Exeter Student Named on Time’s ‘World Influential’ Teenagers List

Time magazine names Beth Reeks as one of the world’s most influential teenagers.

Beth Reeks the tab the tab exeter Time Time Magazine

Beth Reeks, a first-year Physics student at University of Exeter, has been named by Time magazine as one of the world’s most influential teenagers.

Featuring alongside the likes of Justin Bieber and Nobel Peace Peace Prize nominee Malala Yousafzai, Time cited Reeks’s teen-fiction e-book, The Kissing Booth, as the reason for her making the list.

‘The Kissing Booth’ has received more than 19 million views online.

After discovering that she appeared on the list, Reeks told the BBC: “Justin Bieber is on every poster you pass, and Malala Yousafzai has shown such courage and made such a personal sacrifice that I wonder what the hell they’re talking about putting me in the same category.

“Sometimes it feels as though it’s all happened too fast, and I keep expecting someone to come along and take it all away from me.

Beth Reeks (Reekles), a university student and literary sensation.

“That’s why I’m determined to see through my degree, so I have an alternative career, and so that writing can stay fun rather than something I have to do purely to make a living.”

Frustrated by the limited variety of teen fiction, Reeks, using the surname ‘Reekles,’ published The Kissing Booth aged 15.

Describing herself as a Dr. Who fan, Beth’s Wattpad profile.

She then publicised the novel via story-sharing website Wattpad, prompting Random House Children’s Publishers to offer her a three-book deal.

Following the publication of The Kissing Booth in December 2012, Random House also bought the film rights for Reeks’s debut novel.

With more followers than The Tab, Beth’s Twitter account.

She told the BBC earlier this year: “That would be incredible if there were a film made of it.”

Reeks’s first two novels (The Kissing Booth and The Rolling Dice) are already available across four continents. Her third novel, entitled Out of Tune, is due to be released sometime next summer.

Click on this image to see the full list of Time’s influential teens.