Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 108
October 26, 2015
Guest Post & Giveaway: Beth Revis on: Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice
By Beth Revis
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations
You can win a journal with this cover!I wrote Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice for the writer I used to be. The questions I used to have plagued me when I was starting this career path.
How do I get to the end? What's the p...
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations
Beth Note: Don't miss out on the giveaway at the end of this post. And remember all orders of Paper Hearts made before Nov. 15 from Malaprops will come with a special gift--see details below!
You can win a journal with this cover!I wrote Paper Hearts: Some Writing Advice for the writer I used to be. The questions I used to have plagued me when I was starting this career path. How do I get to the end? What's the p...
October 23, 2015
Cynsational News & Giveaways
By Cynthia Leitich Smithfor Cynsations
Q&A of R. Gregory Christie, author and illustrator of Mousetropolis, by Chris Barton from Bartography. Peek: "...my motivation is to bring ethnic groups together and in some ways to bring balance to historical lesson plans."
Depression and The Writer's Mind by Lucy Coats from An Awfully Big Blog Adventure. Peek: "How can this job of writing, which I love, turn on me like a monstrous beast, snarling and snapping amid the greyness, leaving me unable to g...
October 22, 2015
In Memory: Vera B. Williams
Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith for CynsationsVera B. Williams, 88, Dies; Brought Working Class to Children’s Books by Margalit Fox from The New York Times. Peek "Vera B. Williams, a writer and illustrator for young people whose picture books centered on the lives of working-class families, a highly unusual subject when she began her work in the 1970s, died on Friday at her home in Narrowsburg, N.Y. She was 88."
Acclaimed Children's Author Vera Williams Passes by Fritz Mayer for The Ri...
October 21, 2015
Giveaway: Mysteries of Cove, Vol. 1: Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage
By Cynthia Leitich Smithfor Cynsations
Enter to win one of two copies of Mysteries of Cove, Vol. 1: Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage (Shadow Mountain, 2015). From the promotional copy:
Trenton Colman is exceptionally creative with a knack for all things mechanical. But his talents are viewed with suspicion in Cove, a steam-powered city built inside a mountain. In Cove, creativity is a crime and "invention" is a curse word.
Kallista Babbage is a repair technician and daughter of the notoriou...
October 20, 2015
Guest Interview: Translator Marian Schwartz on Playing a Part
Marian SchwartzBy Avery Fischer UdagawaFor Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Cynsation
Marian Schwartz is a master translator of Russian literature into English. Active in PEN and past president of the American Literary Translators Association, she has translated more than seventy books including the bestseller The Last Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky and a re-translation of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
Recently she has added to her oeuvre the YA novel Playing a Part by Daria Wilke, edited by Emily Clement an...
October 19, 2015
Guest Post & Illustration Giveaway: Julie Chibbaro on Writing in Black & White
Teen JulieBy Julie Chibbarofor Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations
When I was six years old, my big sister pulled me aside and whispered in my ear.
“I learned a bad word today.”
I asked her, “Is it terrible?”
“It’s awful, horrible.”
I smiled gleefully. She always shared the best bad words, but this one had her worried.
“What is it?” I asked.
She said, “Prejudice.”
She told me it meant to judge someone by their outside skin or where they came from. We lived in a factory neighborhood right next to the...
October 16, 2015
Cynsational News & Giveaways
National Book Award FinalistBy Cynthia Leitich Smithfor Cynsations
Six Key Points from the U.K. Study on Diversity in Publishing by Hannah Ehrlich from Lee & Low. Peek: "Diverse authors often felt that they were encouraged–or pushed–into the literary fiction genre. This means that authors of color are often at a commercial disadvantage, especially if they want to be full-time novelists."
Recommended Children's-YA Books and Related Resources for LGBTQ Youth by Lee Wind from I'm Here. I'm Que...
October 15, 2015
New Voice & Giveaway: Laurie Wallmark on Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine
By Cynthia Leitich Smithfor Cynsations
Laurie Wallmark is the first-author of Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine (Creston, 2015). From the promotional copy:
Ada Lovelace, the daughter of the famous romantic poet, Lord Byron, develops her creativity through science and math.
When she meets Charles Babbage, the inventor of the first mechanical computer, Ada understands the machine better than anyone else and writes the world's first computer program in order to demonstrate its capa...
October 14, 2015
Book Trailer: Keepers of the Labyrinth by Erin E. Moulton
By Cynthia Leitich Smithfor Cynsations
Check out the book trailer for Keepers of the Labyrinth by Erin E. Moulton (Philomel, 2015). From the promotional copy:
Courage is tested, myths come to life, and long-held secrets are revealed.
Lilith Bennette runs at midnight. She scales walls in the dark and climbs without a harness. She hopes that if she follows exactly in the steps of her strong air force pilot mother, she’ll somehow figure out the mystery of her mother’s death—and the reason why her n...
October 13, 2015
New Voice & Giveaway: K.C. Maguire on Inside the Palisade
By Cynthia Leitich Smithfor Cynsations
K.C. Maguire is the first-time author of Inside the Palisade (Lodestone, 2015). From the promotional copy:
Omega has grown up surrounded by women – literally.
Inside the palisade, women fall in love, marry and raise daughters, relying on an artificial insemination process known as the Procedure. But something goes horribly wrong.
One day, Omega comes face to face with a mythical monster – a man – within the society’s walls. Men had been eradicated long ago...
