Lisa Stringfellow's Blog

2025 CABA honor book

The 2025 Children's Africana Book Awards (CABA) were celebrated on Saturday, November 1, 2025 in Washington, DC and I had the honor of accepting a chapter book honor award for Kingdom of Dust.

The awards are presented annually to the authors and illustrators of the best children’s and young adult books on Africa published or republished in the U.S. Africa Access and the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association (ASA) created CABA in 1991 to encourage the publication and use of accurate,...

a massachusetts book award honor!

I had a wonderful day at the Massachusetts State House on October 7 for the 2025 Mass Book Awards ceremony, which is celebrating its 25th year ☺️. Sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, the award recognizes significant works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, graphic novel/memoir, and children’s/young adult literature written, illustrated, or translated by current Commonwealth residents. An annual “notable contribution to publishing” award recognizes the w...

2024 newton children's book festival

The inaugural Newton Children's Book Festival took place this past Saturday, December 14, 2024. Hundreds of families came out to the New Art Center in Newton, MA to meet over 60 children's book authors and illustrators.

The festival kicked off with a sold-out launch event on Monday, December 9 featuring New York Times bestselling author Tui T. Sutherland.

​I was honored to be Tui's conversation partner at the West Newton Cinema, and we had such a great time talking about fantasy, books, and...

kingdom of dust is a junior library guild gold standard selection

​I'm thrilled to share that Kingdom of Dust, my West African-inspired middle grade fantasy, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection! This is a huge honor and means that Kingdom of Dust now has an important boost in finding its readers. 

Junior Library Guild is a trusted organization that librarians and educators can use to find excellent books for their collections. On their website they state, "JLG titles are curated by our renowned editorial team who reads and reviews thousan...

a cover reveal on the horizon

I'm so excited that my forthcoming book Kingdom of Dust has a publication date! It will be released on 8/20/2024 by HarperCollins/Quill Tree Books.

I'm also excited for readers to see the amazing cover, illustrated once again by the fantastic Michael Machira Mwangi and designed by David Curtis.

I'm grateful to John Schu for hosting the cover reveal for me again. I loved the questions he asked me about A Comb of Wishes , and I can't wait to share my answers about this latest middle grade fant...

a comb of wishes giveaway!

To celebrate the release of Disney's live-action movie The Little Mermaid, I am hosting a giveaway!

FIVE lucky educators will receive either a paperback copy of A Comb of Wishes or the grand prize, an OwlCrate Jr. FINDERS KEEPERS box!

The OwlCrate Box includes:A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow (Exclusive OwlCrate Jr. edition)Signed bookplate and author letter from Lisa StringfellowEerie-On-Sea Book Sleeve (designed by Hanna Sandvig)Liquid Gold Bubble Elixir (created by Fiction Bath Co.)...

2024 rhode island children's book award nominee

It was a surprise and an honor to find out that A Comb of Wishes is nominated for the 2024 Rhode Island Children's Book Award! Twenty titles were selected by the nomination committee in March and will be voted on by Rhode Island students in February of 2024.

An annotated list of all of the nominees is available on the RICBA website. Thank you again, Rhode Island librarians and teachers!

2022 bram stoker award nominee

I'm so honored and excited that A Comb of Wishes is a nominee for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel​! This is the inaugural year for the middle grade speculative fiction category and it is filled with wonderful dark speculative fiction that speaks to kids' courage and heart. So happy that more readers will find A Comb of Wishes due to this honor. 

The Stoker Award winners will be announced at a gala on June 17, 2023 in Pittsburgh during StokerCon. Good ...

2022 bram stoker award finalist

I'm so honored and excited that A Comb of Wishes is a middle grade finalist for the Bram Stoker Award! This is the inaugural year for the middle grade speculative fiction category and it is filled with wonderful dark speculative fiction that speaks to kids' courage and heart. So happy that more readers will find A Comb of Wishes due to this honor. 

The Stoker Award winners will be announced at a gala on June 17, 2023 in Pittsburgh during StokerCon. Good luck to all of the nominees!  ...

paperback launch and GIVEAWAY!

It's been almost a year since the publication of A Comb of Wishes and it's been an amazing ride so far. Thank you to all of the readers, teachers, librarians, and booksellers who have embraced the book!

Now it's time to welcome the PAPERBACK of A Comb of Wishes! If you are in Massachusetts, I welcome you to join me on Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 1 pm at Whitelam Books in Reading, MA for a in-person event. I can't wait!

To celebrate the in-person Paperback Book Launch and the one-year publ...