Hey YA

Kelly and Erica look back on 8 years of Hey YA, highlighting their favorite (and messy!) YA moments, their most memorable episodes, and some YA books they think deserve more attention. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more YA news and recommendations, sign up for our What’s Up in YA newsletter! Ready for a cozy, bookish autumn? Let Tailored Book Recommendations help you find your next favorite read with handpicked suggestions from professional book nerds. Get started today from just $18! Memorable Moments: Hey YA episode “Podcasting While Eating Chocolate Cake” Hey YA episode “I See a Cat, I Like It” How YA Twitter Took Down a Best-Seller Pretender The Blues Traveler Story The Worst Bestsellers Episode on Handbook for Mortals “A History of Buying Books Onto the Bestseller List”  Hey YA episode "I'm Optimistic Because It Saved My Life" Noor.org Books Discussed: East by Edith Pattou Frost by Marianna Baer  Invisible Son by Kim Johnson The Suffragist’s Guide to the Antarctic by Yi Shun Lai The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros 13 Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All by Laura Ruby Aya by Marguerite Abouet The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first half of this two-part episode, Erica goes back in time to the late '80s with Mariko Tamaki's and Nicole Goux's sapphic murder mystery This Place Kills Me. Next, Kelly Jensen speaks to Hannah V. Sawyerr about her novel-in-verse Truth Is. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more YA news and recommendations, sign up for our What’s Up in YA newsletter! Ready for a cozy, bookish autumn? Let Tailored Book Recommendations help you find your next favorite read with handpicked suggestions from professional book nerds. Get started today from just $18! Show Notes: This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Nicole Goux Nicole Goux's current reading list: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Audiobook), The Corus Wave by Karenza Sparks Mariko Tamaki's current reading list: Collected Millar by Margaret Millar, My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones, The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo Follow Mariko Tamaki on Instagram and Nicolce Goux on Instagram The Turnaway Study Brave New Voices When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo Plan A by Deb Caletti Ask Me How I Got Here by Christine Heppermann Find Hannah V. Sawyerr on Instagram and TikTok. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly and Erica highlight the best of September's new YA books, including some feminist nonfiction, thrilling mysteries, goth-y fun, and more. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more YA news and recommendations, sign up for our What’s Up in YA newsletter! Ready for a cozy, bookish autumn? Let Tailored Book Recommendations help you find your next favorite read with handpicked suggestions from professional book nerds. Get started today from just $18! Show Notes: Self-Silencing Is Making Women Sick Twilight Will Be Back in Theaters This October The Story of My Anger by Jasminne Mendez YA Novels in Verse for 2025 Truth Is by Hanna V. Sawyerr Arm in Arm: The Grimke Sisters' Fight for Abolition and Women' s Rights by Angelica Shirley Carpenter Loudmouth: Emma Goldman vs. America by Deborah Heiligman You’ve Goth My Heart by L.C. Rosen By Invitation Only by Alexandra Brown Chang When We Were Monsters by Jennifer Niven The Secret History by Donna Tartt Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley Blood Moon by Britney S. Lewis Through Our Teeth by Pamela N. Harris Who’s All Going (To Die)? by Lisa Springer If Looks Could Kill by Julie Berry This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Erica highlights some new YA genre-bending thrillers and Kelly talks with YA author Candace Fleming about her latest book, Death in the Jungle, as well as cults and YA nonfiction. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more YA news and recommendations, sign up for our What’s Up in YA newsletter! Ready for a cozy, bookish autumn? Let Tailored Book Recommendations help you find your next favorite read with handpicked suggestions from professional book nerds. Get started today from just $18! This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Show Notes: The Devil's in the Dancers by Catherine Yu Roar of the Lambs by Jamison Shea When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch Predatory Natures by Amy Goldsmith Death in the Jungle by Candace Fleming The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh by Candace Fleming The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming The Great and Only Barnum by Candace Fleming "What Makes for Good YA Nonfiction" from School Library Journal Wake the Wild Creatures by Nova Ren Suma The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater All Thirteen by Christina Soontornvat Hollow Fires by Samira Ahmed Cultish by Amanda Montell The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams Underground by Haruki Murakami A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina The Color of a Lie by Kim Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly and Erica discuss the latest media they've been consuming and the YA books coming out in August that they're most excited about. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. To get even more YA news and recommendations, sign up for our What’s Up in YA newsletter! Book Riot is hiring a digital content specialist! If you love books and know the ins and outs of social media strategy, and especially social video, consider joining the team. Find details and apply by August 22, 2025, at riotnewmedia.com/careers. This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Books Discussed: Tin House Workshop Legendary Fry Bread Drive-In edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith A Beautiful and Terrible Murder by Claire M. Andrews Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai The L.O.V.E. Club by Lio Min White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum The Next Generation United Daughters of the Confederacy: Book Censorship News, April 28, 2023 Tall Water by SJ Sindu, Dion MBD Rosa By Any Other Name by Hailey Alcaraz Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Nicole Goux What Hunger by Catherine Dang Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes by Sandra Jackson-Opoku Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices