When Publishers Smell Teen Spirit
The Age
Saturday March 17, 2007
Jane Sullivan discusses the sometimes brilliant careers of adolescent authors.
I'M LOOKING FORWARD to reading a first novel, The Shadow Thief, when it comes out later this year. I'm curious to see why HarperCollins would sign up a new author for a two-book deal when she was just 14.Melbourne schoolgirl Alexandra Adornetto was 13 when she wrote her fantasy book, which suggests mindboggling talent, maturity and discipline. No wonder the deal aroused excitement and probably quite a bit of envy when it was announced last year. (OK, I gnashed my teeth too. I wrote a fantasy book when I was 12, and I thought it was pretty good, but it was never published - now I see why.)But while Adornetto is a very rare phenomenon, she's by no means unique. Teenage authors have been with us for a long time. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818, when she was 19. Christopher Paolini began his Eragon fantasy series when he was 15. And Francoise Sagan's literary sensation, Bonjour Tristesse, was published in 1954, when she was 19.Most recently, acclaimed teenage authors have been telling us what it's like to be young, disaffected and from a culture that most of its readers will not know. Nigerian-born British writer Helen Oyeyemi won huge praise from critics for her novel The Icarus Girl, about a troubled eight-year-old with an imaginary friend; it was written when she was 18. Faiza Guene, a Muslim writer of Algerian origin who grew up in Paris, has been hailed as "the Sagan of the suburbs" for her bestselling novel, Just Like Tomorrow. She was 17 when she wrote it and already a seasoned multimedia creator: she made her first short film at 14.At 22, US student Uzodinma Iweala was a bit longer in the tooth when his first novel, Beasts of No Nation, was published two years ago, but he was still pretty young to get accolades from the likes of Salman Rushdie. He is of Nigerian origin and his story about a child soldier in an African country was described as "electrifying".But getting published and praised at a young age is not always the start of a brilliant career. Your own act can be hard to follow. Sonya Hartnett has often complained that when she was first published at 15 she was seen as "a novelty act", and while she's now acknowledged as one of Australia's best writers, it has taken her years to escape the "children's author" tag.In an article for the Christian Science Monitor, Randy Dotinga points out that some teen authors never again get the kind of praise that met their debut: "Perhaps that should not come as a surprise. Writing a great book before the age of 20 is an accomplishment so extraordinary that some adults struggle to understand how it is even possible. They wonder how one so young can manage to write with authority in an original voice." Sometimes that wonder turns to suspicion: did this author get some adult help? As in any age group, for every published writer there are thousands who can't get printed. Yet it's still a remarkably hopeful time for young writers of exceptional talent. A Christian Science Monitor article quotes Timothy Harper, who wrote a young writers' guide, Your Name in Print, with his teenage daughter Elizabeth. Publishers are keen to work with teen authors, Harper says, in order to reach younger readers who want to read books written by peers.So if you or your child is the next Sagan, or Shelley, or Paolini: get on with it.janesullivan@iprimus.com.au.
© 2007 The Age
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