By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Suma Subramaniam, A.J. Eversole, Mitu Malhotra, and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations

Spotlight Image: Stories Are the Heart of the World by Laurel Goodluck, illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2026).

Author/Illustrator Insights

Graphic Novelist Offers Representation for ADHD Kids by Alisa M. Libby from Simmons University. Peek: [Damian Alexander:] “In a work of fiction, even though there are elements from my own experience, I can play with it more to tell a good story. With a memoir, the content is there, but putting it together is difficult. You have puzzle pieces and have to figure out how they fit. With fiction, you can create your own puzzle pieces.”

Five Questions for Chanel Miller from The Horn Book. Peek: “I was always struck by how words on a page could create an enduring emotional blow. To me books are valuable because they’re confirmation that someone out there has gone through something similar. They’re the closest thing we have to stepping into someone else’s consciousness, collecting clues on how to get through life.”

Four Questions for Channelle Desamours by Patricia J. Murphy from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “[C]rafting teenaged characters [is] challenging, but in a good way, because they’re on the border between childhood and adulthood….[P]art of writing authentic teens is trying to create characters who think they’re a whole lot more grown up than they really are, yet are far less childlike than the adults in their lives believe them to be.”

Creator Interview: Jenna Elysa Johnson on Highlighting Disability Joy and Breaking Through Acquisitions Red Tape from Christine Alemshah, Kidlit Author. Peek: “Keep reading! Take the class. Apply for the mentorship. Listen to the podcast. Go for the grant. Do the thing! You are already in it to win it so believe in yourself. Sometimes the biggest battle is belief. You’ve got to root for yourself and be your own biggest fan….[I]f you keep at it…[y]ou will grow.”

Equity & Inclusion

Author Brian Lee Young…Shares Experiences as a Writer and Filmmaker by Sienna Kim from The Hotchkiss Record. Peek: “She [Brian’s maternal grandmother] took the sheep out. The sheep returned; she didn’t. Five years later, she returned and said that she had survived a boarding school…Not everyone knows about the era of ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man.’ For me, growing up, it was always in the background conversations…like everyone vaguely knew, but not what really happened.”

Anna Sortino on Why She Writes About Disabled Characters Living Their Lives and Falling in Love by Anna Sortino from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “I was inspired to write based on my own life, in which disability has always been a throughline….[T]here’s so much self-exploration to be done in the context of disability—especially at that formative time when you’re trying to define who you are and who you might be in connection with other people.”

We Discuss Bing’s Cherries With Julia Kuo and Livia Blackburne by Betsy Bird from School Library Journal. Peek: [Julia Kuo:] “As an Asian American growing up in the 90s, everything felt very binary, either white or Asian but rarely a mix of both….Young me would have loved to have an Asian American folk hero to proclaim: not only do we belong, but we have always been here, making a difference.”

For AANHPI Heritage Month, Representation Is Just the First Step by Kristina Wong, with Theodore Chao, Jenessa Joffe and Anna Michelle Wang from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “We’re…happy that the AANHPI children’s book market has exploded in the past few years, with so many books featuring Asian American stories. We love reading these…But we know that kids want more than just seeing themselves. They want to know how to make a difference, how to fight for justice, and how to build thriving communities.”

A Home on the Page: An Interview With Author Kao Kalia Yang from Lerner Books. Peek: “Writing has been a lifelong tool for me to hold on to hope. Born a stateless child in a refugee camp, as a member of the Hmong minority, I’ve never had the benefit of a homeland. A guest, a newcomer, sometimes…an interloper—I’ve been writing in search of home for as long as I can remember.”

Five Questions for Lesa Cline-Ransome About the Greater Roxbury Book Fair from The Horn Book. Peek: “I love telling the untold…stories from history. History was never my favorite subject growing up…because I didn’t see myself or anyone who looked like me in historical accounts. But Black people have always been here—inventing, creating, solving, building, fighting for liberty, and the stories that reveal the fullness of our history deserve to be told.”

We Need Diverse Books is accepting applications from traditionally published authors and illustrators to serve as mentors for their 2027 Mentorship Program. Mentors work one-on-one with their mentee to further develop their manuscripts over the course of a calendar year, offering advice to improve their craft and insight to better understand the publishing industry.

Writing Craft

Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow: Write That Story That Is Hard To Write by Robert Lee Brewer from Writers Digest. Peek: “My task was to take some complex ideas…and make that all make sense in a story for little kids. Whenever I’m struggling with a WIP, I switch up writing methods and tools. I can’t tell you how many times I went from notebook, to computer, to scrapbooking, and back again…trying to simplify it all and find coherence.”

