2010 NYC Teen Author Festival

It starts tomorrow! Here's where you need to be. I starred (***) my events because, you know, this is my blog ("The Boy You Can't Have" I'm thinking will be especially fun!). But all of this stuff will rock. Woohoo!MONDAY: First Draft to Final Draft - Talking About the Writing Process Monday, 3/15 (NYPL, Tompkins Square Branch, 331 East 10th Street, 6pm): featuring: Gayle Forman, Daphne Grab, Carolyn Mackler, Sarah Mlynowski, Blake Nelson, Marie Rutkoski, Eliot Schrefer, Natalie Standiford TUESDAY: Getting Inside the Mind of a Teen Boy Tuesday, 3/16 (Barnes & Noble Tribeca, 97 Warren Street, 7pm): featuring: Nick Burd, Matt de la Pena, Gordon Korman, David Levithan, Barry Lyga, Michael Northrup, Jon Skovron, Jake Wizner WEDNESDAY: The Treasure Map to Going Bovine with Will Grayson(s) (or, an evening of readers' theater) Wednesday, 3/17 (South Court in the 42nd Street New York Public Library (the one with the lions), 6pm): featuring:Libba Bray, John Green, David Levithan, E. Lockhart THURSDAY: Thursday, 3/18 (Five Borough Read, 10am): Authors read to high school students and the public in libraries across the city. Manhattan: Countee Cullen Branch, NYPL, 104 W 136th St Donna Freitas, Eliot Schrefer, Rachel Vail, Lynn Weingarten, Ebony Wilkins Jefferson Market Branch, NYPL, 425 6th Ave Gabe Guarente, Carla Jablonksi, Kristen Kemp, Barry Lyga, Samantha Schutz Muhlenburg Branch, NYPL, 209 W 23rd St Emma McLaughlin, Lauren McLaughlin, Courtney Sheinmel, Jennifer Smith, Alice Hoffman Grand Central Branch, NYPL, 135 East 46th Street (between Lexington & Third Aves.) Angie Frazier, Aimee Friedman, Robin MacCready, Sarah Maclean, Amanda Marrone Seward Park Branch, NYPL, 192 East Broadway Cathleen Bell, Susane Colasanti, Matt De La Pena, Gayle Forman, Daphne Grab Yorkville Branch, NYPL, 222 East 79th St Micol Ostow, Robin Palmer, Shani Petroff, Robyn Schneider, Abby Sher, Jake Wizner, Michelle Zink *** Brooklyn (aw yeah!): Central Branch, Brooklyn Public Library, Dweck Auditorim, 10 Grand Army Plaza Emily Horner, Melissa Kantor, O.Rhuday-Perkovich, Matthue Roth, Siobhan Vivian, Adrienne Maria Vrettos, Melissa Walker, Robin Wasserman Bronx: Bronx Library Center, NYPL, 310 East Kingsbridge Road Coe Booth, Sarah Darer Littman, Neesha Meminger, Maryrose Wood Queens: Broadway Branch, QPL, 40-20 Broadway, Long Island City Jessica Blank, Sarah Burningham, Heather Duffy-Stone, Marianne Mancusi, Elizabeth Scott Staten Island: West New Brighton Branch, NYPL, 976 Castleon Avenue Elizabeth Eulberg, David Levithan, Michael Northrup, Kieran Scott Thursday Evening, 3/18 (Books of Wonder, 18 W 18th St, 6-8pm): Sourcebooks Fire Launch Party featuring authors Lisa Brown, Anne Eliot Crompton, Helen Ellis, Adele Griffin AND the rocking tunes of Tiger Beat! with Libba Bray, Dan Ehrenhaft, Barnabas Miller, and Natalie Standiford FRIDAY: Friday, 3/19 (South Court, 42nd Street, 2-5 and 6-8:30) NYC Teen Author Festival Symposium Afternoon 2:00 Introduction 2:10 - 3:00: Using Genre to Tell the True Story of Adolescence featuring: Judy Blundell, Sarah Beth Durst, Lauren McLaughlin, Diana Peterfreund, Sara Shepard, Maggie Stiefvater, Robin Wasserman 3:00 - 3:30: Making a First Impression - 2010 Debut Authors featuring: Angie Frazier, Emily Horner, Alyssa Sheinmel, Ebony Wilkins 3:30 - 4:15: Grief, Loss, and the YA Novel featuring: Alexandra Bullen, Heather Duffy-Stone, Donna Freitas, Alice Hoffman, Sarah Darer Littman, Lisa Ann Sandell, Samantha Schutz *** 4:15 - 5: The Boy You Can't Have featuring: Susane Colasanti, Elizabeth Eulberg, Robin Palmer, Elizabeth Scott, Melissa Walker, Maryrose Wood 5-6: Break Evening 6:00 - A Tribute to Regina Hayes featuring: Sarah Dessen, Joy Peskin, Jacqueline Woodson 6:45 - 8:30: What it Feels Like for a Girl - Writing in a Teen Girl's Voice featuring: Jessica Blank, Eireann Corrigan, Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, Terra Elan McVoy, Siobhan Vivian, Adrienne Maria Vrettos, Jacqueline Woodson SATURDAY: Saturday, 3/20 (Bartos Forum, 42nd Street, 1pm): Stuff for the Teen Age Event Come check out Stuff for the Teen Age, The New York Public Library's list of the hottest books, movies, music, and video games from 2009. Talk with your favorite authors. Rock out to your favorite songs. Have fun. Hear a very special presentation from keynote speaker, Libba Bray, the author of Going Bovine. SUNDAY: Sunday afternoon: Books of Wonder Signing (18 W 18th St, 2-6) NOTE: Because of the number of authors, signings will be in shifts. Below is the approximate schedule, which is subject to change 2:00-2:45 Alma Alexander Nora Baskin Cathleen Davitt Bell Judy Blundell Libba Bray Coe Booth Elise Broach Alexandra Bullen Nick Burd Sarah Burningham Susane Colasanti Matt De La Pena Violet Haberdasher Maggie Stiefvater 2:45-3:30 Tom Dolby Heather Duffy-Stone Sarah Beth Durst Elizabeth Eulberg Gayle Forman Aimee Friedman Jenny Han Alice Hoffman Carla Jablonksi Melissa Kantor Kristen Kemp Michelle Knudsen Peter Lerangis David Levithan 3:30-4:15 Sarah Darer Littman Barry Lyga Robin MacCready Carolyn Mackler Sarah Maclean Marianne Mancusi Amanda Marrone Wendy Mass Lauren McLaughlin Neesha Meminger Sarah Mlynowski Michael Northrup Robin Palmer 4:15-5:00 Diana Peterfreund Shani Petroff O.Rhuday-Perkovich Matthue Roth Marie Rutkoski Lisa Ann Sandell Samantha Schutz Elizabeth Scott Kieran ScottCourtney Sheinmel Sara Shepard Abby Sher Jon Skovron *** 5:00-5:45 Jennifer Smith Natalie Standiford Rachel Vail David Van Etten Siobhan Vivian Adrienne Maria Vrettos Melissa Walker Robin Wasserman Suzanne Weyn Lynn Weingarten Martin Wilson Jake Wizner Maryrose Wood Michelle Zink PHEW! Excitement. Come?

