Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
The Cynsational Books of 2024 were selected by Cynthia Leitich Smith from nominations by Cynsations Team members. Titles published by Heartdrum or authored/illustrated by Cynsations team members are ineligible.
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Samantha Clark, David Bowles, Evan Griffith, Cory Putman Oakes and Liz Garton Scanlon are on the leadership team for the Texas Chapter of Authors Against Book Bans,
Continue Reading Authors Interview: Texas Authors Against Book Bans Champions Freedom to Read »
Congratulations to Liz Garton Scanlon on the publication of Lolo’s Light (Chronicle, 2022)!
From the promotional copy:
This is a truth about growing up: Once in your life, sometime after your first memory but before you can drive a car, something is going to happen to you that doesn’t happen to anyone else you know.
By Lindsey Lane
On January 5, 2022, Betty X Davis vacated her seat at the front row of our BookPeople launches. At one hundred and six years old, still quoting Shakespeare at length and spouting snippets of French, it seemed like she might live forever. But alas, she slipped away, quietly, as one does when they’ve been to an excellent party,
The Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is particularly vibrant, and among its many offerings is a mentorship program named for Cynthia Leitich Smith!
I have been the program’s mentor twice, most recently working with the wonderful Carol Kim.
Stories are the work of a community, not a creator in isolation. I am struck by this truth every single time I hold my debut picture book, Gitty and Kvetch, illustrated by the phenomenal Ariel Landy (Atheneum, 2021), in my hands. Its pages carry the fingerprints of all the people who have poured into my life and this story.
We’re wrapping up our picture book biography series with two more Austin authors, Gloria Amescua, author of Child Of The Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter Of The Nahua, illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh (Abrams, 2021) and Carol Kim, author of King Sejong Invents an Alphabet,
By Stephani Martinell Eaton and Gayleen Rabakukk
Azadeh Westergaard
We are delighted to welcome author and illustrator Azadeh Westergaard to Cynsations today. Azadeh’s debut picture book, A Life Electric, illustrated by Júlia Sardà (Viking, 2021), focuses on the life of Nikola Tesla.
By Liz Garton Scanlon and Tricia Springstubb
Liz: I like to imagine we’re together in an actual garden – dirt underneath our fingernails and a bunch of seed packets newly emptied into the ground.
Tricia: Oh, yes! Is anything more hopeful than planting a seed? When I was seven or eight, I grew two straight lines of zinnias.
Continue Reading Guest Chat: Authors Liz Garton Scanlon & Tricia Springstubb on Seeds & Stories »
“You’re on fire!”
“Rockstar!”
“You’re killing it!”
Those are the types of comments that came across my social media feed last fall as I posted screenshots of my most recent book deal announcements.
Due to publishing’s funky and unpredictable timing, I had back-to-back announcements two weeks in a row: one for my middle grade nonfiction about the Thai Cave Rescue and another for my new chapter book series,