WHAT CAN'T WAIT made the ALA BFYA list!
Woohoo! Here's What Can't Wait on ALA's 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults list! The company at this party is just... stunning.
Why I Write: 6 Questions with the NWP for National Day on Writing
The National Writing Project (which revolutionized my teaching and writing life) invited me to participate in their events for the national day on writing, October 20. Yay!
So cruise over here and read my responses to the six questions the NWP is asking writers from all walks of life. You can also submit your own responses on the NWP website.
Save the date for this awesome web radio event hosted by NWP on October 20. I'll be a guest on the show! A few more details:
One way we're celebrating the National Day on Writing is by talking with writers about writing. Join us for a conversation with our friends and NDOW collaborators: from the New York Times, Katherine Schulten, editor of the Learning Networkand a NYC Writing Project fellow, andTimes education reporter Fernanda Santos; and from Figment, the teen writing site, Dana Goodyear, Figment co-founder and staff writer for the New Yorker. Also joining us will be novelist and writing project teacher Ashley Hope Perez.
Join in to help celebrate National Day on Writing. Because we all do it--even nuns and priests!
Diversify your reading NOW
There is a fantastic new reading challenge out there, and this one offers two bonuses: (1) the chance to explore diverse MG and YA lit and (2) a chance to win a crazy huge heap of YA & MG books as the prize for the best post on reading diverse YA/MG. (Seriously, y'all, I won't even be in the country next year, but I'm scheming as to how I can work around that--the stash is that sweet.)
All the details are at the Diversity in YA page. Also notice that there is a category for libraries and one for individuals, so if you have a librarian friend (or are one of these awesome folks yourself), be sure to spread the word. In recession time, we need all the copies of these awesome books we can get into readers' hands.
Also, while you are at the Diversity in YA page, why not cruise around and check out the many diversity-related guest posts by thoughtful writer and reader types? Here's my D in YA post on the majority minority world of What Can't Wait and what writing toward diversity means to me. Also check out Dia Reeves's post about flying solo as a black female author of YA speculative fiction.
Also, Kelsey Holder of the Indiana Daily Student did
