I first heard Kaz Delaney speak at the Newcastle Writers’ Festival in 2013. Kaz was part of two different panels, one on romantic fiction and the other on crossover fiction (books that target both teens and adults). I loved Kaz’s insights, attitude and approach in both sessions, so I was keen to pick up a copy of her YA novel
Dead, Actually, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading (see our KBR review
here).
Since then, my 12-year-old daughter has attended one of Kaz’s writing workshops with a friend. Both girls came out of the two-hour session chattering enthusiastically about the things they had learned and talking almost non-stop on the trip home about how interesting and exciting Kaz’s presentation and writing exercises were. I couldn’t have asked for a better response.
It is therefore no surprise that my daughter and I were both very excited to discover that Kaz Delaney would be launching her latest YA novel,
Almost Dead, locally. At almost 13, my daughter is at the lowest limit of the target audience for the book, but her enthusiasm for Kaz had her saying ‘Yes!’ to the possibility of attending the launch before I had even finished sharing the details of the invitation.
