PEN conversation with Rebecca Stead!

Last month at the wonderful Brooklyn Book Festival, Susanna Reich moderated a discussion between me and Newbery-winning author Rebecca Stead at the PEN American Center booth. We talk about writing and ideas and editing and lots of other things; you can listen to the conversation here:

http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5330/prmID/1873
 
You may have to turn the volume up when I'm talking - I'm not really that quiet, but I think I had my mic clipped on too far away. :)

The Dragon of Trelian paperback! And stuff.

The Dragon of Trelian comes out in paperback on January 11, 2011. It will have an awesome new cover, which looks like this:

In other news, here are some updates about various things:

1. This July I graduated from the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Yay! But also :( because I will miss it very much. But mostly :) because it was two years of hard work and it feels really good to have earned my degree. And I have a whole bunch of wonderful writing friends/classmates/kindred spirits who will continue to be very important to me, even if I won't get to see them quite as regularly now.

2. I am experimenting with new designs for the blog. You are looking at this experiment right now. Like it? Don't like it? Let me know what you think.

3. ARGUS comes out on February 22, 2011. February 22 happens to be my birthday. There will quite possibly be a birthday-book launch party in the works very soon. I can't wait to show you guys the cover—Andréa Wesson's artwork is perfect! But, um, I have to wait, at least a little while longer. But as soon as I'm allowed I will post the cover here.

4. Still working hard on Dragon of Trelian sequel revisions. I'm in the third draft now. Stuff is happening, there is danger and magic and intrigue and there are new characters and old characters and someone may die. That is all I am going to say at this time. The pub date will be sometime in Spring 2012.

5. I am in another Gilbert and Sullivan operetta with The Village Light Opera Group! The show is Iolanthe and we just started rehearsals and performances will be the weekend before Thanksgiving and you should all come to see it. Don't worry, I will remind you as it gets closer.

6. I have joined the crew of Through the Tollbooth, which is a fabulous group blog run by VCFA graduates. There are new posts several times a week on writing-related topics, and you should definitely stop in there and take a look!

I think that's all for now. The summer has been a little crazy, but I'm hoping the fall will prove a little less so, and will include a little more time for posting, among other things. Yeah, I know I say things like that a lot, about how I'm hoping to post more often. I know it doesn't always happen, but I remain ever optimistic about these things.  :)

Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday!

Well, hello!

It's been three and a half months since my last post, and there's been lots going on, and I'll tell you all about it sometime soon, but for now I just want to say that you should come to the Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday! It will be awesome, and lots of authors will be there, including me at 4pm in the Target Children's Area. I'll be reading Library Lion and answering questions and things and then signing both Library Lion and The Dragon of Trelian immediately after my presentation.

All events are FREE!

Hope to see you there.

Upcoming Events

I have some book signings and events coming up, and would love to see you!

Thursday, May 27, 1:30pm: I'll be at BEA, signing Library Lion at the Candlewick Booth.

Saturday, June 5, 2-4pm: Come to the Dragon Day event at the Voracious Reader! I'll be reading and signing The Dragon of Trelian. Kate Klimo, author of the Dragon Keepers books, will be there, too!

Sunday, June 27, 11:30am: I'll be at ALA, signing Library Lion and The Dragon of Trelian. I'll also have postcards for my new picture book, ARGUS, which comes out next Spring!

You can always see an ongoing list of upcoming events in the right-hand column of this blog.

Hudson Children's Book Festival!

I'll be signing books with more than ONE HUNDRED other children's book authors and illustrators at the Hudson Children's Book Festival this Saturday, May 1, from 10am to 4pm.

For more information, including a full list of the authors and illustrators who will be there, please visit the Hudson Children's Book Festival website.

I hope to see you there! :)

Operation Teen Book Drop

Tomorrow, on April 15, Operation Teen Book Drop will deliver 10,000 new books to teens on native reservations and tribal lands, an event that coincides with Support Teen Literature Day. This event is being coordinated by readergirlz, the Young Adult Library Services Association, GuysLitWire, and If I Can Read, I Can Do Anything, a national reading club for Native children.

How can you participate?

Visit GuysLitWire to help “rock the drop.” GuysLitWire has created a wish list of 750 books that supporters can buy from Powells.com. These purchases will be sent directly to one of two tribal school libraries, Ojo Encino Day School or Alchesay High School.

In addition, if you are a teen author, you can leave a copy of one of your books in a public place for a young reader to find. Download a bookplate at the readergirlz site to paste into your book. More than 100 YA authors have already pledged to do this in their local communities.

Teen readers and fans of YA literature are also invited to leave copies of favorite teen books in public places for other readers to find. There are bookplates for you to download at readergirlz, too.

For more information, please see the far more comprehensive posts at Cynsations, readergirlz, ALA, and GuysLitWire.

You can also watch the TBD trailer below, or click it here to view at YouTube.

Five reasons why there isn't a real Friday Five today

1. VCFA Packet 3 deadline April 19.

2. Trelian sequel revision deadline May 24.

3. Appointment with tax guy today at 3pm.

4. Spent most of the past week doing activities related to the above (mostly, sadly, #3).

5. Okay so I only have four reasons but really #1 should count twice at this point.

Bonus random #6: Since my blog didn't take up much of your time today, go over to books i done read and read this review of The Dragon of Trelian!