By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Robin Galbraith,
Gayleen Rabukukk & Kate Pentecost
Author/Illustrator Insights
In Mystery, Austin Author Exposes Racism Felt By Generations of Family by Sharyn Vane from My Statesman. Peek:
“[The Parker] Inheritance infuses its Westing Game-inspired mystery with explorations of identity and perception,
By Cynthia Leitich Smith,
Gayleen Rabakukk & Robin Galbraith
Author Interviews
The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast by Samantha M. Clark from Watch. Connect. Read by Mr. Schu. Peek:
“Reading is how we learn, explore, experience,
By Cate Berry
Looking back on your undergraduate years, do you have remorse? What got away?
Mine is easy. I regret not spending a semester abroad.
Enter my grad school: Vermont College of Fine Arts. I graduated this July with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Cate Berry on VCFA at Bath Spa University »
Cynsations is now on summer hiatus until early fall 2016.
In the meantime, keep up with children’s-YA literature, writing & publishing news at facebook and Twitter. Thanks for your
readership and support! Note: Please hold off on sending correspondence, interview/post materials & queries until after June 1.
By Ann Angel
Right about the time I pitched my first anthology, a writer friend said she’d hate that sort of work.
“It would be so time-consuming to read all those stories,” she said. “I can’t imagine having to edit all that content and you’ll have to write all that front and back matter and it will take away from your own writing.”
Even though everything she said is true,
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Ann Angel on The Power of Secrets in Things I’ll Never Say »
The cat on the cover was modeled after Anne’s cat!
The 10,000th Try: Rejecting Rejection with Anne Bustard from The Writing Barn. Peek: “That I had a story was the good news. That it was deeply flawed, the bad. And that I must start completely-from-the-very-beginning-over, the scariest.” Note: check out Anne’s newly redesigned official author website.
Beyond Bollywood: South Asian American Middle Grade Fiction from From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors. Peek: “Our stories are funny, tragic, brave, silly, and, most importantly, varied.” See also Diversity in YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults by Malinda Lo from Diversity in YA.
YA Short-Form Writing
Three of Cynthia Leitich Smith’s short stories—“Cat Calls,” “Cupid’s Beaux” and “Haunted Love”—are set in the TANTALIZE-FERAL universe. “Cat Calls” and “Haunted Love” are available as free ebooks. Scroll for more information on each.
FORESHADOW: STORIES TO CELEBRATE THE MAGIC OF READING AND WRITING YA, edited by Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma (Algonquin,
Check out the book trailer for Solstice by P.J. Hoover (Tor, 2013)(excerpt)(extras). From the promotional copy:
Piper’s world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth.
