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Award-winning novelist Emma Jane Unsworth officially opened the Liverpool Literary Festival 2025 with an intimate discussion about her latest work, Slags — a darkly comic and deeply moving exploration of teenage angst, sisterhood, and self-identity that’s already generating significant buzz in the world of British contemporary fiction.
A Tale of Two Sarahs: Teenage Dreams and Midlife Realities
Unsworth’s Slags unfolds across two intertwined timelines.
In one, we meet 15-year-old Sarah, a sharp, restless teen navigating the trials of growing up in 1990s Manchester — a world of girlhood rivalries, pop-star obsessions, and the electric charge of first love and first betrayal.
The second timeline fast-forwards to Sarah at 40, celebrating her milestone birthday with a road trip through the Scottish Highlands alongside her younger sister, Juliet. As their journey unfolds, the pair unearth long-buried secrets and childhood wounds, bringing both humour and heartbreak to the surface.
Through these dual narratives, Slags examines the ways our teenage selves echo through adulthood — how guilt, memory, and forgiveness can intertwine over decades.
Drawing from Real Life: Teenage Fandom, Family Feuds, and “Take That”
Unsworth admits that Slags has semi-autobiographical roots. She recalls her own teenage years spent obsessing over Take That, catching the Saturday morning bus to stand outside Mark Owen’s house with other fans.
What began as innocent fandom occasionally crossed into “stalker-like behaviour,” Unsworth laughs — a theme mirrored in the novel through the character of Nessa, Sarah’s best friend, who becomes fixated on a fictional pop band, Four Princes.
The author also reflects on fierce sibling rivalries from her youth — even recalling an incident where she and her sister, both on roller boots, ended up “literally coming to blows” outside their family car. These vivid memories feed directly into the raw emotional energy of Slags.
Rediscovering Teenage Confidence Through Old Diaries
While developing Slags, Unsworth revisited her old teenage diaries, discovering a surprisingly confident and outspoken version of herself. Initially, she believed the book might become a Young Adult novel, but upon revisiting the material years later, she decided to expand the story — introducing the adult Sarah timeline and deepening the emotional resonance.
This structure — half coming-of-age, half midlife reckoning — gives Slags its rich, layered appeal. It’s a story that speaks to anyone who’s ever wondered whether they’ve lived up to the promises they made to themselves at 15.
Crafting the Conversation: How Emma Jane Unsworth Writes
Known for her sharp dialogue and emotionally charged scenes, Unsworth begins her writing process with spoken conversation between characters. “I start by writing arguments,” she says, “then I build the narrative around how conflict intensifies — and eventually, how it resolves.”
Before motherhood, Unsworth would retreat for weeks at a time in caravans or motorhomes to write — creating a holistic environment that inspired the novel’s road trip framework.
Reclaiming the Word “Slags”
The title itself raised eyebrows. Unsworth was surprised her publishers allowed her to keep the provocative title “Slags”, given its harsh connotations in the 1990s. But, she argues, the term has softened over time — “Once it was extreme,” she explains. “Now it’s playground banter.”
By reclaiming the word, she invites readers to reconsider how language evolves — and how women’s agency over their own identities has shifted since her teenage years.
A Celebration of Bold British Fiction
Slags cements Emma Jane Unsworth’s reputation as one of the UK’s most fearless contemporary authors, blending humor, nostalgia, and emotional depth. Her appearance at the Liverpool Literary Festival 2025 set a powerful tone for the event — one of honesty, reflection, and creative rebellion.
For readers who loved Animals or Adults, Slags is another unflinching look at womanhood, friendship, and the messy beauty of growing up — at any age.
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