‘It was the most magical journey… and it’s all true’

When Nadia Mikail first put pen to paper, she was planning to write the story of teenage Aisha and the road trip across Malaysia to find her estranged sister with the end of the world as the backdrop to the adventure.

Campervans and stray cats are utilised and after winning a writing competition with a publisher, which saw The Cats We Meet Along the Way get its release, Nadia is now the proud recipient of the 2023 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

She has now spoken to The Book Insider about her journey to being a published author and the how she has had to overcome writer’s block to release her second book from her mind.

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Nadia said that she came upon the story reasonably easily as she brought together her feelings of longing for her family, back in Malaysia, and the emotions of the coronavirus pandemic and how that affected the population as a potentially fatal virus took hold.

She said: “I’d been missing my family quite a bit as I was studying in another country. The emotions were already there; the story just came into being very easily.

“Then the pandemic began, and the fear and uncertainty about the world’s future translated itself just as smoothly onto the page.”

With the story written, there was just the small matter of finding a publisher to bring it to life and onto the shelves of bookshops around the country.

This came in the form of entering publisher Guppy’s Young Adult open submissions competition, and then winning it.

Speaking about what happened next, Nadia said: “It was the most magical journey. I have probably said this countless times, but it’s true: Bella Pearson is incredible to work with and I’m so grateful for her.

“Guppy offered me a publishing contract when I won and Bella and I worked together on edits and rewrites.”

This was not an easy process, as Nadia explains: “I’m very difficult to work with because I suffer from terrible writer’s block when it comes to rewrites, but Bella was very patient with me. I can’t gush about her enough. And then it was published! Which was honestly life-changing. “

Part of the changes to her life that have come since the publication of The Cats We Meet Along the Way is that Nadia is now an award-winning author, with the Waterstones prize under her belt.

Nadia said that it took a while to sink in that she had nabbed the top prize.

She told us: “I thought it was a mistake at first. Like the mix-up at the Oscars. Or a fever dream. Walking to the stage was a very floaty unreal experience, not unlike a dream, actually.

“I’m not great at public speaking and I hadn’t prepared a speech as I really didn’t think I would win – there are some incredible stories on the shortlist – so I’m not really sure what I said on that stage.

“I can’t bring myself to watch any videos of it. It’s finally sinking in now, a few weeks after the fact, and I am so, so happy and so, so grateful to Waterstones and its booksellers. They’re wonderful people. “

Nadia has planned another trip back to Malaysia for her second story but it has been a difficult road to getting this right, with writer’s block hititng home hard.

Nadio explained: “I really like the idea of a story set after a typical hero’s journey, and I’d love to set it in Malaysia. But writer’s block is hard. I suffered with it . I want to do so much and nothing I write looks good and every sentence seems like the worst thing anyone’s ever written.”

Fortunately, Nadia worked through her writing travails and At the End of the World is being released on October 17 (pre-order HERE)

Nadia believes that the YA genre is in a healthy position at the moment with an abundance of quality for teenagers to feast upon.

She told The Book Insider: There’s an abundance of quality. I don’t think quality is a concern at all. I think there are so many books in the genre now that describe a broad range of young adults’ experiences in such moving and beautiful ways, and I know those books will continue to be written.”

Buy The Cat We Meet Along The Way by clicking HERE.

Pre-order At the End of the World by clicking HERE.