In 1990, an Irish publisher, Attic Press, launched a new series of books for "young adults". As is frequently the case with books aimed at people in their mid-teens, the Bright Sparks series is mainly ready by 11- to 13-year-olds, with some exceptions. Bernadette Leach, author of a number of titles in the series, is the series editor. "The aim of the series is to inform and to entertain", she says. "In 1994 I wrote Anna Who? The first few chapters of the book focus on the symptoms of a character suffering from meningitis. I deliberately chose this particular illness because at the time there wasn't enough information on meningitis for young people out there.

"I'm generally motivated by something that has angered me. I'm a Vegetarian looks at how you can feel like such an outsider at times when you are growing up. But we also publish books which place more of an emphasis on entertainment. At Christmas for instance, we published Manor Spirits by Tony Foster, which is basically a ghost story, set in modern day. It is also interesting because contemporary teenagers talk about their lives, while the owner of a hotel in the story talks about how life used to be when he himself was a teenager." The first book in the series, Daisy Chain War by Joan O'Neill, is set in the late 1930s. It tells the story of an English girl who has to leave her home because of the war and live with her relatives in Ireland. When it was published nine years ago, there was a certain amount of American teenage literature around, but nothing much specific to the lives of Irish teenagers. The book sold very well and has just been re-launched, along with several other Bright Sparks publications. The entire series has also been re-jacketed - after almost ten years it was felt that the books had a slightly outdated look.

The most recent publication by Bernadette Leach, 4 Ever Friends, catches up with the life of 16-year-old Anna Fielding. Written in the form of a diary, the story runs through the many trials and tribulations of a big family, boyfriend troubles and the various difficulties Anna copes with as her father faces redundancy. The Bright Sparks publications come with a questionnaire, looking for feedback on how relevant the themes are to young adults. 4 Ever Friends seems to be hitting the spot: not only is the feedback very positive but, according to Leach, many of the returned questionnaires are actually from 15-year-olds.

"I also work in schools a lot," says Leach. "It's really essential that the books are relevant, so I encourage discussion, listen carefully to comments, and follow them up. During a discussion with a group of Transition Year students, issues evolving around unemployment, family and friends came up, and 4 Ever Friends was written to address some of those themes." Manuscripts are regularly sent out for comment to young people, and again, their feedback is taken very seriously.

Leach is also "actively looking for young authors" for Attic. "S.E. Hinton, author of Rumble Fish and The Outsiders was 17 when she wrote the first of her avidly read series. If someone has the talent and ability it would be fantastic to publish their work. "My door is open and I always try to encourage young writers. There's an enormous amount of talent and a lot of interest out there."