Photo Friday: Winter Wedding + Links!

My lovely friends Will and Orla got married a few weekends ago. They live in Dublin but their families flew all the way from Ireland to be at their wedding in Vermont! A wedding with Irish people is extra fun, trust me. Here are some photos:Me on the steps of the very white the Stowe Community Church: Just married, and so smiley! I'm telling you, these two are like moviestars in their lovely winter buggy: They had a dreamy starry cake: Orla wore amazing glitter Louboutins (yes, Julia, real ones): Oh, and we did a little skiing too. Fun, fun! And I'm going to share some links too, because I found a lot this week that I was into and I like to share: * I heart this writer. On Gabourey Sidibe from Precious: "She IS full-sized, mofos. She's not ashamed of it. Stop being ashamed for her! DAMN." Go read this awesome rant. * Erika at Cafe Fashionista interviewed me about my style secret and I totally spilled it. * You can follow a Magic 8-Ball on twitter and it'll respond with yes/no/etc when you @ it! * Your shot at a signed copy of Lovestruck Summer ends on 3/15 (check out all the Teen Fiction Cafe posts -- we got deep into writing and the life of an author this week for our third anniversary!) * Stole this from Linda Gerber, but totally love Simone Elkeles's trailers -- so professional! Had to share: Happy Friday! Got links to share? Tell me below! Oh, and PS: (Can't help it -- EXCITED. Although I think the New Moon trailer was better.)

