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With the sunsetting of the Hey YA podcast last fall, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about where and how I could create a space for YA authors to talk about their work in a way that wouldn’t be a straightforward interview–those can be tough to read, as opposed to listen to–and in a way that wouldn’t be straightforward publicity. How can YA fans learn about a new book and, whether or not the book is one they’ll be running to add to their TBR, what kind of piece would get readers excited about a topic and seek out even more books about it?
Then it hit me.
I could ask an array of YA authors to talk about their work through the lens of the genre or style in which they’re writing. A grumpy-sunshine romance writer talking about that trope and some of their favorite books within it? A horror writer talking about where and how YA horror has evolved in the last decade? A writer whose book is told through a podcast writing about the conventions necessary to take an audio medium and make it effective in narrative form?
Those thoughts were what launched this new author series for “What’s Up in YA?”
Once a month, an author will be bringing their insights, their passions, and their favorite YA books that relate, connect, or helped inspire their own to this space. The goal is to hype up new releases, to dive into interesting topics and themes, and to shout out even more great YA reads.
The first entry into this series is an outstanding lead-off. New York Times bestselling author Ryan Douglass is here to talk about his new book, The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay, a fresh twist on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, through the lens of what makes a great retelling for teen readers.
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Without further ado, here’s Ryan Douglass!
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Inheriting the Classics: YA Retellings that Reshape Canon
When the world as we know it feels like it’s ending, there’s no better moment to rethink the stories we’ve inherited.
I decided to re-tell The Great Gatsby not because I loved or hated it, but because it felt unfinished. Its mythologizing of wealth and the American dream still rings with a longing that feels familiar today, yet so much remains unexamined. The task of re-telling it became like moving apartments: a chance to ask what deserved to be preserved, what could be questioned, and what might be discarded entirely.
After a few messy drafts, I found that the retelling worked best when it found a middle ground that honored the original while reimagining it for readers outside dominant (straight, white, male) culture. Retelling admits that a classic is both incomplete and dynamic enough to offer something new when viewed from another angle. The spectacle of the original becomes a doorway: a familiar fantasy readers walk through to encounter something rawer and perhaps truer beneath—ideas that may have always been there, but were dulled by a passive comfort with classism, colonialism, or other toxic power structures.
Here are a few retellings that feel especially alive to me—books that expose the past while still honoring what made these stories endure.
 Icarus by K. AncrumK. Ancrum’s Icarus reworks the Icarus myth into a contemporary YA story centered on art theft and a teen’s slow loss of control. The novel follows a boy pulled into helping a charming, older art thief plan and execute robberies, while forming a complicated bond that makes him question trust and loyalty. Instead of a literal fall, Ancrum traces how obsession erodes agency piece by piece, making this ancient story urgent, accessible, and completely alive for modern readers. |
 Iron Widow by Xiran Jay ZhaoIron Widow is a sci-fi reimagining of the rise of Wu Zetian, the only woman to rule China as emperor. It follows a young woman navigating a world where girls are paired with male pilots for war and routinely die in the process. When Zetian is drafted into piloting giant combat mechs, she outmaneuvers the men who expected to control her, taking command in ways they never anticipated. Zhao delivers a story that’s thrilling and unflinching, using genre to expose how young women’s bodies are treated as fuel for war. |
 My Dear Henry by Kalynn BayronKalynn Bayron’s queer, gothic retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde follows Henry, a young man in Victorian-era London whose experiments awaken a dangerous alternate self. As Henry struggles to control his transformations, he faces suspicion, fear, and violence from neighbors and authorities who see him as a threat. With his secret love and transformations leaving him in danger, Henry must navigate a world where being himself could get him arrested, or worse. This retelling masters the style of the original while looking at the story through queerness, framing it as a unique strength labeled dangerous by a society that treats being different as a crime. |
 Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren BlackwoodLauren Blackwood reimagines Jane Eyre in an Ethiopian-inspired setting, relocating the isolated estate from the original to a cursed castle. Andromeda is trained to exorcise evil from households, but the force haunting Magnus Rochester’s home is more terrifying than anything she’s faced before. Blackwood masterfully blends the brooding, tense atmosphere of the original with a fresh exploration of empire, colonial history, and romance, delivering a Jane Eyre retelling that is dark, immersive, and distinct. |
 The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. YeeF.C. Yee’s explosive and fun YA retelling of Journey to the West relocates Chinese epic mythology in contemporary American adolescence. When demons kidnap her father, Genie Lo must unlock her own supernatural powers and team up with a mischievous immortal to save him. Yee interrogates how ancient legends survive translation, migration, and time, while featuring a funny, unforgettable heroine navigating gods, monsters, and high school. |
 Enter the Body by Joy McCulloughCentering some of Shakespeare’s most iconic female characters, McCullough delivers a stylistically daring work that abandons linear narrative in favor of poetic monologues, verse, and fully embodied stage directions. This retelling uses unconventional form to shape how the story is told, insisting that reinvention requires structural disruption, while exposing parts of the women’s perspectives that were flattened in Shakespeare’s original works. |
Classic stories will always carry the fingerprints of the time that shaped them, but when we retell them, we give young people permission to question what they’re handed, and to enter the same house through a different door. When authors reshape a story’s symbols to tell a different truth, both the classic and the canon are made better for it.
 Ryan Douglass is a queer author and poet from Atlanta, Georgia. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Taking of Jake Livingston and The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay. Douglass’s work combines psychological depth with genre innovation, bringing underrepresented voices to the forefront of YA fiction. He holds a BA in theatre from Hofstra University and lives in Atlanta with his dog. |