Cynsations

Cynsational News & Links

Writer’s Conference: The Anxiety and the Ecstacy by Krysten Lindsay Hager from Absolute Write.

What will happen to Harry? Predictions, forecasts and guesses on what the future holds for the boy wizard by Howard Shirley from BookPage.

Dotti Enderle blogs about the launch party for her new picture book, Grandpa for Sale, also written by Vicki Sansum, illustrated by T. Kyle Gentry (Flashlight Press, 2007). Read a Cynsations interview with Dotti.

It’s Zimmer Time: an interview with Tracie Vaughn Zimmer by Jo Knowles. Tracie is the author of Reaching for Sun (Bloomsbury, 2007). Here’s a sneak peek: “Free verse is definitely my most natural voice, as a writer. Even my journal entries back to when I was ten often take this format. It fits Josie too- she knows how important each word is and she doesn’t waste a syllable.” Jo is the author of Lessons from a Dead Girl (Candlewick, 2007). Read the whole interview.

Sarah Aronson: Writer for Children and Young Adults: official author site launch. From her bio: “Author Sarah Aronson received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College in July 2006. She has been an aerobics instructor, physical therapist, and religious school principal. Currently, she works for Jewish Lights Press in Woodstock, Vermont. Head Case [Roaring Brook, fall 2007] is her first novel.” Learn more about Sarah. Read her article on getting an MFA in writing for young readers. See what she’s reading. Find out more about Sarah and her fellow debut authors at the Class of 2K7. Leave a comment on Sarah’s LJ.

True Blue: Kathleen Krull from the Bulletin of the Center of Children’s Books. Sneak peek: “Kathleen Krull is a fixture in the children’s literature world, a reliable contributor who in her over twenty years of publishing has produced over fifty titles.” See also How Does Your Garden Grow?: A Garden Dozen selected by Cindy Welch from BCCB.

Two children’s-YA book literary agents at Curtis Brown Ltd. have MySpace pages. Visit Nathan Bransford and Anne Webman. Read an interview with Nathan at Alma Fullerton’s site.

Journey of a Novelist: Christine Kole MacLean on How It’s Done (Flux, 2006) from Kimberly’s Wanderings: Thoughts, Musings, and the Writing Life of YA Author Kimberley Griffiths Little.

Hey Batta Batta Swing! and other baseball books by Chris Barton at Bartography. Pay as much attention to Mr. Barton as the books he cheers–if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s spotting rising stars.

An Interview with Lisa Yee by Debbi Michiko Florence. Lisa’s latest book is So Totally Emily Ebers (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, 2007)(excerpt).

Shop Talk Tuesday with Barry Lyga by Laura Bowers. Barry is the author of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (Houghton Mifflin, 2006). Laura is the debut author of Beauty Shop for Rent (Harcourt, May 2007). After you leave the shop, read a Cynsations interview with Barry.

The latest issue of Papertigers focuses on Children’s Books about the Natural Environment.

Attention Austinites: tell all your friends to buy books at the Barnes & Noble Westlake (TX) from April 23 to April 29th and tell the cashier that they want the sale to count for the Austin SCBWI book fair. Austin SCBWI will receive a portion of the profits. Local authors and illustrators will be there to autograph books on April 28. Although I won’t be able to attend, autographed copies of my books, including Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007) will be available. Note: in addition, autographed copies of Tantalize are now available at Borders at the Domain and at Borders on South Lamar.

More Personally

Calling Olivia Birdsall, author of Notes on a Near-Life Experience (Delacorte, 2007). Note: if anyone has contact information for Olivia, could you please ask her to get in touch with me? Thank you!

Thanks to Debbie Reese at American Indians in Children’s Literature for her thoughtful post about Indian Shoes (HarperCollins, 2002), its reader’s theater, and the greater context of the story.

Thanks to Gail Gauthier at Original Content for highlighting two of my recent author interviews and her related comments.

Thanks also to Deborah Lynn Jacobs at The Reluctant Blogger for her kind words about me and Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007): “She makes you believe, with a capital B. Werepeople? Of course they exist. Shapeshifters? Absolutely. Vampires? Well, you’ll have to read the book!” Read an interview with Deborah on Powers (Roaring Brook, 2006) from Cynsations.