Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 126

Cynsational News & Giveaway

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Promote Your Novel With a Two-Minute Version of the Story by Brian Yansky from Brian's Blog: Writer Talk. Peek: "It's easy to do. It's kind of fun. It's basically free."

Drowning in the Well by Laura Ruby from The Storyteller's Inkpot. Peek: "If this sounds like depression, it was a very specific sort of fiction-centered depression. What good is a story when the people around you are suffering? Shut up and make them something to eat! I had forgott...

Guest Interview: Author Dori Hillestad Butler & Illustrator Aurore Damant on The Haunted Library

DoriBy Dori Hillestad Butler
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

When I tell strangers I’m a children’s book author, the first thing they often want to know is whether I am published.

The second thing they want to know is who is my illustrator? Where did I find someone to illustrate my books? How does that whole thing work?

The average person (i.e. someone who is not in children’s publishing) doesn’t realize that authors rarely have any say in who illustrates our books.

Most of us (with the exc...

Guest Post: Irene Latham on Author Infidelity: When One Genre Isn't Enough

By Irene Latham
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

When I sold my first novel for children, I was advised to commit myself fully–to set aside my fledgling poetry for adults writing, and focus 100% on fiction writing.

Since I'd previously published only one volume of poems – with a small press – I could see the wisdom in the advice.

My heart, however, did not.

Poems popped up everywhere, as they are wont to do, and I, being a lifelong wordcatcher, could not set down my net. I developed a habit...

Guest Post & Giveaway: Mari Mancusi on When the Problem Is The Market, Not the Manuscript

By Mari Mancusi
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Ten years ago, when I began my publishing journey, I was under the assumption that if you wrote it (and it was good) it would sell.

Sell to a New York publisher.

Be stocked at Barnes and Noble and (sniff!) Borders.

Be discovered by readers.

Happily ever after, the end.

And it certainly seemed that way when my tween YA time travel novel, The Camelot Code, sold to Dutton/Penguin at auction in 2007. It was a sweet two-book deal and the editor was v...

Guest Post: Barbara Bottner on Miss Brooks' Story Nook (where tales are told and ogres are welcome)

Learn more!By Barbara Bottner
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

I am very opinionated, as a reader, a writer, writing teacher and coach.

I am also righteous, and stubborn about my opinions to the point of intolerance.

This attitude is what made me write Miss Brooks Loves Books (and I don’t.), illustrated by Michael Emberley (Knopf). I like to use my own childish nature as a resource for picture books because it is always authentic and it is a good source for stories and always offers confli...

We Need Diverse Books Announces Incorporation as a Non-Profit & Inaugural Advisory Board

See FAQ!Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Grassroots organization files for incorporation as a non-profit organization in the state of Pennsylvania, and welcomes its first advisory board members, authors Grace Lin, Jacqueline Woodson, Matt de la Peña, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Cindy Pon

New York City, NY: More than just a hashtag, We Need Diverse Books is a grassroots organization created to address the lack of diverse, non-majority narratives in children’s literature.

We Need Div...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

2014 Longlist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature from the National Book Foundation:

Laurie Halse Anderson, The Impossible Knife of Memory (Viking)Gail Giles, Girls Like Us (Candlewick)Carl Hiaasen, Skink—No Surrender (Knopf)Kate Milford, Greenglass House (Clarion)Eliot Schrefer, Threatened (Scholastic)Steve Sheinkin, The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights(Roaring Brook)Andrew Smith, 100 Sideways Miles (...

Guest Post: Chris Barton on A New & Diversity Bookselling Strategy: BookPeople's Modern First Library

Newlyweds Chris & JennyBy Chris Barton
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Many of my ideas -- good, bad, and otherwise -- originate while I’m exercising, and Modern First Library was among these.

One evening this past winter, while my wife, fellow author Jennifer Ziegler, and I were walking our dog, I bemoaned an article I’d read about an independent bookseller’s baby gift registry.

Of the classic picture books mentioned in the article -- through no fault of the store, I’m assuming -- the...

Author Interview: Paula Yoo on Twenty-two Cents: The Story of Muhammad Yunus

Learn more about Paula Yoo.By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Congratulations on the release of Twenty-two Cents: The Story of Muhammad Yunus, illustrated by Jamel Akib (Lee & Low, 2014)! 

What was the initial inspiration for the book?

Thank you! The initial inspiration was from one of my editors at Lee & Low Books.

I worked with Jason Low on my last book, Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story (Lee & Low, 2009).

After that book came out, he and I discussed what my next book sh...

Book Trailer: The Vast and Brutal Sea by Zoraida Córdova

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Check out the book trailer for The Vast and Brutal Sea by Zoraida Córdova (Sourcebooks Fire, 2014). From the promotional copy:

This epic clash of sand and sea will pit brother against brother–and there can only be one winner. 

In two days, the race for the Sea Court throne will be over-but all the rules have changed. 

The sea witch, Nieve, has kidnapped Layla and is raising an army of mutant sea creatures to overthrow the crown. Kurt, the...