****4 stars
Holy crap that book was awesome! I'm running out to buy it even though I'm a starving high/college/grad/shiatsu massage school student and am about to have my cell turned off because I haven't paid the bill in six months. Do books mind if you spill Ramen juice on them?
***3 stars
Hey, that was pretty good! I think I'm going to have to ask Aunt Beatrice to buy me that book for my next birthday/Christmas/Fourth of July or similar gift-giving occasion.
**2 stars
Eh, that book was all right. Maybe it was the obnoxious characters, or the too-hot-to-be-true boyfriend falling for the ugly girl, or the moral lesson at the end, or maybe it was the way that giraffe randomly showed up in every other chapter. Metaphor, anyone?
*1 star
Holy crap that book sucked! Who the hell picked that dirty kitty litter of a novel out, anyway? Picky agents/editors my ass. I can't believe I wasted two hours of my life sludging through that mudfest. Will I ever get that time back? Can I ever be happy again?
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- Kate Hart's blog
- Emilia Plater's blog
- Leila Austin's blog
- Lee Bross's blog
- Veronica Roth's blog
- Sarah Enni's blog
- Phoebe North's blog
- Stephanie Kuehn's blog
- Sumayyah Daud's blog
- Amy Lukavics's blog
blog archive
We're writers from different corners of the globe, united by our affinity for travel, obscure inside jokes, and writing and reading young adult fiction.
Full-Time Members:
Age: 29
Location: Alsenborn, Germany
Favorite YA novel/author: Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
Most memorable travel experience(s): Standing inside the Trier Cathedral , the oldest church in Germany.
Future Travel Wishlist: Ireland, Italy, England, France, etc. etc. etc.
Works In Progress: YA Fantasy involving a Middle Realm Meltdown and a YA Literary set in a Psychiatric Facility
Why YA?: It’s one of the most exciting, fun, and scary couple of years in a person’s life. There’s nothing like watching your characters evolve and grow as they learn from their mistakes and begin to make more sense who they are and where they fit in the world.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: CDs--Any type of music--Well, except for techno. I never really got techno…
Age: 28
Book(s): LIKE MANDARIN - Random House/Delacorte March 8th, 2011; WANDERLOVE - Random House/Delacorte March 13th, 2012
Book(s): LIKE MANDARIN - Random House/Delacorte March 8th, 2011; WANDERLOVE - Random House/Delacorte March 13th, 2012
Location: San Diego
Favorite YA novel/author: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Feed by M.T. Anderson. Make me cry and I'm yours (I'm looking at you, Melina).
Most memorable travel experience(s): Sunrise atop a Mayan temple in Guatemala. Lake Tonle Sap in Cambodia. Clubbing in Serbia and Slovenia. Surprise wild dolphin dive in the Belize cayes. The Wyoming badlands! Flash monsoons in Thailand, Mexico, Central America, on boats, in bars and on foot.
Future Travel Wishlist: Everywhere. Next up: Peru & India. Most likely not on the same trip, but you never know.
Why YA?: The excitement.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: Baby animals.
Agent: Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary
Location: Seattle
Favorite YA novel/author: Jellicoe Road and The Piper's Son, both by Melina Marchetta. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Most memorable travel experience(s): Five weeks exploring Paris and environs: Normandy, Mont St. Michel, Monet's gardens. Christmas in New York City. Skiing Whistler, B.C. Disneyland at Halloween. Moody Scotland and brilliant Krakow. Walk/don't walk signs in East Berlin. Falling in love during sunsets around the world.
Future Travel Wishlist: Beach-hopping in Thailand. Climbing Mayan temples. Horseback riding in rural Slovakia. Pastries and music in Vienna. Walking tours of Croatia. The Trans-Siberian Railroad start to finish. Quebec in late summer/early fall. Central American rainforests.
