The view from the window

Somewhere out there is the Statue of Liberty. You can take my word for it; I could just make out her ghostly shape.

This is the view from the offices of Jill Grinberg Literary Management. I mean, this is part of the view. There was more view. Lots more. You could see the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Manhattan Bridge - and who knows what you could see on a sunny day.

Jill and her team represent a lot of fabulous US authors like Marissa Meyer and Scott Westerfeld - and also a lot of favourite Australian writers, like Justine Larbalestier,  Margo Lanagan, Lian Tanner, Melina Marchetta, Garth Nix and Fiona Wood (just to start with).

So she has a really interesting and broad overview of the YA publishing scene in New York, as well as a sense of Australian YA writers and publishing.

It was so lovely to come in out of the cold (the slushy, icy, rainy, foggy cold) and be welcomed with a cup of ginger tea, warm smiles from Jill, and Cheryl Pientka, and lots of love for YA.

The view outside was beautiful - but the view inside was pretty pleasing too.

Through Jill's and Cheryl’s eyes, I felt as if I caught a glimpse of a robust and growing YA market, full of great writing and strong, diverse, authentic voices, telling lots of different kinds of stories.

I learned heaps, and came away with ideas, and questions, and further avenues of research to think about.

Here are a few soundbites from our conversation that stood out to me:

'People actually know the term YA now. It's out there.’

‘The stories that are being told now are more universal.’

'Authenticity is a word we use constantly.'

'Given the size of your population, you are developing so many amazing writers. Something is going right there.'

Jill and Cheryl - thank you so much for being so generous with your time and your thoughts. I really appreciate it!

----------

Here are some pics just for fun...

May all your granola be artisanal.

Icicles

Selfie in the stairwell mirror. It was an error not to include the boots. I'm in love with the boots. My feet are so dry right now. Well ... right now they are in ugg boots, but before they were in slush and were still dry.