Authors, Editor & Illustrator Interview: Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (Fighting for Justice)

Authors, Editor & Illustrator Interview: Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (Fighting for Justice)

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Laura Atkins and Stan Yogi are the co-authors of Fred Korematsu Speaks Up, illustrated by Yukata Houlette (Heyday, 2017). From the promotional copy:

Fred Korematsu liked listening to music on the radio, playing tennis, and hanging around with his friends—just like lots of other Americans. 

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Author Interview & Giveaway: Sebastian Robertson on Writing His Father’s Rock and Roll Biography

Author Interview & Giveaway: Sebastian Robertson on Writing His Father’s Rock and Roll Biography

By Traci Sorell

My love of music outweighs my love of the written word. So, I am delighted when I find children’s
book biographies written about any of my favorite musicians. I rush to devour them and learn more about the creative geniuses whose beautiful lyrics and magical melodies have lifted my spirit or given me comfort throughout my life.

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Author Interview: Zetta Elliott on Ghosts, Magic & Imperialism

Author Interview: Zetta Elliott on Ghosts, Magic & Imperialism

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Zetta Elliott‘s last Cynsations interview was in 2009. Since then she’s published more than two dozen

books and nearly twice as many essays, like Decolonizing the Imagination for The Horn Book (March 2010).

I’ve been thinking a lot about the lasting effects of Imperialism and how it influences both society and literature.

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Guest Post: Carolyn Dee Flores on Achieving Deeper Color in Illustration Using Oil on Cardboard

By Carolyn Dee Flores

Illustrators bear witness.

Nothing could be more important.

One hundred years from now, when someone wants to know what it was like to be a seven-year-old girl in New York City on her birthday – or what it was like to be a Mexican-American child growing up in Texas – they won’t go to a reference book and look it up.

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Guest Post: A.R. Capetta on Something Good Happened in 2016: Where Does LGBTQ YA Go From Here?

By A.R. Capetta

A.R. Capetta writing

While the goal of this blog series is to celebrate LGBTQ YA, there’s so much more room for growth.

It might seem like LGBTQ YA books are hitting new heights, when in reality they’re only beginning to find their audience.

In the words of Alex London,

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Guest Post: A.R. Capetta on Something Good Happened in 2016: LGBTQ YA Genre Fiction

By A.R.Capetta

One of the standout differences in the LGBTQ offerings in 2016, as opposed to previous years, is a boost in genre fiction.

While I love reading LGBTQ books of all kinds, in my truest and nerdiest heart, I’m a lifelong reader and devoted writer of genre fiction.

Stories with marginalized main characters tend to take a particular route through the publishing world–starting with “issue” books,

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Guest Post: A.R. Capetta on Something Good Happened in 2016: Intersectionality in LGBTQ YA

By A.R. Capetta

Rainbow Boxes is a charitable initiative to connect LGBTQIA fiction with readers across the United States.

When Cori McCarthy and I did our research for Rainbow Boxes (AKA the most fun research–it mainly consisted of reading every LGBTQ YA book we could find),

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Guest Post: A.R. Capetta on Something Good Happened in 2016: Celebrating LGBTQ YA

Rainbow Boxes co-founders Cori & A.R.

By A.R. Capetta

In 2015, it seemed like there was a slowly growing list of excellent YA books with central LGBTQ main characters–but there were clearly still barriers making it difficult for readers, especially teen readers, to find them.

Fellow YA author Cori McCarthy* and I created Rainbow Boxes to help bridge that gap,

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