Cory Putman Oakes's Blog, page 4

Spotlight on YAB Fest Author RACHEL HARRIS

YAB Fest (the Young Adult Book Fest) is this Saturday (May 11) in Round Rock, Texas! I have the privilege of moderating the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, which is appropriately named because there are such amazing authors on it! (Also, our books all feature fantasy/sci fi worlds). My fellow panelists are so cool that I decided to feature one of them every day until the start of the festival. (Also, this is my first time moderating a panel. I’m slightly nervous about it, so I’ve decided to error on the side of overachieving).

Today’s featured OUT OF THIS WORLD Panelist is . . .

RACHEL HARRIS

 

Rachel’s debut YA is MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH CENTURY. It takes place in sixteenth century Florence and it’s awesome! It’s one of those books that just makes you happy while reading it. And I won’t give anything away, but it ends in such a way that I was very relieved to hear that there is going to be a sequel! Rachel is also an adult romance author, and I’m looking forward to reading TASTE THE HEAT when it comes out this summer!

For more on Rachel, visit her website (and maybe even join the Flirt Squad!) You can also follow her on TWITTER or find her on FACEBOOK!

Come and see Rachel, her fellow panelists on the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, and all of the other amazing authors in attendance at YAB FEST this Saturday in Round Rock!

 

SOME INFO ON YAB FEST:

When: Saturday, May 11 from 9:30am to 5pm

Where: Round Rock High School (in Round Rock, Texas)

Admission: FREE

Who Will Be There?: Complete List of Authors and What Panel Each Author Is On

When Will Cory and/or My Other Fave Authors Be Speaking?: Schedule Of the Day

Other Questions: See the YAB Fest Website

 

Spotlight on YAB Fest Author SHARON BAYLISS

YAB Fest (the Young Adult Book Fest) is this Saturday (May 11) in Round Rock, Texas! I have the privilege of moderating the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, which is appropriately named because there are such amazing authors on it! (Also, our books all feature fantasy/sci fi worlds). My fellow panelists are so cool that I decided to feature one of them every day until the start of the festival. (Also, this is my first time moderating a panel. I’m slightly nervous about it, so I’ve decided to error on the side of overachieving).

Today’s featured OUT OF THIS WORLD Panelist is . . .

 

SHARON BAYLISS

 

Sharon’s debut novel, THE CHARGE (a New Adult science fiction novel) was a quarter-finalist for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. It is a fabulously entertaining alternate history, set after the fall of the evil Texas Empire. Sharon is a fellow Austinite, but unlike me, she knows her Texas history well enough to make up her OWN VERSION of it!. I really enjoyed this book, and it has caused me to look suspiciously at all tall, black-haired, blue-eyed Texans I encounter. (Trust me – after you read the book, you will do this too!)

 

For more on Sharon, including a sample chapter of THE CHARGE, visit her website! You can also follow her on TWITTER or like her page on FACEBOOK.

Come and see Sharon, her fellow panelists on the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, and all of the other amazing authors in attendance at YAB FEST this Saturday in Round Rock!

SOME INFO ON YAB FEST:

When: Saturday, May 11 from 9:30am to 5pm

Where: Round Rock High School (in Round Rock, Texas)

Admission: FREE

Who Will Be There?: Complete List of Authors and What Panel Each Author Is On

When Will Cory and/or My Other Fave Authors Be Speaking?: Schedule Of the Day

Other Questions: See the YAB Fest Website

 

 

Spotlight on YAB Fest Author GREG LEITICH SMITH!

YAB Fest (the Young Adult Book Fest) is this Saturday (May 11) in Round Rock, Texas! I have the privilege of moderating the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, which is appropriately named because there are such amazing authors on it! (Also, our books all feature fantasy/sci fi worlds). My fellow panelists are so cool that I decided to feature one of them every day until the start of the festival. (Also, this is my first time moderating a panel. I’m slightly nervous about it, so I’ve decided to error on the side of overachieving).

