Shakespeare and YA Novels

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.8 • 878 Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2016

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

While print sales of adult fiction are down in the last decade, the juvenile market – which includes young adult literature or "YA" – has actually gone up 40 percent. In this episode, two YA authors talk about their writing, their audience, their inspirations, and the role that Shakespeare plays in all of it. Molly Booth’s first novel, "Saving Hamlet," was published in 2016 by Disney-Hyperion. It tells the story of an American teenager who time-travels back to Shakespeare’s Globe during the original production of "Hamlet." Ryan North, best known as the creator of Dinosaur Comics, is the author of two titles that take a “Choose Your Own Adventure” approach to Shakespeare. "To Be Or Not To Be" was originally self-published in 2013 and was Kickstarter's most-funded publishing project at the time. His second, "Romeo and/or Juliet," was published by Riverhead Books in 2016. Ryan and Molly are interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published November 29, 2016. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. “The Quick Fire of Youth” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Esther French is the web producer. We had technical help from Thomas Devlin at WGBH in Boston, Gord Richards at Oak Recording Studio Toronto, and Jeff Peters at the Marketplace studios in Los Angeles. http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited/ya-novels-ryan-north-molly-booth

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I'm Michael Whitmore,
0:07.5	the Folgers Director. This podcast is called The Quick Fire of Youth. In 2015, the American
0:14.7	Association of Publishers said that the U.S. Book and Journal publishing industry generated
0:19.5	$27.78 billion in net revenue.
0:23.8	More than 15% of those sales came from one category, the portion of the industry called
0:28.7	Y-A or Young Adult Literature.
0:32.6	While print sales of adult fiction are down in the last decade, the juvenile market,
0:37.3	which includes
0:37.9	Y.A., has actually gone up 40%. One reason may be that 80% of all YA titles are actually
0:45.7	bought by people 10 years or more out of high school. Because this is a Folger podcast,
0:51.5	you won't be surprised when I tell you that Shakespeare is well
0:55.1	represented on the YA shelves.
0:57.9	Right now, you can find 34 different Shakespeare-related titles on the popular book site, Goodreads.
1:04.6	Considering this genre's popularity, we thought it made sense to have a couple of
1:08.6	Y.A. authors in to talk about their writing,
1:11.8	their audience, their inspiration, and the role that Shakespeare plays in all of it.
1:17.0	At the time we're recording this, Molly Booth's first novel, Saving Hamlet, has just been published
1:22.5	by Disney Hyperion.
1:24.3	It tells the story of an American teenager who time travels back to Shakespeare's Globe during
1:29.3	the original production of Hamlet.
1:32.3	Ryan North is the author of two titles, To Be or Not to Be and Romeo and or Juliet,
1:37.3	that take the Choose Your Own Adventure Book phenomenon that was popular with younger children
	...

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