Guest Byron Graves with Susan Levy from Native Talk Arizona. Peek: [Writing Advice:] “Reading is big…[F]inding books that are similar to the ones you want to write…can get [you] an idea of how you want to structure them…Find[] books on how to write…Save the Cat is one of my favorite books for looking at the blueprint or template of a book…And just have fun….”

Interview With Tracey Baptiste by Julia Smith from Pine Reads Review. Peek: “[E]arly in my process I tend to use sticky notes, and the ideas are so small that they can very easily be jotted down in a phrase or a simple word…[T]hen I put those up on the wall in my office. And eventually, once I’m looking at them, I start seeing the connections between the things….”

Debut Author To Watch: Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams by Laura Simeon from Kirkus Reviews. Peek: “Writing poetry comes with built-in safeguards. The form demands careful consideration of each and every word—of the word itself and where it ultimately lands on the page. I used the form to my advantage, focusing only on weaving the most important threads of the story and then trusting the reader to fill in the rest.”

YA Author Stacey Lee on Writing the Stories of America by Shelley M. Diaz from School Library Journal. Peek: [Researching historical novels:] “I’m drawn to moments of transition—times when place, power, and belonging were unsettled…it’s a small detail that draws me in: a teapot uncovered during a construction excavation, or a cemetery inhabited only by Chinese laborers. I always start with a map…From there, I read history books, consult experts, visit museums, and immerse myself in primary materials….”

Agent Interview: Ashlee MacCallum (Howland Literary) by Ryan G. Van Cleave from Only Picture Books. Peek: “[V]oice is critical…in children’s books. For picture books in particular, voice…[is] about how much personality each word carries. When you have a limited number of words to tell a story, every sentence has to do multiple jobs like reveal character, create tone, move the story forward, and of course,…sound fun and engaging when read aloud!”

Libraries

Reading Rainbow Host Mychal Threets Wants Debut Kids Book to Teach People “They Belong in the Library” by Carly Tagen-Dye from People Magazine. Peek: “There’s a kid who’s blind, who’s reading braille. There’s a kid who’s unhoused, there’s kids with two dads, there’s kids who are there with their abuela…We want people to know that they belong in the library…And perhaps once you know that you belong in the library, then you accept that you belong everywhere.”

Movers & Shakers 2026 by Executive Editor Lisa Peet from Library Journal. Peek: “Movers & Shakers…shine a light on the ways—often simple (but not easy), often incremental, nearly always rooted in great care and concern—that library workers are supporting their communities. They are getting kids enthused about reading, safeguarding government data, providing options for justice-impacted individuals, ensuring diversity in collections, standing up to censorship,…and more.”

The 2026 ALA Annual Conference and Exhibition takes place June 25 – 29 in Chicago. Featured speakers who write children’s books include Lois Lowry, Melissa Villaseñor and Bill Porter. See the schedule here. Register for the conference here.

Booksellers

The American Booksellers Association Children’s Institute (Ci2026) takes place June 26 – 29 in Schaumburg, IL, near Chicago and O’Hare International Airport. The event offers “four days of educational programming, keynote talks, author receptions, publisher parties, and dedicated time to network with booksellers, authors, and publishers from around the country.” Registration is open.

Applications Open for Macmillan Professional Development Scholarship from Shelf Awareness. Peek: “Applications are open for the Macmillan Booksellers Professional Development Scholarship, a partnership between the Book Industry Charitable (Binc) Foundation and Macmillan Publishers that provides eight grants of $750 each to booksellers traditionally underrepresented within the industry to attend their region’s fall trade show. Applications will be accepted until June 1.” Apply here.

Marketing

Five Ways To Make Your Book Relevant to the Media by Sandra Beckwith from Build Book Buzz. Peek: “You don’t have to spend anything to get the kind of media exposure that’s at least 10 times more effective than advertising…1. Plug in to the news…2. Study your target media outlets for format and approach…3. Connect your topic to what’s making news…4. Stay current on your topic…5. Monitor publishing industry developments.”

Publishing

Tokyopop Kids Imprint Launching from Shelf Awareness. Peek: “Tokyopop is launching Tokyopop Kids, an imprint for younger readers that will publish manga, graphic novels, picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, and Spanish-language titles aimed at children up to 12 years old. [Publisher Marc Visnick:] ‘Tokyopop Kids…[will offer] inclusive, imaginative, and high-quality titles that appeal to kids, parents, educators, and librarians.’”

