ONE SONG

Write and record a new song in a weekend: what could possibly go wrong?

On a Friday evening, 17-year-old Eva and three other band members meet in Cooper's granny flat for their final rehearsal. They're scheduled to record the song they'll enter into 2022's Triple J Unearthed High competition, which will hopefully change their lives completely. But things don't go to plan. After Ruby lambasts the song, Eva forbids them from leaving and demands a weekend lock-in during which they'll collaboratively write, rehearse, and record a new song, uploading it in time for the Sunday afternoon deadline. Set in one location over 45 hours, One Song is part Breakfast Club, part fly-on-the-wall documentary, and part coming-of-age story. It features an unlikely band of teenagersEva, Cooper, Ruby, and Antas well as Mim, who's recording the event for her school media project. The novel delves into ideas of aspiration and hope, creativity, relationships, mental health, courage, passion, and unrequited love. One Song is told in 28 chapters and in six parts to resemble a song structure: Intro, Verse, Pre-chorus, Chorus, Bridge, Outro. AJ BETTS is the award-winning author of five YA novels (Hive, Rogue, Zac & Mia, Wavelength, Shutterspeed). Zac & Mia (Text Publishing 2013) was adapted for television and is an Emmy Award-winning two- season series, streaming worldwide. The novel won the Text Prize for YA writing, the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature (NSW Premier's Award), the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, and was published in 12 countries. Hive (Pan Macmillan 2018) was shortlisted for various awards, and is studied throughout Australian schools as a dystopian text. In 2018, A.J. was awarded a PhD on the topic of 'wonder' in young adult fiction and in 2019 she received the inaugural West Australian Premier's Writer's Fellowship. A.J. is a popular presenter at festivals and schools, combining her passion for creativity, story, and education. She lives in Fremantle, Western Australia.