Why YA?: I love reading and writing firsts, discovery, identity, re-creation. I love teenage energy, hope, take-on-the-worldedness. Giddy YA romance.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: Berthillon frais de bois or pistache ice cream. Tickets to a concert. Flowers, but not roses.
Agent: Suzie Townsend of Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation
Age: 26
Location: Bangor, Maine
Favorite YA novel/author: His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (all seven of them!), anything by Garth Nix, who is my absolute favorite author.
Most memorable travel experience(s): Going to Italy, definitely. It’s amazing there. Even though I’m not Catholic, going to mass at St. Peter’s was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done, plus the Vatican museum, the Coliseum, everything else about Rome, it was all great. Plus I loved some of the places we visited in the countryside.
Future Travel Wishlist: I want to go to Rome again. I loved it. I’d also love to go somewhere in South America, definitely London, anywhere else in Europe too. And Egypt, to see the pyramids.
Why YA?: The minds of teenagers are awesome. They’re so much less jaded than adults, and that makes them fun to write about.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: Potato chips. Or ice cream. Or steak.
Agent: Sarah LaPolla of Curtis Brown, Ltd.
Age: 31
Location: Northwest Arkansas
Favorite YA novel/author: Sherman Alexie, John Green, JK Rowling, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jandy Nelson, Laini Taylor, Sara Zarr
Most memorable travel experience(s): Waking up to howler monkeys on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica; finding ourselves accidentally at mass at Notre Dame; many, many road trips across the western US; falling in love with feta cheese in Greece; being told by a woman on a Paris street corner that I would get fat if I kept eating pastries; spending Michelmas term at Oxford; buying our wedding rings on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
Future Travel Wishlist: I'd like to revisit Europe and take my boys to Costa Rica. I'd also like to see Hawaii and Australia, but wouldn't turn down a free trip to just about anywhere.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: Crab rangoon, buffalo wings, queso dip or bacon. I also accept books and free babysitting.
Agent: Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary
Age: 21
Location: Colorado
Favorite YA novel/author: JELLICOE ROAD, THE WIND SINGER, THE PRICKER BOY, AIRBORN, THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, UNWIND, anything by Madeleine L'Engle and C.S. Lewis.
Most memorable travel experience(s): Leaping into the ocean in San Quintin, Mexico, despite the fact that I had no swimsuit and no spare clothes. Driving cross-country with my dad, collecting bumper stickers from every city we stopped in.
Future Travel Wishlist: Ireland, land of my ancestors. Russia. England. Italy.
Why YA?: Everything means something when you're sixteen. Every text message is analyzed. Every smile from That Boy is savored and stored up inside you. Every conversation is deconstructed. In short - every single teenager has a story.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: Dove chocolate, pretty notebooks, sour patch kids, chai tea, vintage t-shirts, puppies - or pictures of puppies, since my apartment doesn't allow pets.
Website/Twitter: kristin-briana.
Agent: Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary
Age: 20
Book(s): The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) - Little Brown/Poppy, September 2010; SHUT OUT - Little Brown/Poppy, September 2011; A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE - Little Brown/Poppy, Spring 2012.
Book(s): The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) - Little Brown/Poppy, September 2010; SHUT OUT - Little Brown/Poppy, September 2011; A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE - Little Brown/Poppy, Spring 2012.
Location: New York City
Favorite YA novel/author: BALLADS OF SUBURBIA by Stephanie Kuehnert, anything by Elizabeth Scott, anything by Kristen Cashore, anything by Sarah Dessen, THE EARTH, MY BUTT, AND OTHER BIG ROUND THINGS by Carolyn Mackler, HARRY POTTER series by JK Rowling, and a million-and-one others.
Most memorable travel experience(s): Swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas when I was 12.
Future Travel Wishlist: London, baby!
Why YA?: You mean there are other genres? I didn't know that!
If you're trying to butter me up send me: Books, chocolate, and more books.
Agent: Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation
Location: Southeast Pennsylvania
Favorite YA novel/author: The eternal Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson, Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, & all the scores of books that have helped me grow as a writer!