Marble Press Acquires CamCat Publishing Assets from B&T by Sam Spratford from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “San Francisco–based publisher Marble Press has acquired the catalog and intellectual property assets of CamCat Books from Baker & Taylor…in an asset purchase….The transaction includes 124 adult and YA titles….Marble plans to publish 10-15 new YA and adult titles under the CamCat banner per year.”

Education/Other Resources/Events

The American Indian Library Association‘s (AILA) 2026 American Indian Youth Literature Awards (AITLA) Celebration and Reception takes place June 28 at the American Indian Center, 3401 W. Ainslie St., Chicago IL, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. pacific. The event is free and open to the public. Organized by AILA, the reception features acceptance speeches from the 2026 winning AIYLA authors and illustrators.

Indigenous Reads Rising (IRR) is a resource by We Need Diverse Books that highlights literature by Native, First Nations, and Indigenous creators. It serves as a centralized hub for educators, librarians and readers to find accurate, authentic and engaging children’s and YA books. The site includes articles about best practices, book lists arranged by age, category and topic, and additional resources. You can request IRR promotional bookmarks here.

The free 26th Annual Library of Congress National Book Festival will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 22. “At this year’s festival, the Library will feature an expansion of programming to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary and to showcase the Library’s offerings beyond books to include film, music, veterans’ history and American folklife.”

Penguin Random House Spring Book & Author Festival 2026. If you missed attending the festival on Apr. 16—which was a day packed with author panels and interviews, book buzzes, virtual shelf browsing, and more—you can still access the On Demand videos and resources for three months from the event date. Register here.

The 2026 US Book Show will take place June 2 – 3 in New York City. “This annual US Book Show brings 700+ professionals together from across the global book business for candid, forward-thinking conversation, strategic insights, and meaningful connections…[It] is the leading publishing conference in the United States, convening publishers, editors, marketers, agents, booksellers, librarians, media leaders and technology innovators to examine what’s working, what’s shifting, and what’s next.”

Anderson’s Bookshop’s 4th Annual LITapalooza: A Literary Love Fest for Educators & Authors! takes place in Naperville, IL on Jul. 23. “We are bringing K-8 educators & #kidlit creators back together for a day of community, learning, and celebration of all things literacy!”

Awards

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 Barnes & Noble Children’s & YA Book Awards, in the categories of Picture Books, Young Readers, Young Adults and Overall Winner.

Congratulations to the winners and honorees of the 2026 Green Earth Book Award in six categories: Picture Book Primary, Picture Book Intermediate, Children’s Fiction, Children’s Non-fiction, Young Adult Fiction and Young Adult Non-fiction. “From powerful storytelling to compelling non-fiction that brings environmental issues and information to young people in relatable ways, these books offer a unique and vital perspective to the conversation around our planet’s future.”

Congratulations to the winners and finalists of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library’s 2026 Minnesota Book Awards, especially in the categories of Children’s Literature, Middle Grade Literature and Young Adult Literature. The year-long awards program connects the world of Minnesota books—writers, artists, illustrators, publishers and editors—to readers throughout the state.

Congratulations to the winners of the 37th Annual Oklahoma Book Awards, especially in the Children/Young Adult category.

Congratulations to Trung Le Nguyen, who won the 2026 LA Times Book Prize in the category of Young Adult Literature, for Angelica and the Bear Prince (Random House Graphic, 2025). “The Times’ Book Prizes recognize outstanding literary achievements and celebrate the highest quality of writing from authors at all stages of their careers.”

Congratulations to the winner and honoree of Hollins University’s 2026 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature. The prize goes to the author of a distinguished picture book text originally written in English. The winner is Kate Hoefler for The Couch in the Yard, illustrated by Dena Seiferling (Neal Porter Books, 2025). The honor book is Ada and the Goat by Heidi Aubrey (Neal Porter Books, 2025).

Congratulations to the winners of the 2026 British Book Awards, especially in the categories of Children’s Fiction and Children’s Non-fiction & Illustrated. The awards “showcase, connect and uplift the individuals and teams who bring books and stories to the world….The Books of the Year spotlight the titles that have stirred imaginations, started conversations, [and whose] pages have been well-thumbed, well-worn and well-loved….”

Congratulations to the 2026 finalists of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, and especially for the Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize and the Shiela A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. The prizes celebrate the achievements of British Columbia and Yukon writers, illustrators and publishers.

Congratulations to the Washington Library Association’s 2027 Sasquatch Nominees, who were voted on by 4th through 6th graders in Washington State.

Congratulations to the authors and illustrators who were nominated for the Washington Library Association’s 2027 Towner Award. This award is for the best nonfiction picture books of the year written for second through sixth-grade students.

