Raina Telgemeier: Road Trip Edition Podcast

Get ready for Drama! The newest graphic novel from Raina Telgemeier comes out September 1st from Scholastic, and we are thrilled to bring you an interview with this fabulous Eisner Award winning author and artist.If you're a drama geek like us-- or if you just happen to like really awesome graphic novels (and who doesn't?!)-- tune in to hear about Raina's student theater experiences, what it was like to win an Eisner award for Smile, and how she came to draw and write The Babysitters Club graphic novels- as well as an insightful discussion of the babysitter personalities. (Trust us, you will come away with a whole new image of Stacey after you listen to this!)

Want to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3 or find us on iTunes.

We are also happy to announce the winners of our two giveaways that ended yesterday! The winner of Kiersten White's Endlessly is Alicia Marie. The upcoming Kiersten White project she's most excited about is Mind Games. In her comment, she said "Just seeing the cover was enough to make me need it, but after reading about it, I need it even more!" The winner of the Lorien Legacies series (courtesy of HarperCollins) is Enna P. We are still happy to take questions for our upcoming interviews with Michelle Hodkin, Julie Kagawa and Kendare Blake. Just leave a comment with your question or tweet it to us @AuthorsROCK.

Thank you so much to all of you who participated. We have a lot of giveaways planned for future podcasts. We just love sending people presents!

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Special thanks to our sound engineers for this episode Marc Conrad Tabula for helping make the interview sound fabulous. 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!)

Fabulous giveaway, but ya gotta do a bit of work first!

Hi folks! We hope you've listened to our latest podcast featuring Kiersten White, Cynthia Hand, Marie Lu and Robin LeFevers. If you have, you heard that Michelle's "Pick of the Month" was the Lorien Legacy series by Pittacus Lore.

HarperCollins, the publisher of that series, is seriously awesome. They have given us a complete set of the Lorien Legacy books to give away to one of our amazing listeners! That's right, I Am Number Four, The Power of Six, and The Rise of Nine could all be yours.

What do you have to do to get these action packed books of sci-fi goodness in your hands? Well, we're going to make you work for it! We love hearing from you and finding out what questions you'd like us to ask! So, here's a list of our upcoming interviewees. If you have a question you'd like to ask them, leave a comment here (be sure to include your Twitter name or e-mail!) and you'll be entered to win the Lorien Legacy series.

Upcoming Interviewees:

- Kendare Blake (Anna Dressed in Blood, Girl of Nightmares)

- Michelle Hodkin (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, The Evolution of Mara Dyer)

- Julie Kagawa (Iron Fey series including the upcoming Lost Prince, Immortal Rules)

- Alyson Noel (The Immortals series, Fated) - Note: Questions for Alyson Noel need to be in by 8/25.

So, have at it, folks! What would you like to ask these fabulous authors? You have until August 27th to submit your questions. Contest is open to US residents only.

Edit 8/27/12: The giveaway has ended, but we are still taking questions for Michelle Hodkin, Kendare Blake, and Julie Kagawa. Feel free to submit them here or over Twitter @AuthorROCK.

Kiersten White, Marie Lu, Cynthia Hand, Robin LeFevers: Road Trip Edition Podcast

At the end of last month, we caught up with Kiersten White at her book launch for the final volume in her Paranormalcy trilogy, Endlessly. What a fun event at the Barnes and Noble in Oceanside, California! Not only did we get to see Kiersten, but we also got to interview Cynthia Hand, Marie Lu, and Robin LeFevers. And our teen correspondent, Ava, joined us for this interview, so it was extra fun!

We talked to Kiersten about what it was like to wrap up Evie's story and what future projects she's got brewing. Then all of the authors answered some awesome questions from our podcast listeners, including a particularly interesting discussion of how they write strong female characters. We also have our "Picks of the Month". This month, our picks are the Pittacus Lore series (I Am Number Four, The Power of Six and The Rise of Nine - stay tuned for a giveaway of this series!) and Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron.

The fabulous author panel + adorable kiddo hug for Kiersten.

Want to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3 or find us on iTunes.

