Lucy Coats shortlisted for the Author Blog Awards

Being on a shortlist with Neil Gaiman and Paulo Coelho isn’t something which happens every day–but it HAS just happened to UK children’s author Lucy Coats, who finds herself up against the two literary titans on the final shortlist for the Author Blog Awards 2010 with her blog, Scribble City Central. If you’d like to help [...]

Feature: Children’s Author Pat Lowery Collins on Craft and The Source of Creativity

Multi-talented author Pat Lowery Collins talks about the source of her creativity and answers questions on craft in this first of a series of articles on her work. In upcoming articles we’ll look at each book in more detail but for now I’ll leave you with one of Pat’s favorite quotes:

Newsflash: Andrew Smith and Ellen Booraem make the YALSA 2010 Best Books for Young Adults List

Scribblers Andrew Smith and Ellen Booraem have both won a place on the Young Adult Library Services Association’s list of 2010 Best Books for Young Adults.
“This year’s list was the result of exceptional work from the Best Books for Young Adults committee,” said Summer Hayes, committee chair. “With the ever increasing volume of reading material [...]

Part Three: Why I Hate YA

Okay. Let me tell you how much I hate YA.
I’m letting all the big reasons out today, so hang on.
First, a little backstory. I was e-talking with Lia Keyes the other day, and she mentioned to me about another author who thought that YA as a category should be done away with. She thought it [...]

Part Two: Why I Hate YA

I still hate YA.
You remember all those times your mom told you the old if-all-your-friends-jumped-off-a-cliff-would-you-do-it-too line? You know what I told my mom when she tried that one on me?
Um… no. I’d go down to the bottom and start looking for wallets and jewelry.
So, there’s this assumption that “young adults” make some kind of moral and [...]

Part One: Why I Hate YA

I hate YA.
Let me explain.
I hate YA for many of the same reasons I hated being a teenager: there are all these external expectations on who you are “supposed” to be, and, simultaneously, you’re trying to figure that out on your own.
Okay. Try this experiment. Close your eyes.
Wait. First, get someone to read this to [...]

Spotlight: 16-year old author, Riley Carney

“For as long as I can remember, I have been a storyteller. Throughout my elementary school years, I thought of myself as an author and I wrote an extensive collection of books – stacks of paper, words, and drawings all stapled together. None of these works were literary masterpieces, but they were the first manifestation [...]

Our readership is growing!

Thanks to the wonders of Facebook fan pages, we now have a readership of 40 NetworkedBlogs followers, and Amazon has lowered the price of subscribing on Kindle from a ridiculous $1.99 to a much more reasonable .99 cents after some negotiation from yours truly.
These developments make me extremely happy as it means The Chronicle is [...]

Andrew Smith interviews YA author Cynthia Leitich Smith

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the external sources writers tap into for their creative ideas. In my own writing, I happen to feel a kind of connection to what Jung referred to as a type of “collective unconscious.”
But I’ve been seeking out other authors to see what they tap into for [...]

Greetings and Events: Riley Carney

My name is Riley Carney and I’m sixteen years old. I love to read and I love to write. My book, The Fire Stone, is the first book in a five-book fantasy adventure story for ages 9-14 and it was just released. I have written all five books in the series. I have also completed [...]

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