Tessa Duder: "We need to do better for teens"

An award winning author young adult books are not given the prominence they deserve by publishers and reviewers, and the next generation of readers is suffering the consequences. Tessa Duder is the author of dozens of books for children and young adults. She won the 2020 Prime Minister's Award Fiction, has twice been honoured in the Queens Birthday list and is past president of the NZ Society of Authors. Tessa Duder says Young Adult books are often dismissed by publishers who think that teens are more interested in their phones than books. But she says YA books are needed more than ever, to help foster the next generation of adult readers.