The author talks to DIVA about writing the books she needed when she was a teenager
INTERVIEW BY ROXY BOURDILLON, IMAGE BY MAYA ZIYU OU
“I love this idea that you can be 15 and find the love of your life,” Tanya Byrne tells me. It’s a topic she explores in her brilliant new YA novel In The Shallows, which she describes as being about “second love but with the same person”. The absorbing book tells the story of 15-year-old Mara, who can’t stop thinking about her irresistible yet unattainable ex-girlfriend Nico. When Nico is mysteriously washed up on the beach with no recollection of who she is, Mara gets another shot at the relationship. But is Nico, as Mara’s friends suspect, the quintessential “fuck girl” destined to break her heart all over again? Or is there more to this than meets the eye?
Here’s what Tanya had to say on…
Her readers: “It’s so touching. You meet them and you just go, ‘You’re the reason I do this!'”
The novels she writes: “I write books that I needed when I was 16”
Queer representation: “I’m really keen to write queer joy, queer people being accepted, queer people being happy”
Get your copy of our April/May issue at divadirect.info.
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
✨linkin.bio/ig-divamagazine ✨
