We are so pleased to bring you an interview with the lovely Melissa Wiley. Perhaps you know her from the "Little House on the Prairie" prequels about Laura's ancestors... perhaps you know her for her social media savvy... perhaps you know her for her gorgeous hair. Whatever the case may be, if you know Melissa, you automatically love her. And if you don't know her yet, you'll want to!
We caught up with her at the ALA Annual conference in June... and when I say "we," I mean myself (Allison) and our good friend Lali of Masala Reader. Unfortunately, Michelle had to miss out on this one! But Lali stepped in as a fabulous guest interviewer, and we had a blast chatting with Melissa about her upcoming projects, her strategies for balancing her life as a writer and a homeschooling mom of 6, and, of course, Betsy-Tacy.
Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Special thanks to our sound engineer Marc Conrad Tabula for his editing skills. Please subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! on iTunes so you'll never miss an episode! (And if you like us, please be so kind as to leave a review!)
We love doing Debut Author Editions, and we love doing KidLit Corner episodes... so guess how much we loved doing a podcast that falls into both categories. Hint: A LOT! We had a great time interviewing author Lynne Kelly via Skype. Her first novel, Chained, is a stirring middle grade novel about the strong bond between a boy and an elephant, set in India.
It was fascinating to talk to Lynne about the research she did for this book, and how she made sure everything was completely authentic-- check out the interview!
Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Special thanks to our sound engineer Marc Conrad Tabula for his awesome job editing the interview. Please subscribe to Authors are ROCKSTARS! on iTunes so you'll never miss an episode!
We were so honored to have the opportunity to Skype with the amazingly talented Grace Lin! Author of the Newbery Honor book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, she's also written and illustrated the charming "Year of..." series (starting with The Year of the Dog), and numerous picture books, including The Ugly Vegetables. We love Grace Lin!
In our interview with Grace, we got the details on how her family feels about being portrayed as fictional characters, whether she writes or illustrates first when tackling a story, and how she found her absolutely perfect dress for the Newbery Banquet.
Going with the Newbery theme, Michelle shares her favorite Newbery book, Catherine Called Birdy, by Karen Cushman, and Allison talks about The Mighty Miss Malone, the latest book from Newbery Medalist Christopher Paul Curtis.
But wait-- there's more! Heather is generously offering an AUTOGRAPHED copy of Home for the Holidays to one lucky winner. Just listen to this podcast episode and leave us a comment here on this blog entry. Tell us what you love about Heather's books, the Betsy-Tacy books, or share your favorite holiday tradition! And be sure to leave your email so we can be sure to contact you if you win. Deadline for entries is Saturday, December 17. This contest is open to US and Canada residents only.
Thanks, Heather! (Told you she was absolutely lovely!)
**EDITED TO ADD: The contest is now closed. Thank you for all your entries. The winner is REBECCA! Congratulations, Rebecca. We're emailing you.**
We also want to announce that this is the inaugural episode of a new feature on our podcast: KidLit Corner. Our primary focus on this podcast is YA lit and rockin' music, but we both love children's literature, too. Avid readers as kids, now with little readers of our own, we have a soft spot for KidLit. So we thought it would be fun to feature rock star children's authors on this podcast sometimes, in addition to fabulous authors for teens. KidLit Corner will be an occasional feature of the program, and we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do!
Thanks for listening-- please let us know what you think, and again, be sure to comment with some holiday cheer for the wonderful Heather Vogel Frederick and our featured musician, Debi Derryberry. Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. "Baby Banana" by Debi Derryberry is our featured song for this podcast. You can learn more about where to purchase Debi's CDs over on her website.
