Genres
Young adult fiction
Fiction written for readers aged 12 to 18, typically with teenage protagonists and themes of adolescent life, and read mostly by adults.
Young adult fiction (YA) is literature written for readers aged 12 to 18, as Wikipedia defines it, typically featuring teenage protagonists; the article gives the usual protagonist band as 14 to 18. The material is adolescent life: an analysis of novels from 1980 to 2000 found friendship, getting into trouble, romantic and sexual interest, and family life as the recurring themes, and YA may also carry adult-fiction subjects such as family dysfunction, substance abuse and sexuality. The term's earliest known use was in 1942, and the category was developed by librarians, notably at the New York Public Library, to bridge children's and adult literature; scholars have not reached a consensus on a definition, and the article calls the term inherently amorphous.
The fact worth internalizing is the audience: a 2023 study found 55 percent of YA consumers were over 18. Write for the shelf's actual readers, and mind its porous borders: romantasy sits close by, and middle grade is the category below.