
Effective immediately, Cynsations is on summer hiatus. Read the posts from our most recent series here:
- Author Interview: Varsha Bajaj on Writing, Restructuring Rejection & her Latest Novel
- Author Interview: Carole Lindstrom on Longer Narrative Fiction & Red River Rose
- Author Interview: Sharon G. Flake on Inspiration, Community & Poetic Outcomes
- Author Interview: Byron Graves Explores Skating & Relationships in Medicine Wheels
- Author Interview: Ernesto Cisneros on Dialogue, Mentors & Finding Time
- Author Interview: Nora Shalaway Carpenter on Crafting Short Stories & Editing “Cli-Fi” Anthology, Onward
- Author Interview: Christine Hartman Derr Explores Culture, Connection & the Magic of Food in MG Debut, Raven Rising
- In Memory: Authors Andrea Page, Michael Hague & Marsha Chall; Bookseller Jewell Stoddard & Editor Ellen Rudin
- Author Interview: Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams Speaks to Carrying Ancestral Wisdom Into Her Writing
We’ll return in the fall with more inspiration, insights and information on children’s-YA writing, illustration, literature and publishing.
In the meantime, check out Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Writing Craft Resources for insights on an array of topics from backstory to voice and everything in between. Cynthia also discusses those topics on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and LinkedIn.

Also, be sure to check out the following 2026 Heartdrum books: Here Come the Aunties! by Cynthia Leitich Smith and Aphelandra; Aaniin: I See Your Light by Dawn Quigley and Nanibah Chacon; Free to Fly by Karina Iceberg and Steph Littlebird; A Good Hide by Karina Iceberg and Natasha Donovan; Stronger Than by Nikki Grimes, Stacy Wells and EB Lewis; An Expanse of Blue by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams; Medicine Wheels by Byron Graves; and Shards of Silence by Brian Young! Pre-order Raven Rising by Christine Harman Derr and Like Glass by Jen Ferguson.
