Wendy Cooling in conversation with Sharon Dogar, Ali Lewis and Jason Wallace

As debut author Jason Wallace and his editor Charlie Sheppard win the Branford Boase Award 2011 for Out of Shadows, we look back at a recent panel discussion with some of the most exciting authors for teens published by Anderson Press.

The panel comprised Jason Wallace, fellow debut author Ali Lewis, author of Everybody Jam, and Sharon Dogar, whose debut novel Waves was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award in 2008. The event was chaired by children's books expert Wendy Cooling and introduced by the authors' editor, Charlie Sheppard, fiction editor at Anderson Press.

Wendy started the event by introducing the authors and their novels noting that 'all three novels have something in common. Each novel tells a fantastic story set in the real world about real life. All books touch on race, a family in crisis in three different countries in three different times.' She then asked the panel how they had each set out to write their stories.

Ali explained that she had wanted to tell the story of her experience of living in the Australian outback, but that her first draft was 'flabby and sanctimonious … until Danny's voice made it work and made me imagine the world through a boys eyes.'

Jason wanted to tell the story of his experience at school in Zimbabwe during the 1980s and the cruelty of the place. He hadn't wanted it to be a political book in the first place, but had found he couldn't escape it.

Sharon said she wrote Annexed (an imagined story about Anne Frank's life if she had survived the Holocaust) 'in a state of utter ignorance' but was sure that she could do it. She found it difficult to deal with the criticism and had even received death threats from Israel. She spoke about her correspondance with Anne's last surviving relative who initially wasn't happy with the idea but finally acknowledged he understood why she had written it.

Wendy then asked the panel how they had each approached the subject of race. Jason spoke about 'witnessing a different form of racism in Zimbabwe to in the UK. The white boys in the school had learnt to be racist from their parents, but they weren't really racist. Many had strong feelings towards their black maids who had raised them'.

Ali said she 'sat down to write a story, not a book about race'. Sharon spoke about her experiences of being subjected to racism herself and how distructive it can be. Her story is about being on the receiving end of racism, whereas Ali and Jason wrote from the position of being an outsider.

Wendy then went on to ask them about the role and importance of the editor. Jason described the editor as 'invaluable. I was able to look at the book in another way. A good editor doesn't tell you to change things - they suggest it'.  Ali explained 'you are too close to the book as the writer - the editor suggests ways of doing things differently and gives you the energy and encouragement to keep going'.

Sharon said that even with the third book 'it's the same process every time. Writing is solitary. The editor reminds the author of the readership - who they are writing for. The third time round you're a better editor but you're never as far from the writing as you need to be.'

When asked how their book titles had been chosen, Sharon said that she had decided on Annexed from the start and it wasn't until later that she subsequently saw that the name 'Anne' was in it and the letter 'X'. For Jason the title Out of Shadows just 'popped into his head one day - the perfect title that suggests everything about the book'. Ali had always wanted to call her book Everybody Jam (the Aboriginal name for apricot jam) and although Charlie was initially unsure about it, Ali stuck to her guns and they made the cover work harder to keep the title.

Someone from the audience observed that all books were 'worlds within worlds'. Sharon spoke about needing to create a claustrophobic world where Anne lived, which was the only way to deal with the Holocaust. Out of Shadows and Everybody Jam both have wide open spaces but the characters are trapped in them and they can't escape. Jason explained that 'the school is a microcosm of what was happening in Zimbabwe'.

When asked whether they had done much research, Sharon explained that she had done quite a bit for Annexed, as she wanted a strong structure to create the process of dehumanisation. Jason had relied mostly on his memory and done some research into the Rhodesian war. Ali had reread her journals from when she lived on a cattle station in the Australian outback as well as drawing on her experience as a journalist during the Foot and Mouth outbreak.