Bonus Cover Stories: A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott

Zetta Elliott is here today to talk about the covers for A Wish After Midnight. Zetta self-published the book at first, and then it was picked up by AmazonEncore for traditional publishing! Lyn Miller-Lachmann wrote a beautiful review of Zetta's book for readergirlz, so check that out.Here's Zetta: "My story's a little unusual because I first wrote AWAM in 2003, and at that time I had no idea whatsoever what I wanted the cover to look like. I was just happy to have finished, and I was sending out query letters to agents and editors. Five years later, after endless rejections, I heard about Lulu.com through a friend and decided to give my book its own life in the world. My award-winning picture book, Bird, was coming out in the fall of 2008, and so I hustled to get AWAM ready for release at the same time. "Shadra Strickland, who went on to win two major awards for illustrating Bird, agreed to design the cover for AWAM. I gave her the elements I wanted to include, selected a color, and she produced a cover design I absolutely loved (below left). I really wanted my main character, Genna, to be represented accurately--in popular culture, you don't often see dark-skinned black girls celebrated and/or placed front and center. So I bought a stock photo, photo-shopped it to make the girl's skin tone correct, and then Shadra skillfully combined the sankofa symbol and my photo-shopped picture of the fountain in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. [Here are the old and the new covers, side by side:] "I wasn't asked for input, but in our early negotiations, my editor made a point of saying that the AmazonEncore edition would have a cover that far outshone the one on my self-published book. I didn't quite appreciate that remark at the time, because I loved my cover! But the whitewashing controversy was raging, and I was quite vocal on my blog about how I would react if some designer misrepresented my book by putting a white model on the cover. This happened with Justine Larbalestier's novel, Liar, and then again with Jaclyn Dolamore's novel, Magic Under Glass. In both cases, public outrage forced the publisher to stop production and design a cover that accurately reflected the appearance of the main characters. I wasn't sure if my editor was following my blog, but I think all publishers are more careful now (and some were always ethical regarding this matter). "The first time I saw the cover of my book I was really impressed with the concept--and struck by the color contrast: a cool blue for midnight, and warmer tones for the urban scene. I thought it made a strong impact, but I also immediately noticed some details that didn't work for me. "Fortunately, my editor is awesome and he immediately asked for my feedback on the cover. I made a detailed list, starting with what I liked, and he responded right away by thanking me for making such great points. Mainly I was concerned about some Victorian fussiness--my novel is a time-travel story, so the designer was trying to capture a contemporary urban feel but also a sense of the 19th century. But because my character is believed to be a fugitive slave, I wanted the cover to suggest the hardship of that time. We started out with a metal plate that showed my name and the title; I wanted something a bit more weathered (it was white) and suggested those copper plates that mark historic sites, which eventually weather and turn sort of blue. The images of the two girls didn't quite work for me, either--they were both obviously brown-skinned, and at least one girl had natural hair, but it was also apparent that they were two different girls. The photos were meant to suggest the transition between past and present, but I felt that only worked if it was one model shot in color and b&w, not two different models. Their images had a sort of lacy frame, and so I suggested removing the frames or scrapping the girls altogether. "I definitely felt that some of my concerns were addressed by the designer. The frilly frames were removed, as was the white metal plate. Instead, a simple yellow band displayed my name and gold flourishes were added beneath the plain white title. I'm not a flouncy kind of girl, but when I saw the interior of the book, and the way the flourishes were continued on the title page, I understood and really appreciated that artistic decision. The glaring white light in the alley still gets to me sometimes, but I've also had teenagers remark on the photos of the two girls (which they like) so I think, overall, the cover really works. "The biggest surprise was when my author copies arrived and I saw the BACK of the book. For the ARCs, the back cover had a synopsis and brief bio, but the final edition has this gorgeous 1850 painting of New York City--I love it! The coloring really picks up the yellow band on the front, and creates the perfect juxtaposition between contemporary and 19th-century New York. I was given two options for the final synopsis, and when I asked for a revised option, my request was granted. The Encore team has really made me feel like a partner in this whole process! I've also gotten a few compliments on the spine, too, which I hadn't thought of as important (but it is, since most books don't face forward in a store). "Thanks for this opportunity to talk about my book! I'm really proud to show it to the world..." Check out the trailer for A Wish After Midnight: And thanks, Zetta! I have to say that I really like the simplicity and the color combination of the first cover (I love black-and-white-with-one-color covers, like the Violet series covers...). But I also like the images and symbols in the second cover. What do you guys think of the covers?

Win-It Wednesday: Teen Fiction Cafe

The winner of last week's contest for All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab is... Theresa W.! Send me your address, T. This week, I'm over at Teen Fiction Cafe celebrating three years with the my fellow author-bloggers Alyson Noel, Amanda Ashby, Erica Orloff, Jessica Burkhart, Kay Cassidy, Kelly Parra, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Linda Gerber, Sara Hantz, Stephanie Kuehnert, Wendy Toliver and Sara Zarr (click on their names to read their TFC posts and enter their contests). For the third anniversary of TFC, we've all been blogging about being a writer and what it means and how it's hard but also awesome. So go check out all the posts (there are many prizes to be won, including a signed copy of Lovestruck Summer!). I would say Happy Wednesday, but I'm feeling sad for Corey Haim's friends and family. RIP, CH. (License to Drive and Lost Boys will be in heavy rotation around the world this week, I bet. Great movies.)