Congratulations to the authors and illustrators who made the 36th Annual Reading the West Awards Shortlists, especially in the categories of Picture Books, Young Readers and Young Adults. The awards honor the best fiction, non-fiction, and illustrated books for adults and children set in one of the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association member states, or created by an author or artist living in the region. Voting is open until May 31; winners will be announced June 11.

Congratulations to Tundra Books, which has been named the winner of the 2026 Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year for North America. “The prize is given by the publishers themselves who are asked to nominate those publishing houses that have stood out in terms of their creativity, innovation and the quality of their editorial choices.”

Congratulations to the authors and illustrators who made the American Library Association’s Booklist’s 2026 Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth list. “Unique aspects of WWII abound in this list of exemplary historical fiction, drawn from books reviewed in Booklist between February 2025 and January 2026, but romance, adventure, and 1920s Hollywood are also magnificently on offer.”

Congratulations to the authors and illustrators whose books made The Children’s Book Council’s 2026 Kids Favorites lists, which include the Teen Favorites, Teacher Favorites, Middle-Grade Favorites, Librarians Favorites, K-2nd Grade Favorites, and 3rd-5th Grade Favorites.

Congratulations to the winners and honorees of Asian Pacific American Librarians Association’s 2026 Asian Pacific American Awards for Literature, especially those in the picture book, children’s and young adult categories. APALA’s Literature Award Committee is currently accepting submissions published between Sept. 1, 2025 and Aug. 31, 2026 for its 2027 awards.

First round voting takes place June 1 – 23 for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ 2026 Crystal Kite Awards. This peer-given award recognizes great books published in 2025 from fifteen SCBWI regional divisions around the world.

SCBWI Launching New Golden Kite Award for Translation from Shelf Awareness. Peek: “The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is launching the Golden Kite Award for Translation, recognizing ‘the skilled translators who bring diverse stories to young readers in languages around the world.’ It will be presented…in 2027 to honor books originally published in 2026, with the winner receiving $2,500 and the honor recipient $500.”

Submissions for the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Emerging Artist Award are open through June 15. Unpublished picture book creators in the U.S., who are not represented by an agent are eligible to apply. See more details here.

Scholarships & Grants

SCBWI’S Volemos Grant Expands To Include Illustrators from Shelf Awareness. Peek: “The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators announced that Angela Dominguez has joined Meg Medina as a co-sponsor of the Volemos Grant, and the program is expanding to include Latine illustrators. Every year, one early-career author and one illustrator will…receive $500, along with a year-long SCBWI membership and promotion of their work to agents and editors.”

From This Cynsations Series

• Author Interview: Varsha Bajaj on Writing, Restructuring Rejection & her Latest Novel
• Author Interview: Carole Lindstrom on Longer Narrative Fiction & Red River Rose
• Author Interview: Sharon G. Flake on Inspiration, Community & Poetic Outcomes

• Author Interview: Byron Graves Explores Skating & Relationships in Medicine Wheels
• Author Interview: Ernesto Cisneros on Dialogue, Mentors & Finding Time
• Author Interview: Nora Shalaway Carpenter on Crafting Short Stories & Editing “Cli-Fi” Anthology, Onward

• Author Interview: Christine Hartman Derr Explores Culture, Connection & the Magic of Food in MG Debut, Raven Rising
• In Memory: Authors Andrea Page, Michael Hague & Marsha Chall; Bookseller Jewell Stoddard & Editor Ellen Rudin
• Author Interview: Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams Speaks to Carrying Ancestral Wisdom Into Her Writing

More Personally—Gayleen

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve completed my Library Science Master’s (my name is on page 35 of the commencement program), so I can now officially say I’m a librarian.

I recently helped promote our summer reading program at a local outdoor event, and have been busy creating library scavenger hunts for middle school patrons. And, of course, talking about books! Nothing beats connecting a young reader with a great story, then having them come back to say they enjoyed the book – and ask for another one. Fortunately, a decade of Cynsations work has prepared me well for librarianship.

More Personally—Suma

It’s been a little quiet on my end. I’m taking things slow this summer and giving myself time to read and draft new projects at an unhurried pace.

In the meantime, I recently completed my coursework in Creative Writing Teaching Pedagogy at the University of San Francisco. With cross‑cultural teaching experience in India and years of mentoring writers in the U.S., I’ve long hoped to deepen my artistic training. The wonderful David Macinnis Gill and my small, brilliant cohort (Karen Krossing, Rhonda DeChambeau, Anne‑Marie Strohman, and Sarah Pitcher‑Hoffman) helped me step more fully into inclusive teaching practices and continue growing a community of writers. I’m now offering editorial services for writers. Details are on my website and in my bio: https://sumasubramaniam.com/editorial-services/

More Personally—A.J.

