Vol. 1 No. 1 (2023): Leaf Journal: On Writing for Young People

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Published: 16.05.2025

Editors' Letter

Editor’s Letter, Vol. 1, Issue 1 A welcome from our Managing Editors

Lucy Cuthew, Dr Elen Caldecott (Author)
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Scholarly Articles

The Niagara Effect: Reimagining Emotional Intensity in Young Adult Writing YA authors frequently employ an expressive first-person voice for “immediacy”. However, in this article, Weisz argues that overtly emotional first-person voices can sometimes actually prevent, rather than enable, emotional intensity.

Noah Weisz (Author)
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Don’t Look Back In Anger: The Mythic World-building of Melinda Salisbury’s Her Dark Wings Through a close reading of 'Her Dark Wings' by Melinda Salisbury and Ash Bond’s own work-in-progress this article examines the use of mythology as a megatext.

Ash Bond (Author)
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Travelling Through Time on My Quest to be a Children’s Author Charlotte Teeple-Salas explores why she is compelled to write time-slip stories, and whether their appeal in the publishing industry is a passing trend, cyclical or enduring.

Charlotte Teeple-Salas (Author)
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More than Just a Thing with Feathers: The Importance of Hope in Middle Grade Fiction This article unpacks our understanding of hope – what it is and what it isn’t – and how it informs the way we write for a Middle Grade audience.

Carley Lee (Author)
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How to Build a Patriarchy: Conceptualising Themes and Creating Normalised Belief Systems in Young Adult Feminist Dystopias What are the steps for writers for Young Adults who wish to create high-concept patriarchies in their feminist fiction? Sophie Clarke explores the question.

Sophie Clarke (Author)
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Talking Tigers: Concepts of Representational Ethics Applied to Non-Human Characters in Writing Children’s Fiction Mimi Thebo looks at the tradition of animal characters in children’s fiction and argues that the destruction of animal habitats and the reduction of non-human species intersect with colonial practice.

Dr Mimi Thebo (Author)
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Reimagining “Beauty”: Young Adult Fairytale Retellings in Perpetuation of & Resistance to Patriarchy This article utilises an intersectional, feminist lens to analyse the narrative and characterisation choices made by the authors of several different iterations the fairytale ‘Beauty and the Beast'.

Zoe Marriott (Author)
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Why is it Important to Cover Suicide Responsibly in Young Adult Fiction and How Can This be Achieved? Using the World Health Organisation’s 'Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals', Janette Taylor looks at how suicide can be covered in a constructive and responsible way by YA authors.

Janette Taylor (Author)
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