A Manifesto of Imaginative Literature by Justin Allen

A few weeks ago, Justin Allen was here to talk about his cover for Year of the Horse, and the comments were abuzz with discussion about whether the dark cowboy silhouette and Asian-inspired title represented all the characters of the characters in his book (it's a multicultural cast -- yay!), or whether it spoke to a white Old West image.Since then, Justin's given some thought to the categorization of books, and he has a three-part essay on that topic that starts on SF Signal. Check out Why Where Your Book Gets Shelved Determines Your Intelligence, Work-Ethic and Value to Society. Happy Tuesday!

Cover Stories: Hot Girl by Dream Jordan

When I saw the cover for Dream Jordan's Hot Girl, I couldn't stop staring at it. It is so up-close and arresting--and I love her expression. So hard to figure out but so intriguing!So, you know, I emailed Dream. And she told me this story: "Originally, I envisioned my protagonist Kate dressed in sweats, sitting on a park bench with a basketball under her foot. I thought by depicting Kate as a tomboy, the reader would get a welcoming surprise when she's made over into a HOT GIRL. "My publisher didn't ask for my input. In hindsight, I'm glad they didn't because I love my cover! The only nitpick I had upon first seeing my cover was the character's lips. I thought the lipstick was too shiny, and funny-looking. What I didn't realize is that the computer image of my book cover was a less refined version of the actual hard copy. The hard copy is more than I could have imagined. I especially love my novel's bind featuring those glossy lips, which ultimately entices a browsing bookstore patron to pick my book up! "My cover's reception has been phenomenal. Female readers love Kate's perfectly arched brows, and the boys love that she's pretty. Sometimes, I'm asked if I'm the female on the cover. I don't see the resemblance, but I'm truly flattered and flabbergasted when that happens!" I've seen Dream at a reading and she's totally gorgeous, so I get why people ask her that! In any case, I really love this cover. What do you guys think? PS-Read Little Willow's review!

Sunday Song: Madinthemoon Does Taylor Swift

You guys know I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan. But I also really enjoyed this parody -- it's the song that youtube's Madinthemoon wishes Taylor would write (I have to say I agree on lots of points). However you feel about it, it's creative. What do you guys think? Happy Sunday!

Bonus Cover Stories: Reality Check by Jen Calonita

Jen Calonita writes really awesome books for Little, Brown's POPPY imprint (Secrets of My Hollywood Life series, anyone?). Her next novel, Reality Check, has a unique, doll-covered cover. She posted a full Cover Story at her own site, and she let me excerpt a little bit. Here's Jen:

"I'm lucky to work with a wonderful publisher that always shares their ideas with me, but I can't take any credit for the fabulous ideas and designs. It's all them! Thankfully I always adore what they do. I'm particularly excited about the cover for my upcoming novel, Reality Check, which is about four best friends whose lives change dramatically when they get their own reality TV show. The book's designer, Erin McMahon, and my editors, Kate Sullivan and Cindy Eagan, came up with the look for each doll, and they did an amazing job. The clothes the dolls wear were all designed by Erin! I wish she'd make clothes for me. Aren't the outfits cute?

"I love, love, love the idea of dolls on the cover of this book. Each doll looks like one of the four best friends in the novel, which is great, but when you dig further, and think about the story, having dolls represent the girls says something else about the book as well. I don't want to give too much away, but you'll know what I'm talking about when you read the book..."

Read the rest of Jen's Cover story, and see more behind-the-scenes cover shoot photos on her site.

What do you guys think of this one? I know Pretty Little Liars also did a doll thing, but this one really stands out to me in a cool way. PS-Anyone else into Blythe dolls? So cute.

Photo Friday: More Cats

Just two quick shots of cat life at my apartment:When a fur coat came over to visit... The way Winnie is staring at me right now. Disdain? Admiration? Who can tell.

Cover Story + Crafty Bookmark

Two things to say today:1. I interviewed Amy Brecount White about her cover for Forget-Her-Nots, and that post is up at Barnes and Noble's Unabashedly Bookish blog. An excerpt: "The flowers in the shot are scarlet poppies, which mean 'fantastic extravagance' in the language of flowers. I think that perfectly describes my main character Laurel's relationship with blooms throughout the novel." Go read the full story if you have a minute! (Amy's also doing a fun Spread the Flower Love Blog Tour, and today she's talking to Kristi at The Story Siren). 2. Readergirlz is working with Jen Funk Weber to create bookmarks, and Jen is sending out kits to anyone who wants to make one. Stitching for Literacy, ahem. Go here to find out how to get a free bookmark kit, and see the video below (feel free to share it!): Happy Thursday!