Six of the best books and podcasts about young people today

To mark International Youth Day, we've picked six books and podcasts that explore the lives, voices and experiences of young people around the world.

By Cherry Casey

International Youth Day (12 August) was created by the United Nations to recognise the contribution that young people can make to civil society if we listen to, advocate for and understand their experiences.

Here are six reads and listens to make you think about today’s youth and what they can achieve, now and in the future.

Finding My Way, Malala Yousafzai

When Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban in 2012, it sent shockwaves across the globe and saw a 15-year-old thrust into the spotlight as an icon of resilience. In her memoir, Finding My Way, Malala tells us what the impact of those years had as she charts her subsequent journey, navigating everything from PTSD to friendships, to first love and reclaiming her own identity along the way.

Find out more about Finding My Way, Malala Yousafzai.

Good Girl, Aria Aber

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2025, Good Girl is the debut novel from Aria Aber that follows 19-year-old Nila, the daughter of Afghan refugees who lives in Berlin, as she navigates relationships, the city’s nightlife and self-discovery. According to author Garth Greenwell, ‘Rarely has the wildness and bewilderment of youth been conveyed with such richly textured heat’.

Find out more about Good Girl, Aria Aber.

Wimmy Road Boyz, Sufiyaan Salam

Winning the 2023/24 New Writers’ Prize from #Merky Books (a publishing imprint from Stormzy and Penguin Random House UK), Sufiyaan Salam and his debut novel are highly anticipated. A novel that charts the events that unfold for three young men over the course of a single evening, it’s been described by author Santanu Bhattacharya as a ‘… symphonic ode to youth, friendship and masculinity.’

Find out more about Wimmy Road Boyz, Sufiyaan Salam.

Girls: Gen z and the commodification of everything, by Freya India

Described by journalist Helen Lewis as “one of our sharpest, smartest young writers”, Freya India has created a passionate and provocative exploration of how the experience of being a woman has morphed from being relentlessly sold products, to actually being the product itself. She looks at what girls today have to contend with - everything from AR filters to profit-driven online therapy apps – and how they can see their own lives through a different lens.

Find out more about Girls: Gen Z and the commodification of everything, by Freya India.

Podcast: To Be A Boy, with Joeli Brearley and Elliott Rae

Both founders of movements that challenge the system (Pregnant Then Screwed and Parenting Out Loud), Joeli Brearley and Elliott Rae come together in this podcast to scrutinise the social norms that are influencing how boys live today, such as the manosphere, and explore where and how we can be doing things differently, such as improving parental leave for dads. A great listen to leave you both informed and inspired.

Find out more about To be a boy, with Joeli Brearley and Elliott Rae.

Podcast: This Teenage Life

Educator Molly Josephs has brought together a group of teenagers to create a podcast series that examines what it is to be a young person in today’s world, straight from the horse’s mouth. With episodes on authentic friendships, sexuality, independence and parents, it covers a huge spectrum of issues with heartwarming levels of empathy and wisdom. Go teens!

Find out more about This Teenage Life.

Cherry Casey is a freelance journalist, with work featuring in The Independent, the Guardian, Prospect, The Telegraph, Evening Standard, Inside Housing, the FT, Vice, BuzzFeed and Marie Claire. She specialises in child welfare, including education, healthcare, wellbeing, housing, online safety, adoption and social care.