Jessica Verdi's Blog, page 3

Pretty Darn Cool

Tegan and Sara, one of my favorite bands, read The Summer I Wasn’t Me and Instagrammed about it! So cool!!!

First Blurb for WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND!

I’m so happy to be able to post the first author blurb for What You Left Behind — and it’s a terrific one!

“Ryden’s story is a moving illustration of how sometimes you have to let go of the life you planned to embrace the life you’ve been given. A strong, character-driven story that teen readers will love.” — Carrie Arcos, National Book Award Finalist for Out of Reach

Thank you so much, Carrie!!

Also, What You Left Behind is officially up for pre-order. Yippee! So soon now!

Cover Reveal for WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND!!!

Barnes and Noble’s awesome book blog hosted the cover reveal for my new book WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND last week, and I’m SO excited! The cover is gorgeous, and I got so many positive responses from TAL (Twitterers At Large). I can’t wait for this book to be out in the world—only 6 more months!

So here it is! What do you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the full cover reveal and my own personal thoughts/reactions to the cover, click here!

Join YA Authors and Readers in the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign!

I’m so glad to be part of the We Need Diverse Books initiative. It’s our goal and hope that the literary industry will begin publishing more books (YA, MG, and picture books in particular) with lead characters who are people of color, LGBTQ, disabled, of varying religions, and diverse and many different ways. Here’s how you can help:

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Recently, there’s been a groundswell of discontent over the lack of diversity in children’s literature. The issue is being picked up by news outlets like these two pieces in the NYT, CNN, EW, and many more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity, nothing changed.

Now is the time to raise our voices into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how:

On May 1st at 1pm (EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days. We’re starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can to help make the hashtag go viral.

For the visual part of the campaign:

Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to you.
The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs.
However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit your visual component by May 1st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page here and it will be posted throughout the first day.
Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will help get the word out.
The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media outlets.
The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after May 1st.

On May 2nd, the second part of our campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST) using the same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

On May 3rd, 2pm (EST), the third portion of our campaign will begin. There will be a Diversify Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate in the campaign! More details to come!

We hope that you will take part in this in any way you can. We need to spread the word far and wide so that it will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will pick it up as a news item. So that the organizers of BEA and every big conference and festival out there gets the message that diversity is important to everyone. We hope you will help us by being a part of this movement.

 

New Book Deal!

I’m so excited to finally be able to announce the sale of my third young adult novel, What You Left Behind, to my awesome publisher Sourcebooks Fire! Here’s the Publishers Weekly Children’s Bookshelf announcement:

“Annette Pollert at Sourcebooks Fire has bought Jessica Verdi‘s new novel,What You Left Behind, about a teen wrestling with guilt that if he hadn’t gotten his girlfriend pregnant, she wouldn’t have postponed her chemo treatments – and would still be alive. But as Rhy struggles to be a good father and grieve his girlfriend’s death, he uncovers secrets that will make him reconsider every relationship in his life. The book is scheduled for publication in 2015; Kate McKean at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency brokered the deal for North American rights.”

Yes, this book is my first one written in the point of view of a BOY. It was so fun being in Ryden’s head and being able to write in his voice. I hope readers love him as much as I do. Stay tuned for more info!

Enter to Win a Signed ARC of ‘The Summer I Wasn’t Me’ on Goodreads!

Goodreads Book Giveaway


The Summer I Wasn’t Me
by Jessica Verdi

Giveaway ends March 01, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

My Life After Now to be Published in Poland!!!

OMG you guys. Best Monday morning news ever.

My Life After Now has sold in Poland and will be published in that country February 5th, 2014!

I can’t wait to hold a book in my hands that I wrote but don’t have the first clue how to read. There’s something kinda awesome about that.

Here’s the back cover copy… in case you happen to read Polish:

Myślisz, że ciebie nie może to spotkać?

To był najgorszy dzień w życiu Lucy. Serio, najgorszy z najgorszych. To wszystko już ją przerasta – chce uciec. Z domu, od własnych myśli i od własnego życia. Chce zostać zupełnie nową Lucy. Decyduje się więc na coś, co dawnej Lucy nie przeszłoby nawet przez myśl. Teraz jej życie już nigdy nie będzie takie samo. Czy będzie mogła mieć teraz chłopaka? Co powie przyjaciołom? Czy będzie miała odwagę przyznać się rodzinie? Jej życie jest teraz zupełnie inne. Każda chwila to dar. A tych chwil może nie być już zbyt wiele… Ten jeden raz, który zmieni całe życie.

And what do you think of the Polish cover? I think it’s super pretty.

ALAN Workshop 2013

I recently had the honor of speaking at the 2013 ALAN (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTW) Workshop in Boston. It was such a wonderful experience (terrible Amtrak experiences notwithstanding).

Dinner with the Sourcebooks team (including my fellow author Zoraida Cordova — author of the awesome Vicious Deep series), the opportunity to sit in on amazing panels (with Laurie Halse Anderson, Jacqueline Woodson, and Rainbow Rowell, just to name a very small few), and the chance to introduce The Summer I Wasn’t Me to a room full of over 500 English teachers and librarians. It was all incredible.

I got to meet and work with Nancy Garden (author of the classic novel Annie on My Mind), Sara Farizan (If You Could Be Mine), and Ken Setterington (Branded By the Pink Triangle) — all their books are amazing, if you’re looking for a great LGBTQ teen read! And Nancy and Sara even agreed to read and blurb The Summer I Wasn’t Me, which made the whole experience even more wonderful. Stay tuned for  their quotes about the book!

(Photo credit: Zoraida Cordova)

Cool Stuff That Happened This Week

The past week and a half has been a busy one! Here’s some cool stuff that happened:

1. I went on my first ever writers retreat! Last weekend, seven awesome writers (including YA authors Caela Carter, Alison Cherry, Mindy Raf, and Lindsay Ribar) and I drove up to Woodstock, NY (the damn near closest you’ll ever get to Stars Hollow), stayed at a gorgeous house in the woods (complete with hot tub!), and wrote wrote wrote for four days straight. I had so much fun, and made some great progress on my current work-in-progress.

2. I signed copies of My Life After Now at Oblong Books and Music in Rhinebeck, NY — an AMAAAAZING independent bookstore. Seriously, their YA and MG sections are out of control.

3. I participated in a dramatic reading of the first chapter of Red at Alison Cherry’s book launch party at BookCourt in Brooklyn! I played the main character’s best friend Hayley. It was ridiculous and hilarious and so much fun.

4. I did my first ever reading/signing at a Barnes and Noble, with Caela Carter and Corey Ann Haydu. Sweet!

5. The Vampire Diaries finally came back on TV. #DelenaForever

Advanced Reader Copies of ‘The Summer I Wasn’t Me’ Are In!

Ahhhhhhhhhh!!! They are BEAUTIFUL! I can’t wait till the book hits stores in April!