Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 138

Event Report: Nikki Loftin's Launch for Nightingale's Nest

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Weekend highlights included Nikki Loftin's launch party for Nightingale's Nest (Razorbill, 2014) at BookPeople in Austin, followed by a reception at The Writing Barn.

Greg Leitich Smith, Nikki & me Celebratory cake for Nightingale's Nest Lindsey Lane & Nikki Sean Petrie & me Bethany Hegedus & Greg Kayla Olson & Shelli Cornelison Samantha Clark, Sara Kocek, Bethany & special guest book model Carmen Oliver & Brian Anderson H. Sc...

Video: Gugor Interviews Robert Paul Weston about The Creature Department

Compiled by Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Check out this video interview with Robert Paul Weston about The Creature Department (Razorbill, 2013) by Gugor from Penguin Young Readers. From the promotional copy:

It's a tentacled, inventive, gooey, world in there. . . .

Elliot Von Doppler and his friend Leslie think nothing ever happens in Bickleburgh, except inside the gleaming headquarters of DENKi-3000—the world's eighth-largest electronics factory.

Beneath the glass towers and glittering s...

Book Trailer & Author Video: The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Check out the book trailer for The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson (Penguin, 2014) From the promotional copy:

For the past five years, Hayley Kincaid and her father, Andy, have been on the road, never staying long in one place as he struggles to escape the demons that have tortured him since his return from Iraq. Now they are back in the town where he grew up so Hayley can attend school. Perhaps, for the first time, Hayley can have a n...

Cynsational News & Giveaways

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Beyond Bollywood: South Asian American Middle Grade Fiction from From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors. Peek: "Our stories are funny, tragic, brave, silly, and, most importantly, varied." See also Diversity in YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults by Malinda Lo from Diversity in YA.

A Valentine from the Teacher by Louise Hawes from Write at Your Own Risk. Peek: "Thank you for your grace under fire, your courage, your resilience, your can do/won’...

New Voice: Melanie Bishop on My So-Called Ruined Life

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Melanie Bishop is the first-time author of My So-Called Ruined Life (Torrey House, 2014). From the promotional copy:

Tate McCoy has not spoken to her alcoholic mother in two years, and then her mom is murdered and her father is the prime suspect. 

Convinced of his innocence, Tate takes up swimming and finds solace in her best friend Kale, volunteer work, the great outdoors, and a new crush. 

But after discovering a horrible secret, Tate questions...

Writing, Tonto & The Wise-Cracking Minority Sidekick Who Is the First to Die

What images do you recall from childhood?By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

When I think of the quintessential American Indian sidekick in mainstream media, the name that first springs to mind is "Tonto."

Sorry,  
When I was a kid in the 1970s and '80s, there were only three national telev...

Guest Post: Kristen Simmons on The Toddler-hood of Publishing

Kristen writing in her son's fortBy Kristen Simmons
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

My third book comes out this February – the last book in the Article 5 series – and though I feel fortunate to have additional stand alone titles to follow it in the coming years, I can’t help but feel like a very important part of my life is coming to a close.

My first series will be done, which still blows me away when I think of how I waited ten years to see my first book on a shelf.

I have held my work...

Guest Post: Lesléa Newman on In Writing I Trust

By Lesléa Newman
for Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations

Sometimes a book is years in the making. And the writer doesn’t even know that it is gestating.

Such is the case with my book, October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard (Candlewick, 2012). Unbeknownst to me, I started writing the book on October 12, 1998.

On that Monday morning, I flew to Denver, Colorado, where I was met by a University of Wyoming student who would be taking me to Laramie. The student and I didn’t talk much. She looked t...

In Memory: Maxine Kumin

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Maxine Kumin in The New Yorker by Paul Muldoon from The New Yorker. Peek: "Her poems...have the virtue of being meticulously observed and of dealing plainly with the things of the world." Note: article includes audio of Maxine reading.

Maxine Kumin, Pulitzer-Winning Poet With a Naturalist’s Precision, Dies at 88 by Margalit Fox from The New York Times. Peek: "The author of essays, novels, short stories and children’s books as well as poetry, Ms. Kumin...w...

In Memory: Erik Blegvad

By Cynthia Leitich Smith
for Cynsations

Obituary: Erik Blegvad from Publishers Weekly. Peek: "Acclaimed illustrator Erik Blegvad, whose artwork appeared in more than 100 children’s books, several of them by his wife, Lenore Blegvad (1926-2008), died on January 14 at the age of 90. Born in Copenhagen in 1923, Blegvad worked as an artist or illustrator from the earliest days of his career, in his hometown as well as in London and Paris."

Children's Illustrator Erik Blegvad Dies from Contact Music...