Young Adult author Abby McDonald and agent Rebecca Friedman join Media Mayhem to talk about the explosion of erotic literature (thanks in part to 50 Shades of Gray), and the changing themes of YA literature.
We get into the line between demeaning themes and honest exploration of fantasy, as well if conservative politics are mutually exclusive with randy erotica.

Abby McDonald grew up in Sussex, England and studied Politics, Philosophy & Economics at Oxford University. She began writing at college, and graduated to work as a music journalist and entertainment critic; drawing on her loves of pop culture, film and feminism, and interviewing acts as diverse as LeAnn Rimes, The Kings of Leon, and Marilyn Manson. She is now a full-time novelist and screenwriter.
Her debut book for teens, ‘Sophomore Switch’, was published by Candlewick Press in 2009. It was a Kirkus starred review, ALAN pick, and has been translated into German, Dutch, and Polish. ‘Boys, Bears & a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots’, followed in 2010, ’The Anti-Prom’, in 2011 and ‘Getting Over Garrett Delaney’ in January 2012.
Abby also writes for adults. ‘The Popularity Rules’ was published in the UK by Arrow Books in 2009; it was a Glamour Magazine ’must-read’ pick, and received a 4-star review from Heat magazine. Her second adult title, ‘The Liberation of Alice Love’, was published in July 2010, to glowing reviews in Closer and NOW magazines. Both titles have been published in the US in 2011 by Sourcebooks.

Rebecca Friedman is an agent at the Hill Nadell Agency in Los Angeles. She represents literary and commercial novels, narrative non-fiction, memoirs, and young adult and middle-grade fiction.