A Visit with YA Rising Stars!

This past weekend some writer-friends and I made a trek to "America's Oldest Children's Bookstore," Once Upon a Time in Montrose, California. A panel of YA authors called "YA Rising Stars" held the room spellbound, telling us about their current releases.


On her feet is Suzanne Young, who we recently chatted with here at YA Fresh about her novel, A Need So Beautiful. In addition to the stunning cover and great reviews, the audience really enjoyed the excerpt she read.

Beside Suzanne is Nova Ren Suma, whose debut novel,
Imaginary Girls, has received rave reviews from the Los Angeles Times.

Next to Nova is the effervescent Holly Goldberg Sloan, who is new to novels after many years of success as a screenwriter of such films such as "Angels in the Outfield" and "Made in America." She talked about her debut novel, I’ll Be There, which sounded delightful.

Far left, here is Cindy Pon, who discussed Fury of the Phoenix, the sequel to her popular novel, Silver Phoenix. Cindy has appeared here at YA Fresh before when we met at the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's conference and posed for pictures!

Here is Cindy a little while later, delighting us with an excerpt from her book:


And here is a shot of Cindy, Suzanne and me, taken before the signing session, a photo I call "Hi, YA Freshers!" since we were all sending hello's to our readers. And take note of the cupcake pop in Suzanne's hand, just of many special treats made for the event.


On a final note, color me especially delighted to have won a book in their random event giveaway!

If any of our readers has heard good things or enjoyed reading any of these books, please tell us here. Or if you simply want to read them, well, jump on in, too!

Greetings from the SCBWI, Part 2

Last Friday I gave you some of the social highlights from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s conference in Century City, California. And now, following a short vacation, I’m back with more...

Each year, there is an outdoor party with a pre-determined theme, and this year, it was to wear red. Here I am with my good friend and sci-fi/non-fiction writer friend, Paddy Lock, painting the town...


A short-time later, we were joined by MySpace reviewer, Melissa , who I sure enjoyed chatting with and getting to know in real-life!


Later, during the thick of the dancing (luckily no You Tube videos have surfaced of me disco dancing--YET), I got the chance to meet Cindy Pon , whose debut novel, SPIRIT BOUND, will be released by HarperCollins in 2009. Posing with her here is the aforementioned Jay Asher, who I am sure was wearing red suede shoes...


Jumping now to the next--and last night--here’s The Conference Weary, Yet Ready To Get Back to Work Gang, Lisa Smilan, Pam Smallcomb, Janie Emaus, me, and Paddy. These terrific ladies are much of the reason I had so much fun...serious authors who know how to laugh!


I had a fantastic few days with all the writers featured in these two blogs, and with quality time spent with my editor, Krista Marino, and the Firebrand Literary Agency partner, Michael Stearns. Can’t wait for next year!