Today’s featured OUT OF THIS WORLD Panelist is . . .

 

GREG LEITICH SMITH!

 

 

Greg is a fellow Austinite and the author of several books-with-cool-names, including TOFU AND T-REX and NINJAS, PIRANHAS,and GALILEO. His featured book at YAB Fest is his latest, an awesome time travel adventure with dinosaurs called CHRONAL ENGINE. Greg is one of my two favorite Leitich Smiths, the other being the sublime Cynthia Leitich Smith (Greg’s wife, and the author of the TANTALIZE and FERAL series). Greg is from Chicago and has degrees in electrical engineering and law. He is fond of dinosaur tee-shirts and doing exhaustive book research which puts the rest of us writers to shame!

 

For more on Greg, including news on the forthcoming sequel to CHRONAL ENGINE, (WOOT!) check out his website!

You can also follow Greg on FACEBOOK and/or TWITTER.

Come and see Greg, his fellow panelists on the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, and all of the other amazing authors in attendance at YAB FEST this Saturday in Round Rock!

 

SOME INFO ON YAB FEST:

When: Saturday, May 11 from 9:30am to 5pm

Where: Round Rock High School (in Round Rock, Texas)

Admission: FREE

Who Will Be There?: Complete List of Authors and What Panel Each Author Is On

When Will Cory and/or My Other Fave Authors Be Speaking?: Schedule Of the Day

Other Questions: See the YAB Fest Website

 

Spotlight on YAB Fest Author KRISSI DALLAS

YAB Fest (the Young Adult Book Fest) is this Saturday (May 11) in Round Rock, Texas! I have the privilege of moderating the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, which is appropriately named because there are such amazing authors on it! (Also, our books all feature fantasy/sci fi worlds). My fellow panelists are so cool that I decided to feature one of them every day until the start of the festival. (Also, this is my first time moderating a panel. I’m slightly nervous about it, so I’ve decided to error on the side of overachieving).

Today’s featured OUT OF THIS WORLD Panelist is . . .

KRISSI DALLAS!

 

 

Isn’t she adorable?

Krissi is the author of the PHANTOM ISLAND Series, a YA fantasy series that I am an enormous fan of! There are four books in the series so far (WINDCHASER, WINDFALL, WATERCROSSING and WATERMARK) and there are more coming, so feel free to fall in love – you’ll have plenty of material to keep you reading! She also has many exciting projects forthcoming which I am not allowed to talk about too much (but trust me, there is lots of awesomeness coming from this girl!). Krissi lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her husband Sam and their Yorkies. She is known on the Texas festival/conference circuit for her great writing, her fabulous hair, and her wonderful way with readers. Krissi and I have been on many panels together in the past, so I am really looking forward to bossing her around at YAB Fest, now that I finally get to be the Panelist-in-Charge!

 

For more on Krissi, explore her website! She has lots of cool features on there, including a wordcounter for her works in progress (so you can stalk her, like I do, to find out when the next Phantom Island book is going to be finished!), a Fan Headquarters where you can figure out which island tribe you belong to, a shop, and lots of other fun stuff! Krissi is also very active on Facebook and Twitter.

Come and see Krissi, her fellow panelists on the OUT OF THIS WORLD Panel, and all of the other amazing authors in attendance at YAB FEST this Saturday in Round Rock!

 

SOME INFO ON YAB FEST:

When: Saturday, May 11 from 9:30am to 5pm

Where: Round Rock High School (in Round Rock, Texas)

Admission: FREE

Who Will Be There?: Complete List of Authors and What Panel Each Author Is On

When Will Cory and/or My Other Fave Authors Be Speaking?: Schedule Of the Day

Other Questions: See the YAB Fest Website

 

In Celebration of POISON (by Bridget Zinn)

 

Can she save the kingdom with a piglet?

We’ll find out this Friday, at Book People in Austin, where we celebrate the launch of Bridget Zinn’s POISON!