BONUS: It's giveaway time! We have an autographed ARC of Endlessly to give away to one lucky listener. Leave us a comment after listening to this episode and tell us which one of Kiersten's many upcoming projects you're MOST looking forward to. (There are a few to choose from!) Be sure to leave your email in your comment so we can contact the winner. Contest is open to US residents only. Deadline to enter the contest is August 27th.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our closing song this month is "Nothing's Cruel" by Kyte. Special thanks to our sound engineers for this episode Marc Conrad Tabula and Joshua Bertrand for helping make the interview sound fabulous. 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!)

Melissa Wiley: KidLit Corner Road Trip Edition Podcast

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.


Want to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3 or find us on iTunes.

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!)

Libba Bray and Alvina Ling: Special Edition Podcast

Last month, we had the pleasure of attending the American Library Association conference in Anaheim. Not only was it a fantastic opportunity to get to meet a lot of people who love books just as much as we do, we had the opportunity to interview some incredible authors. Including...

Yes! We met Libba Bray! The Printz-award winning author of Going Bovine, Beauty Queens, and the Gemma Doyle trilogy is every bit as fabulous as you would imagine. We got to chat with her about her upcoming Fall release from Little, Brown, The Diviners (which you are going to LOVE!)-- we discussed her favorite 1920s slang and how librarians aided her historical research, as well as her journey to becoming a writer.

(We also talked about Beauty Queens and, as promised in this episode, here's a link to Michelle as a teen beauty queen.)

If you're not familiar with the awesomeness of Libba, visit http://libbabray.com to learn more. You will adore her.

And that's not all! Not only does this episode of the podcast feature the lovely Libba Bray, but we were also lucky enough to snag a quick interview with her editor, the amazing Alvina Ling. If you've listened to our interviews with Laini Taylor and Grace Lin, you've heard them mention Alvina. She's the Editorial Director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and she ROCKS.

(Quick disclaimer: bear in mind that we recorded these interviews in the middle of a huge conference, so there's a little more background noise than normal... but hey, it's ambience! You'll feel like you were there with us!)


Want to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3 or find us on iTunes.

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!) 

Giveaway Time!

How's your summer going? Over here at Authors are ROCKSTARS!, we're still basking in the aftermath of the ALA Annual Conference. We've also been reflecting on the awesome authors we've had the opportunity to meet this year, as well as the exciting interviews we have coming up, and we decided that since things have been a little quiet around here for the past few weeks, it's time for a giveaway!

Want to win a signed ARC of In Honor by Jessi Kirby? After listening to the interview with Jessi we shared last month, of course you do!

Here's the deal: we'll be chatting with both Kiersten White (along with Marie Lu, Robin LeFevers and Cynthia Hand) on Tuesday and Sophie Jordan on Saturday this week for the podcast. Since we've been fortunate enough to have interviewed most of these authors previously, we'd like to know what YOU want to ask them this time around!

Simply comment on this post with a question (or two or three) that you'd like us to ask these talented authors, and that's your entry for the In Honor ARC contest. We'll email the winner for their address, so be sure to leave your email when you comment.

(As a reminder, the In Honor is in bookstores now, so the signed ARC is a more of a collector's item than a reading copy-- you should also buy the finished version!)

So get to it, folks-- what do you want to ask these talented ladies? Let us know by Friday July 27th and you could win. We may even see if we can gather up some autographs for the ladies we're interviewing. ;o)

EDIT: Please note that questions for Kiersten, Marie, Robin and Cynthia need to be submitted by 9am Tuesday July 23rd. We will be interviewing them at Kiersten's launch party that evening.

Anna Carey: July podcast

Are you as excited as we are about Once, the second book in the dystopian romance series that started with Eve? We had the opportunity to sit down and chat with author Anna Carey in advance of Once's publication and hear all about her favorite characters, her experience going from middle grade to YA, and more.

We had an absolute blast talking with Anna, and hope you enjoy the interview! Be sure to visit http://annacareybooks.com/ and get to know this fabulous author.


Want to download this podcast? Click here for a mp3 or find us on iTunes.

Hosting courtesy of archive.org. Intro music by 46bliss. Our song pick for this podcast is Ingrid Michaelson's "Be Ok." 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!