Category Archives: Authors You Should Know

#LoveInBooks: 7 YA Authors Sending Love

February 4, 2016Authors You Should Know, Contests and Giveaways, Newskathymacmillan

LoveInBooks

Hello, lovely reader!

Today is the first day of a multi-author Valentine’s Day special: #LoveInBooks.

Seven of us have teamed up to share quotes from our books containing the word “love” from now through Valentine’s Day.

Here’s the first quote for Sword and Verse:

gods read out

Grand Prize Giveaway

To spread even more love, each of us is giving away a finished copy of our books and swag. You can enter the giveaway below. Entries are accepted daily through Feb. 12th. The winner will be announced on Monday, Feb. 15. USA only.

Participating books and authors (alphabetically, by book):

Rafflecopter giveaway

GeekyCon Recap

August 12, 2015Authors You Should Know, On Life, On Reading, On Writingkathymacmillan

A couple of weeks ago I got to go to my first GeekyCon, and it was fabulous! I left the con and went directly to a camp in the woods, which is why I haven’t gotten to post about it until now. A week and a half after leaving Orlando, here are the moments that stuck with me:

1. Being incredibly proud of founders Melissa Anelli and Stephanie Dornhelm as they received a “Geek Day” proclamation from the Orange County Commissioner.

2. Watching my good friend Megan Morrison discuss topics such as likable protagonists and making old stories new alongside authors like Taherah Mafi, Ransom Riggs, Holly Black, and Cynthia Leitich Smith (all of whom, by the way, totally recognized Megan as a fandom authority).

3. Getting signed copies of books by Stephanie Perkins, Courtney Summers, and Marie Lu. I was pretty much tongue-tied and starstruck. (And getting to reread Stephanie Perkins’ Isla and the Happily Ever After at camp. It was even better than I remembered.)

4. This sign in the bookstore:

5. Co-presenting a session on fanfiction as a launching pad for original writing with my pal Megan, and reliving our shipping days.

6. Getting the map in the back of Megan’s book, Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel signed by mapmaker Kristin Brown.

7. The opening event at the Wizard World of Harry Potter. A bunch of Harry Potter fans having the whole place to themselves? It was awesome. And my son was chosen to be measured for a wand at the Ollivander’s Experience. I’m not sure who was giddier – him, or the superfan adults watching it all go down.

Celeste Lim on Diversity

May 12, 2015Authors You Should Know, Guest Posts, On WritingCeleste Lim, diversity, SixteensBlogAboutkathymacmillan

Today we’ll hear from author Celeste Lim, who shares her thoughts on diversity in children’s fiction as part of The Sweet Sixteens’ #SixteensBlogAbout May theme. Born in China and raised in Malaysia, Celeste holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and an MA from Manhattanville College. She is represented by Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio and her debut middle-grade novel, THE BRIDE FROM HUANAN, will be published by Scholastic Press in spring 2016.

About THE BRIDE FROM HUANAN: In Medieval China, a girl is sold by her family to become a nursemaid and wife to a toddler husband. With the help of sentient creatures called jing, she discovers internal strength, and a destiny that is foretold to intertwine with her spirit guardian – a great, golden fox spirit.

And now, Celeste:

I grew up jealous of white children.

Though hardly fluent in English herself, my mother had tried very hard to read me English fairy tales when I was young. As a child, I was familiar with Anderson, Grimm and many stories written by Enid Blyton. I remember thinking then, questions like: Where was my snow? Why aren’t there fairies living in our garden? What does a Christmas pie taste like? And especially hated it whenever my mother would say, “We don’t have any of those things here, my dear; they are all in English places overseas.”

Continue reading Celeste Lim on Diversity →

An Interview with Megan Morrison, Author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL

May 6, 2015Authors You Should Know, Interviews, On Writing, Recommended ReadingMegan Morrison, Tymekathymacmillan

I recently had the enormous pleasure of interviewing my good friend, Megan Morrison, about her debut middle grade novel, GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL, for the Sweet Sixteens’ debut author interview series, The Debut Club. This is an extended version of that interview, in which we learn more about Megan’s influences as a writer and friends from her past return to ask her tough questions.

Megan and I have been friends for almost fifteen years. We first met bonding over Hermione-centric Harry Potter fanfiction, and the intervening years have held lots of obsessing over fictional characters, matching tattoos (quills, if you must know), and writing – so, so much writing. I am so proud of Megan and what she has done with the Tyme series, and I can’t wait for everyone to read it!

More about Megan:

Megan Morrison spends her time having adventures with her husband and little boy, teaching drama and language arts to 7^th and 8^th graders, and writing fairy tales set in the world of Tyme, which she co-created with Ruth Virkus. When she’s not busy working on something or other, she enjoys obsessing over other people’s stories. She’s a huge, dress-up-in-costumes-and-scream-a-lot level fan of Harry Potter, Jane Austen, Star Wars, Firefly, and BioWare’s role-playing games. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, where she enjoys nature and coffee.

Find Megan on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.

About GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL

Published by Scholastic/Arthur Levine Books, April 2015

You know about the tower, the hair, and the witch. But in the world of Tyme, they’re only the beginning . . .

Rapunzel knows only her magical tower and her wonderful Witch, who guards her against evil princes far below. But when a peasant named Jack climbs into her life, Rapunzel learns that Witch is in terrible danger — and to keep her safe, she must leave her tower and journey with Jack on a quest far across Tyme. There she finds a world filled with even more peril than Witch promised . . . and more beauty, wonder, and adventure than she ever dreamed.

GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL is the first book set in the land of Tyme — with many tales to come. It is available for purchase at Amazon, IndieBound, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, and Powell’s.

And now, the interview!

Continue reading An Interview with Megan Morrison, Author of GROUNDED: THE ADVENTURES OF RAPUNZEL →

Betty May: Exploring the Struggles of Women Behind Bars

April 20, 2015Authors You Should Know, Recommended ReadingBetty May, criminal justice system, Faces, Onstage Productionskathymacmillan

When I was a child, I had the incredible good fortune to meet a woman who would shape the person I became, whose energy and belief in others helped me evolve from a shy little girl who cried in the bathroom to a singing and dancing young woman who went after her dreams. That was Betty May, director of Onstage Productions, the theater group I was involved with for over ten years.

To anyone who knew her, it was no surprise that Betty continued to use her theatrical gifts to reach out to others after our theater closed. She’s been a high school teacher, a circus coach, and a clown. She went to Central America and founded a children’s theater company in a Guatemalan squatters’ settlement. And then, in 2008, she responded to an invitation to work with female prisoners serving life sentences to create a play about their experiences.

Now, she has written a book about these women’s experiences: Faces: Imprisoned Women and Their Struggle with the Criminal Justice System (CreateSpace, 2014). The book also follows Betty’s own journey through the criminal justice system as she directed their original play warning young people about the consequences of bad choices. That work led to the Kennedy Center tapping Betty to write and direct a production featuring plays by prison inmates performed by professional actors.

Faces is an inspiring, eye-opening, and at times difficult and upsetting, read. Betty May invites us to examine our criminal justice system and the ways it often penalizes those it was designed to protect. She takes the reader along with her as she enters the prison gates and meets the real people behind the headlines.

Read the first chapter of Faces: Imprisoned Women and Their Struggle with the Criminal Justice System here.

Betty is a dynamic, passionate speaker and is available for speaking engagements at schools, libraries, and other community groups. Find out more at http://bettymayauthor.com/