Bridget Zinn, author of POISON (Hyperion Books for Children)

Bridget passed away from colon cancer in 2011. Since she can not be here to promote POISON herself, the YA community has joined Bridget’s family and friends to spread the word about this delightful, refreshingly funny book. I am honored to participate in the Austin festivities!

Please join me, Lindsey Lane, P.J. Hoover, Nikki Loftin, Susan Kralovansky, Greg Leitich Smith, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and Bridget’s family at Book People on Friday, April 19 at 7:30pm, where we will remember Bridget and talk about the awesomeness that is POISON. Tricia, Nikki and I will be reading our favorite excerpts, and we will all be available to sign copies.

I hope to see you there!

Resources:

The Book People Event Page (directions, details, etc)

About Bridget (from her website)

Buy POISON on Amazon (if you can’t make it to Book People!)

School Visit!

On Friday, I had the pleasure of being a speaker at the Young Author’s Conference at Zilker Elementary School. I felt so welcome!

 

For my presentation, we discussed why the first line of a book is important. Then, we analyzed the first lines of various popular books (like A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Holes, etc).

We make a list of the qualities we think the “Good” first lines have, as opposed to the qualities that “Bad” first lines have. This was my favorite list of the day, mostly because of the illustrations and creative spelling After we made the list, we broke into groups and got busy writing our own first lines. Here are a few pics of the fabulous fifth graders in action! They took the exercise quite seriously. They must have known that there was chocolate on the line for the winner . . .

 

 

And here I am with the all of the kids from my first session of the day! I was so impressed by what they had to say! They were so sharp and opinionated, and they are all so incredibly well-read! They sound exactly like my friends and me when we discuss books. EXAMPLE:

 

“Mrs Oakes? Do you recommend that I read

The Heroes of Olympus books? I keep hearing good things,

but I’m just not sure I’m up for another series right now . . .”

Every time I visit a school, my belief in the power of Kid Lit is reaffirmed. Kids don’t just read books – they live and breath them. I know, because I did the same thing. Talking to these fifth graders was like talking to my fifth-grade self. Sometimes I think that my decision to write Kid Lit is based in part on a desire to get back to that place, where fictional characters were nearly as real as the kids sitting beside me in class (more real, in some ways). It is a great honor and a great responsibility to write for young people. And talking to these fifth graders last Friday was a reminder to me that I have the coolest job in the world.

 

I had a fabulous times with all of the kids, including the two cutie-patooties in the picture above. I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Mrs. Thompson, for inviting me to her class, and to Kari Anne Holt, for bringing me to Mrs. Thompson’s attention. I was delighted to be a part of the Young Author’s Conference, and I sincerely hope the kids had as much fun as I did!

The 2013 Austin SCBWI Regional Conference

 

This weekend was the Austin SCBWI Regional Conference! As always, it was a fabulously organized and lovely affair, with keynotes by E.B. Lewis and Neal Porter, panels on picture books, “no nonsense non-fiction,” and more editors and agents than you could shake a stick at. (Note: shaking sticks at editors and agents is not advised. That was just a figure of speech).

But more than anything else, this weekend reminded me how lucky I am to be a part of this wonderful community of creative people. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this weekend happen – especially Debbie Gonzales, our beloved, outgoing R.A. I HEART you, Deb!

Here are some pictures!

P.J. Hoover, Joy Preble,me, and Jessica Lee Anderson.

Greg Leitich Smith and Cynthia Leitich Smith in coordinating purple!

Me and Lindsey Scheibe

Jo Whittemore, Jessica and me!

Joy with Debbie Gonzales (who is, quite rightly, wearing a tiara)

And this being Texas, there were fabulous boots everywhere! The authors attached to these boots are, from left to right, E Kristin Anderson, Jessica Lee Anderson and P.J. Hoover.

The Montgomery County Book Festival!

I am back home safe from the Montgomery County Book Festival! It was wonderful spending a weekend with forty other authors, lovely librarians, industrious conference organizers, and the oodles of readers who showed up to hang out with us.

