I bought, had signed and have yet to read- eep!), and again I blushed, stammered and while walking away I thought "you LOSER! speak like a PERSON!".

I attended two panels with Daniel as a guest speaker, and while waiting to speak to Rebecca James, Daniel kindly said hello and I don't even think I smiled then I looked away! LOOKED AWAY! How RUDE! Oh please tell me there are other aspiring writers like me out there??? PLEASE

Back to the point, there was a panel concerning when a novel crosses the line from YA fiction to adult, which I loved attending. The authors all read sections from their novels which displayed a level of possible adult content: drugs, sex, rape, profanities. While all of these feature within these YA novels, and to be sure there are teenagers who abuse or have experienced all of the above, it is also known how many adults not only enjoy but treasure these books, and also some parents who may think differently about the things their teenagers read about.

Rebecca James's novel "Beautiful Malice" is classed as YA in Australia but Adult in America. I have read Beautiful Malice, reviewed it and love it, and I certainly feel that it is more of an adult  novel than a YA novel. Is my perception skewed? Does this say something about Australia's leniency toward content when classifying literature? Why is the age of the protagonist so heavily influential in classifying novels? I'd also like to add that Rebecca made a sensible comment that with all the other influences surrounding teenagers (their peers, older siblings, TV, movies, video games, the news etc) that reading a book can be and may very well be the safest place for a youth to explore these taboo subjects. Very good point!

I hadn't read much YA until I started blogging and then reading books based on recommendation from fellow bloggers. Since then I have come to thoroughly enjoy everything I have read, but love to hear from others: when does the content cross the line? What springs to mind when you think of YA?

Mark Dapin with Matthew Reilly and Jack Heath

I could go on and on about the brilliant people who I met and saw at BBWF (such as Jack Heath and Matthew Reilly [honestly two of the funniest guys, the panel was a crack up] who are amazing Australian authors that I admire), meeting Matthew Reilly and when he asked me "So are you a writer?" me thinking "Compared to you? NO! I can barely spell my own name!" The discussions during panels that blew my mind, and my perpetual nervousness that I doubt I will overcome by this weekend, but I think I should stop. Or this post could get VERY long.

P.S. I believe I answered Matt with "Um..*incoherent gurgling*...um..gggaaah.trying...haha... thanks..." before I practically ran away and hid under a tree. I'll leave you with that image.