Today we are super excited to welcome Ernesto Cisneros to Cynsations to talk about his new middle grade novel Queso, Just in Time (HarperCollins 2026), which was released in March. Ernesto Cisneros’s debut Efren Divided (HarperCollins, 2020) won the Pura Belpré Award in 2021.
Continue Reading Author Interview: Ernesto Cisneros on Dialogue, Mentors & Finding Time »
By AJ Eversole
Today we’re welcoming award-winning author Carole Lindstrom (Anishinaabe/Metis) to discuss her new middle grade novel, Red River Rose (Bloomsbury, March 2026) and the importance of presenting authentic experiences in historical fiction.
You’re making your middle grade debut with Red River Rose. What drew you to expand into longer narrative fiction,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Carole Lindstrom on Longer Narrative Fiction & Red River Rose »
I connected with Varsha Bajaj through her books long before we became friends online. I have read every one of them and shared them with kids. It’s an honor to celebrate Varsha at Cynsations as she welcomes her new novel, Roar (Nancy Paulsen Books, May 2026).
Your forthcoming middle-grade book,
Today, I am excited to welcome to Cynsations Alison Green Myers, author of the middle grade novel This Way to Happy (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2025), and Alexandra Villasante, author of the young adult novel Fireblooms (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2025),
Continue Reading Authors Interview: Alison Green Myers & Alexandra Villasante on Sophomore Novels »
Your latest book, At The Edge Of Lost (Scholastic, 2025), is a survival adventure story set in Seattle and Bainbridge Island. What was the inspiration for this story?
I really wanted to write another dog story—but one more intimate, even, than To Catch a Thief (Scholastic,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Writing, Teaching & a New MFA Program with Martha Brokenbrough »
Today we have the final installment of the MG Escapades series with Graphic Novelists Stan Yan and Angela Hsieh. And we’re also chatting with the group’s founder, Sara Shacter about how the group got started in case you’ve been thinking about putting together a marketing group.
Today we continue meeting more members of the MG Escapades group, this time chatting with debut authors who have fantasy novels publishing this year: Leslie Adame, Alby C. Williams, Carey Blankenship-Kramer, Sarah Mendonca, Christina Cornwell,
Today we’re welcoming several middle grade authors to Cynsations: Emily Deibert, Kerry Madden Lunsford, Sara F. Shacter and Jess Callans, all middle grade novelists—mostly debut authors—collectively known as the Middle Grade Escapades. Their books fall into the contemporary,
I’m very excited to welcome two Austin authors who have both written middle grade books with a series second releasing this year. Meredith Davis is the author of The Minor Rescue (Waterbrook, May 2025), and Mari Mancusi wrote Dawn of the Dragons (Little Brown,
Continue Reading Authors Interview: Meredith Davis & Mari Mancusi on Book Series & Promotion »
Today, I am excited to welcome Miriam Chernick to share her writing journey with Cynsations. Her debut The Zuzu Secret (Charlesbridge, 2025) is a heartwarming story about spunky Josie, her older brother Abe, and a bearded dragon. Two real life icons: James Herriot the British veterinary surgeon and author,