Special thanks go to Tabatha Perry and Natasha Benway, the forces of nature who somehow managed to wrangle us all together, and the army of volunteers who made the weekend so special. Extra special thanks to Jessica, Michelle and Megan in the Teen Zone who set aside the cool Doctor Who craft stuff for me and still deigned to talk to me after my true feelings about Captain America came to light (thank you, Krissi Dallas!) Hats off to you guys!

Here are some pictures!

Roadtrip! Austin to Houston with Marianne Mancusi, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Greg Leitich Smith,

Bethany Hegedus and E. Kristin Anderson

 

One of my fave Austin peeps,  Nikki Loftin, got to Houston ahead of us to do some school visits

At the Author’s Dinner, with Victoria Scott and Cynthia Leitich Smith

Victoria Scott and I hung out with uber-librarians Michelle Greer and Jessica Russell

(These are the gals who saved the Doctor Who stuff for me! WOOT!)

Maria Cari Soto was there, and as usual, she had the best shoes!!

I met Jonathan Maberry! He was extremely cool. Unfortunately, my picture of him giving the keynote address the following morning didn’t turn out. But you’ll just have to trust me that it was one of those excellent, inspiring speeches about writing that I wish I could have heard when I was a teenager!

The always fabulous Krissi Dallas!

 

Book guuuuurls!

Deeanne Gist, our lovely hostess for the evening (in her post-party slippers!)

The next morning, it was all business. Here is Jen Bigheart and her panel (Joy Preble, Mary Lindsey, Victoria Scott, Kendare Blake, and Lisa McMann) planning world domination . . .

 

Which meant that my panel and I had no choice but to plan world domination as well!

Here we are: Wendy Delsol, Janni Lee Simner, Krissi Dallas, and moderator Ledia Runnels.

 

Jo Whittemore, ladies and gentlemen! I HEART her

 

We had some time to kill before world domination, so Krissi Dallas, Lindsay Cummings and I found the Lone Star Mascot!

Sadly, earlier in the day, someone had stolen his unicorn horn (or so theorized Nikki Loftin).

 

Megan and Michelle, goddesses of the Teen Zone!

 

Lunch! With David Gill, Bethany Hegedus, Jo Whittemore, E.Kristin Anderson, Mari Mancui and Krissi Dallas.

 

After lunch, the zombies invaded! I always thought they feasted on human flesh, but apparently these zombies preferred books . . .

(Thank you to Houston Zombie Walk for allowing me to post this photo. PS, you guys are totally awesome!)

 

Jonathan Maberry: Zombie Slayer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ordered these cool VEIL-themed pins to give away at the festival and people seemed to like them! Here is Cynthia Leitich Smith modeling the “I CAN SEE SONYA” pin on her author badge!

 

Then, it was finally time for panels! I was very excited to be a part of the REALITY IS GREAT BUT I WOULDN’T WANT TO LIVE THERE Panel with Krissi Dallas, Janni Lee Simner, and Wendy Delsol. (Props to our wonderful moderator, Ledia Runnels, whose lovely elbow is in the far righthand corner of this picture. Sorry, Ledia! I wasn’t taking the picture!)

 

A Cutie-Patootie, who sat in the front row and wore both of the VEIL pins!

 

After the panels, we had signing time. I got to sit with Tracy Deebs! She’s about 5,000 kinds of awesome

 

Weird things I signed that day: tee-shirts (while people were wearing them) a pizza-box, and this girl’s arm!

 

Larry, the extremely talented husband of Janni Lee Simner, made these cool origami creatures for me and Jo Whittemore. So, of course, later that evening we made them joust with Twizzlers. Unfortunately, our video of this extraordinary event (complete with musical score) “exceeded the available download capacity” of this blog. So you’ll just have to go searching for it on my FB page if you want to see it!

(PS – Check out Larry’s website!)

That’s a wrap! Next up for me: the 2013 Austin SCBWI Conference on Saturday, Feb 9!

