Jay Asher's Blog, page 45

A Quick Trip to Kansas

Last week, while in Texas, I got a frantic phone call asking if I could make a last minute trip to Kansas. Another author had been scheduled to speak at Ottawa High School, as well as at an awards banquet for student writers, but she unexpectedly canceled. Kansas was in a bind. Kansas needed help!

It's not often that I get a chance to feel like a superhero coming to the rescue, so I take that opportunity whenever it comes. To help you imagine how I answered that call, picture me standing t...

The Stars at Night...

Actually, the stars at night weren't very big and bright on my first trip to Texas. The stars were hidden by clouds, which sporadically sprinkled a little rain. But I wasn't here for the stars, I was here for the librarians! And now that I think of it, librarians are stars in their own right. So it was a success!!!

Since I was in San Antonio, of course I had to visit the Alamo when I had the chance.


The Texas Library Association's annual conference is huge. I've been jealous over the year...

Everawesome

I think Washingston should change its nickname from The Evergreen State to the Everawesome State. Of course, maybe the rest of Washington isn't as organized and inspiring and downright fun as the 19th Annual SCBWI Western Washington Conference made it seem, but if it even comes close...it's awesome.

I gave one keynote address to the entire group (a little over 400 attendees), led one writing workshop, and critiqued several manuscripts. In between those events, I had the great opportunity to ...

7 More? OK!

This actually is starting to feel like election night coverage!

Coming on the heels of a win in South Carolina, Thirteen Reasons Why won the High School Sequoyah Book Award, given by students in Oklahoma.


So here's the current tally: Oklahoma holds 7 electoral college votes. Thirteen Reasons Why previously won teen book awards in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, and South Carolina (27, 6, 8, 15 and 8 votes). In 2012, my first opportunity to run for President, many of the these good peo...

Another 8

Thirteen Reasons Why recently won South Carolina's Young Adult Book Award. State awards like this one, voted on by teens, are my absolute favorite awards to receive.


So here's the current tally: South Carolina holds 8 electoral college votes. Thirteen Reasons Why previously won teen book awards in Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, and New Jersey (27, 6, 8, and 15 votes). In 2012, I'll finally be old enough to run for President. If I can keep the teens in that state on my side for a couple more y...

Happy Easter!!!

The following is a reposting of last Easter's post, but it still applies!


Every so often, a reader gives me their impression of my book in a way which deepens my own understanding of what I wrote. A reader in Florida once told me how a decision made by one of my characters helped her illustrate a sentiment she'd been trying to get across to her friends.

Here's what she told me:

In the past, I've had to help friends realize that life goes on even after you've made a poor decision. Not because...

Millions of Peaches

Sure, I could've titled this post with a line from The Devil Went Down to Georgia or Georgia (On My Mind) or one of those other brilliant songs about the largest pecan producing state in the world. But that would've been so obvious! Instead, I grabbed a line from the not-quite-classic but super-fantastic song by The Presidents of the United States of America. Peaches...check it out!

I finally made my first trek down to Georgia to speak at Kennesaw State University's Annual Conference on Li...

No 3-D Glasses Required

The editing of these trailers keeps getting better and better!

The Little Ones May Not Like My Book

This week, Publishers Weekly released a list of the bestselling children's books of 2009. The list is divided into four categories: hardcover frontlist (books released in 2009), hardcover backlist (books released prior to 2009), paperback frontlist, and paperback backlist. The books are then grouped together based on the number of copies sold.

Thirteen Reasons Why made the hardcover backlist category for books selling between 200,000 and 299,999 copies. There are a total of thirteen books i...

Guten Tag!

Tote Mädchen Lügen Nicht is nominated for a Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis!

Uh…what?

Dead Girls Don't Lie is nominated for a German Youth Literature Prize!

Um…why are you telling us this?

Because that's my book! The German edition of Thirteen Reasons Why is called Tote Mädchen Lügen Nicht (Dead Girls Don't Lie) and I just learned that it's up for a national award in Germany.


My book is nominated in the Youth Jury (Jugendjury) category, which means it'll be voted on by youth book clubs in Germany.

W...