Manjeet Mann & Joseph Coelho & Nikita Gill

One of the publishing phenomenons of recent years has been the rise in the popularity of Young Adult writing, in particular fiction and poetry. Novels such as ‘Twilight’, ‘The Maze Runner’, ‘The Hunger Games’ and of course the ‘Harry Potter’ series have sold in huge numbers and been adapted for the screen. The festival had brought together three writers to give us their insights into the world of YA writing.

Manjeet Mann is a multi-award winning children's author, actress, playwright and screenwriter. Her debut YA novel ‘Run, Rebel’ was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2021 and won the CILIP Carnegie Shadowers Choice Award, The UKLA Award, Diverse Book Award and Sheffield Children's Book Award. It was also a Guardian best book of 2020. Her second novel ‘The Crossing’ won The Costa Children's Book Award. Manjeet is also the founder of Run The World - a not for profit that uses sport and theatre as a means to empower women and girls.

Joseph Coelho is an award-winning performance poet, playwright and children's author. His books include the critically acclaimed ‘Luna Loves…' series, ‘If All The World Were’, and the CLiPPA shortlisted collection of poems, ‘Overheard in a Tower Block.’ His YA Novel ‘The Boy Lost in the Maze’ is published this autumn. Earlier this year Joseph was announced as the new Children’s Laureate 2022 - 2024.

Nikita Gill is a British-Indian poet, playwright, writer and illustrator. She has published five collections of poetry: ‘Your Soul Is A River’, ‘Your Heart is the Sea’, ‘Wild Embers’, ‘Fierce Fairytales’ and ‘Great Goddesses’ and a novel in verse, ‘The Girl and the Goddess.’ Nikita also uses social media to engage her audience and has over 600,000 followers on Instagram.