Most memorable travel experience(s): Watching a blazing sunset alone on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; gamboling like a little kid in the creeks at the Great Smokey Mountains; staring down at the earth from the high ruins of Machu Picchu, Peru; walking home late with my best friend after a night on the town in Washington, D.C.
Future Travel Wishlist: Backpacking in Europe after senior year, baby! Then - uh, everywhere.
Why YA?: Because I'm not a girl, not yet a woman... J/K! YA is simply electric. Plus, I get to freak out about stuff and call it literature. Teenagers generally enjoy freaking out about stuff.
If you're trying to butter me up send me: A box of kittens. Seriously, somebody send me a box of kittens. Or a huge bag of that neon gummy candy that probably gives you cancer.
Agent: Suzie Townsend of Nancy Coffey Literary and Media Representation
Contributing Writers:
Amy loves dark contemporary. She is certain that the Lady Gaga song "Hair" was written for/about her and loves cooking, horror movies, sour candies (or any candies really,) playing the Xbox 360, and being a Mama.
Website/Twitter: www.lovethefreeworld.blogspot.com; @amylukavics
Agent: Joanna Stampfel Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary
Lee Bross
Age: 38
Book(s): FATES - Delacorte 2013 (written as Lanie Bross)
Book(s): FATES - Delacorte 2013 (written as Lanie Bross)
Location: Midcoast Maine
Lee is working on an UF YA novel with a vampire spin and a psychological YA about things not being as they seem.
Agent: Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Literary Agency
Leila Austin Age: 25
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Leila loves YA "because it is honest and compelling and brave like no other genre, because coming of age stories rock my world, and because I am trying to compensate for wasting my teenage years in libraries reading dictionaries when I should have been out having adventures."
Website/Twitter: theleilasoliloquy.
Website/Twitter: theleilasoliloquy.
Phoebe North Age: 27
Location: New York state
Phoebe writes stories about aliens for teenagers. She loves both Star Trek and Star Wars and doesn't believe you should ever have to choose.
Website/Twitter: www.phoebenorth.com; @phoebenorth
Agent: Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.
Agent: Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary.
Sarah Enni Age: 26
Location: Washington DC
Sarah is a full-time journalist who preempted her quarterlife crisis by writing about paranormal goings-on involving teenagers. She gets a bit too competitive about things like Mario Kart, Taboo, and multi-player Tetris. In 20 years, she hopes to be hand-making letterpress cards in her used bookstore-coffeeshop-wine cafe.
Website/Twitter: www.sarahenni.com; @SarahEnni
Stephanie Kuehn Age: 37
Location: Northern California
Steph is a YA writer still waiting to grow up. She loves sports, languages, Santa Cruz, autumn leaves, stone fruit, and anything that can make her laugh out loud. In literature and life, she is drawn to realistic worlds and under-represented voices.
Website/Twitter: www.stephaniekuehn.com; @stephkuehn
Agent: Michael Bourret of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management
Agent: Michael Bourret of Dystel and Goderich Literary Management
Sumayyah Daud Age: 21
Location: Virginia
Sumayyah is an English literature student (of the medieval and early modern variety). She lives in the first and most relevant district and when she isn't studying or writing, she's attending to her cylon storm trooping duties. She also plans to one day own a hairless cat named Minion.
Website/Twitter: www.theravendesk.org; @theravendesk
Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency
Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency
Veronica Roth Age: 22
Book(s): DIVERGENT - Harper Collins 2011; INSURGENT - 2012
Location: Chicago suburbs
Veronica is the author of DIVERGENT, a NYT Bestselling YA dystopian thriller published by Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books. She's also a graduate of Northwestern University, a Christian, and A Tall Person, among other things.
Website/Twitter: veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com; @VeronicaRoth
Agent: Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary
Agent: Joanna Stampfel-Volpe of Nancy Coffey Literary
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