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It’s 25 years since Melvin Burgess wrote Junk, a story about heroin addiction. It was an early title in what’s become known as YA and showed the fearlessness to take on challenging topics that has become typical of the genre. His book, Three Bullets, is out this week: it imagines a Britain somewhat like our own but that has been torn apart by war and extreme ideology. It has a mixed-race Trans girl, Marti, as its first person narrator. Melvin Burgess talks about his new book and YA more generally, alongside Sarah Ditum, as part of our series this week looking at the publishing industry. Has fearfulness taken over or is caution a necessary corrective? What stories can be told and by whom? As some voices have been un- or mis-represented in YA fiction, what is the best way ahead for the genre?
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