Only the teenagers missing at Peace Festival

The Peace Festival on Hove Lawns was quite peaceful on the grounds, but somebody must have been fighting in the skies. The wind was unbearable, worse than the rain.

Hopefully I kept some people warm with my poems. I was performing in the so-called Future Tent, aimed at people under 25. The only audience I didn't have was the teenagers ... The ones who came to see me seemed to be either under 10 or over 30! It was particular nice with the support from members from my local poetry group, Poets Cornered.

I did a set of poems about escaping small town life, teenage pregnancy and breaking boxes that people tend to put you in. Yet , I got the best response when I did a poem in Swedish called "A hell of a lot of holes", that is featured in my first novel. Most people seemed to think that it was a rude poem. It's not. It's more about having holes in your brain as well as in your heart.

Thanks Solera for the photo.

YOUNG OR OLD ADULTS?

When do Young Adults become Old?

I'm 27 and still feel like a teenager from time to time.
Sadly I'm too old for Youth Advice Centres that welcome 14-25 year-olds.
The Young Adult section in the library is aimed at 13-19 year-olds.

My first novel, Punkindustriell hårdrockare med attityd,
was published and marketed in Sweden as a crossover between
teenage and adult fiction.
Yet, most people seemed to place me in the Young Adult box.

It has never been my intention to write for teenagers.
Even if my stories are about Young Adults
it doesn't mean that Older Adults can't read them.
I've had positive responses from People between 11 and 60.

The novel I'm working on now, Replacing Angel,
has a Young Adult as a main character,
but I still don't know what genre it is.
It is contemporary fiction for sure,
but is it for Young Adults or Older Adults?
Who decides?
I don't want Older Adults to miss out on what I'm writing
just because I've been put in a certain box.

As an example I'm very pleased that Melvin Burgess books
Junk and Doing it can be found both in the Adult Fiction
and Young Adult Fiction sections in Brighton&Hove libraries.

On Sunday I'm performing at the Peace Festival on Hove Lawns.
In the Teenage Tent. (3pm, officially called the Future Tent)
But please feel free to come and see me even if you are an Older Adult.