Lots of love!

CPO

 

 

See You This Weekend At The Montgomery County Book Festival!

 

 

This weekend, I am headed to the Montgomery County Book Festival, just outside of Houston Texas! I am so excited to be one of the over forty authors who will be in attendance, including keynote authors Jonathan Maberry, Deeane Gist, and Sherrilyn Kenyon, as well as some of my favorite Austin authors: E. Kristin Anderson, Bethany Hegedus, Nikki Loftin, Mari Mancusi, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Greg Leitich Smith and Jo Whittmore! The list goes on and on!

Here are the details:

When: Saturday, February 2 (9:00am to 5:00pm)

Where: Lone Star College (Montgomery, Texas)

Admission: Free (so you can buy lots of our books!)

There is a jam-packed schedule of events including three keynote talks, lots of author signings, 10 author panels, writing workshops and a Teen Zone! I’m psyched to be joining Wendy Delsol, Janni Lee Simner and Krissi Dallas on the REALITY IS GREAT BUT I WOULDN’T WANT TO LIVE THERE Panel.

Plus, Houston Zombie Walk will be there! I have been plotting my photo op with them ever since I found out! What exactly does one wear when you’re going to be posing next to zombies?

For more information, check out the festival’s website. I hope to see you there!

CPO

 

 

YAK Fest 2013 – A Recap

 

The Young Adult Keller Book Fest (“YAK” Fest) was wonderful! Here is the story of my weekend, in pictures!

 

To begin with, here was my crazy hair! I heard yaks really like pink . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great road trip from Austin to Fort Worth. Due to a perfect storm of   traffic jams, we got stuck in Waco for longer than any of us would have thought possible. But the excellent company made up for the delay! Here we are from left to right: Jessica Lee Anderson, Lori Aurelia Williams, Greg Leitich Smith, Cynthia Leitich Smith, and yours truly.

 

 

 

 

The first order of business was the author’s dinner at The Book Carriage (an adorable indie bookstore in Roanoke). While there, I met up with the fantastic Krissi Dallas. I love her even though her hair is cooler than mine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jen Bigheart was there, so you know it was a party! (Jen was moderating the Vampire Smackdown Panel).

 

 

 

 

 

 

The perpetually awesome Cynthia Leitich Smith! Check out those arm muscles!

(In the background, you can kind of see Simone Elkeles, our illustrious keynote speaker and all-around nice gal. I’m sorry to say that this was the only picture of Simone I managed to get over the entire weekend!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning, it was YAK Fest time! There was even a yak in front of Keller High School to welcome us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we all had to take pictures with the yak . . . Cynthia, Greg, Jessica and I managed to corner him later in the library.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at all of the people who came out to see us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Simone’s keynote address (which was so hysterically funny I forget to take a single picture of it), we broke up into our panels. I was on the THIS IS NOT NORMAL panel. From left to right: Rosemary Clement-Moore, me, Victoria Scott and Mary Lindsey).

 

 

 

 

 

Here we are again, this time with our moderator, the wonderful Jenny Martin (whose debut YA will be published by Dial/Penguin in 2014, by the way, so keep this lovely lady on your radar!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had great audiences for all four of our panel sessions, but this first one was my favorite. Aren’t they cute?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between sessions, we hung out in the library. Here’s our “car crew” along with Jason Henderson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the day, we signed books. And tee-shirts, and posters and notebooks. I even signed one girl’s arm! I got to sit next to Krissi Dallas! I just love her, even though her hair was STILL cooler than mine . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was a great day! Thank you to all of the lovely librarians, volunteers, students and authors who made it so amazing. Extra special thanks to Lucy Smith Kubo (pictured here) who was the brains and heart behind the whole operation. Hugs, Lucy! Now, go take a nap!!

 

Next up for me: The Montgomery Country Book Festival on February 2. I will try to do a lead-up post next week, but in the meantime you can check out their website HERE.

 

Until next time – peace out!

-CPO