Winner of the YA Book Prize 2018: After the Fire by Will Hill

On 31^st May 2018 the winner of The YA Book Prize 2018 was announced as After the Fire by Will Hill from Usborne Publishing. The winner was disclosed and the £2,000 prize was awarded by Marcus Bridgstocke at Hay Festival.

The Bookseller describes After the Fire as 'the story of teenage girl Moonbeam, who is trying to come to terms with her past and prepare for a new life after leaving behind the cult she grew up in. It is loosely based on the stand-off between the Branch Davidian religious sect and the American authorities in Texas, a conflict which led to the death of more than 80 people in 1993.'

Author Will Hill told The Bookseller: "The novel isn’t a retelling of that event, but it was definitely the catalyst for writing it. I wanted to explore how someone would feel when their entire world ends, and how they would even start to think about moving forward afterwards."

After the Fire fought off stiff competition from a diverse shortlist made up of ten titles aimed at the young adult market:

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

S.T.A.G.S by M A Bennett

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

Release by Patrick Ness

La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust Book 1) by Philip Pullman

Straight Outta Crongton by Alex Wheatle

Things a Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls

It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

Indigo Donut by Patrice Lawrence

The Bookseller also awarded a YA Book Prize Special Achievement Award to Stripes Publishing and the authors of its YA anthology A Change is Gonna Come, to recognise their work in tackling the lack of diversity in YA publishing in the UK and Ireland.

Launched in 2014, the YA Book Prize is award to a young adult title written by an author living in the UK or Ireland. It is the first UK and Ireland prize specifically focusing on fiction for young adults and addresses an important need for a prize in the growing YA and teen market. The prize celebrates great books for teenagers and young adults, aiming to get more teens reading and buying books.

Previous winners of the prize are Louise O'Neill's Only Ever Yours (2015), Sarah Crossan's One (2016) and Patrice Lawrence's Orangeboy (2017).

If you're interested in reading some great YA novels, check out my reviews for All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven or Ink by Alice Broadway.

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