Young adult book geeks are mightier than they may seem. Their powers are not simply limited to making Jennifer Lawrence the highest-earning actress in the world — they are now doing what they can to help migrants in Europe. Award-winning YA author Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls) set out to raise £10,000 for Syrian refugees (warning, sensitive content) this week, but once fans and other authors caught wind of what he was doing, he's raised £489,000 (around $742,000) and counting for Save the Children.
"I thought, All I'm doing now is tweeting my anger into what? Into a void. And to what end? How does this help anyone?" he told the BBC (coming to us via MTV News). "And I thought, I've got to at least do something. I don't know what I can accomplish, but I've been really blessed for the last couple of years. So what I did, spur of the moment, was the simplest fundraising donation site I could find."
The online community of YA authors is a tight one. Soon enough, the likes of John Green, Rainbow Rowell, Jojo Moyes (not YA, but still awesome), Margaret Stohl, Ally Carter, Gayle Forman, Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi, and other favorites were setting matching fund goals.
@Patrick_Ness I'll match the next 10,000 pounds.
— John Green (@johngreen) September 3, 2015On Saturday, the latest to pledge matching funds was Anthony Horowitz, the author of the latest James Bond novel, who was recently under fire for remarks he'd made about Idris Elba (for which he later apologized). Publishing houses have pitched in to spread the word, too. Considering the fact that most of these writers' fans are, well, young adults, these numbers are huge.
This isn't the first time writers have rallied to a cause via social media. The most recent big example is last year's flood of donations for the public library in Ferguson, Missouri, following the Michael Brown grand jury verdict.
To join Patrick Ness' efforts to help children fleeing Syria, head here.