My summer is a full one! Never Whistle at Night Part II: Back for Blood drops August 8th from Penguin, and my story “Civilized” is in it. I couldn’t be more excited for readers to get their hands on this anthology. I’m also faculty at Boyds Mills (previously the Highlights Foundation) and Chautauqua Institute this season, which is a new adventure for me as a writer.

On the writing side, I’m up to my elbows in revisions on different projects. Hopefully all things that will get announced soon!

More Personally—Mitu

In early May I was a retreat assistant at Boyds Mills, PA (previously Highlights)—for the Asian and Asian American Voices Community Retreat led by Grace Lin and Debbi Michiko Florence—in the fifth year of this retreat it was an absolute joy to gather with these creators and share our writing-illustrating journey. This spring I revamped the illustration page of my website with new art and am hoping summer affords me the time to play with visual forms of storytelling.

On another note I signed with my agent Rachel Letofsky at Transatlantic and I look forward to this partnership as I continue my writing journey. Here is the KidLitArt postcard I designed for May 2026.

The post Cynsational News appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By AJ Eversole

Super excited to chat with debut author, Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams today on Cynsations. Reading An Expanse of Blue (Heartdrum, 2026) was a transformative experience for me. From the opening to poem I was hooked and ready to follow main character Aouli along on her journey. So far the young adult novel-in-verse has received a stunning three stars and released on May 19th!

You’ve mentioned that an anchor poem became pivotal in writing An Expanse of Blue. Can you talk about how that single poem evolved into a full novel-in-verse? 

Yes! The first poem I wrote for this project takes place during Catholic mass. Aouli and her best friend are joking around when they are supposed to be praying. On the outside, Aouli appears confident and silly and even a little rebellious. But it is revealed only to the reader that, on the inside, Aouli is holding onto a lot of shame. The poem reveals so much of who Aouli is—and who she wants to be. Writing this poem felt like one of those magical light bulb author moments I never thought would actually happen to me— I could actually her voice in my head. That poem became the guiding light that eventually revealed the rest of Aouli’s story to me.

You’ve described your own journey as, ‘trying to figure out how I merge two worlds’. Your Native Hawaiian heritage and Catholicism. How does Aouli’s story reflect this personal navigation between faith traditions? 

I only found peace with my faith once I allowed it to be shaped my culture and guided by my ancestors. The journey one must take to understand all the parts of themselves—both inherited and found—is one I really started on in earnest during the process of writing this book. Readers will find that Aouli begins to find peace in a similar way by turning to her kūpuna (elders), specifically her beloved Aunty Ehu, when her own questions of faith start to bubble up.

The novel follows the Catholic liturgical calendar. Why was this structure important to the story, and how does it interact with Aouli’s struggle with faith and identity? 

The majority of the story takes place during Lent—a time of reflection and self-sacrifice that leads to Easter. Since I decided to write An Expanse of Blue in verse, the form allows the reader to spend much of the book inside of Aouli’s head and up close and personal with her most vulnerable thoughts. The reader becomes a witness to Aouli’s reflection on herself, her family, her friends, and the worlds swirling around and inside of her, so it felt like a natural choice to structure the story around a season dedicated to self-reflection and growth.

What drew you to verse as the form for this particular story? 

The magic of verse is that it is a malleable form. As the writer, I was able to tell the story not just through the words I wrote but through the use of white space, image systems, repetition, and rhythm. That freedom to play on the page allowed me to write a story that covers some pretty tough and mature topics in an accessible way for young readers!

You’ve said you have a passion for telling stories about the native diaspora. What’s unique about the experience of being Native Hawaiian in Western Washington, and why was it important to center this community? 

It was important for me to center this community because I don’t think many people outside of it even realize that we exist. As a kid, people often questioned me and my identity, suspicious of me simply because I didn’t live in Hawaii. The truth is, as of the last US Census, 55% of Native Hawaiians are living outside of the islands. I feel that part of my kuleana (responsibility) as a storyteller is to shine a light on the community that raised me.

Can you talk about the significance of extended family and community gatherings in Native Hawaiian culture? 

Community is the center of which my culture revolves. Gathering together with extended family and close friends is a reminder to cherish those relationships, an opportunity to celebrate them, and, most importantly, a time to see and be seen by those who love you most. There is often lots of food, music, dance, and gossip—the best bits of life in my opinion. These gatherings act not only as a safe place to come as you are but as a source of energy to carry with you in our day-to-day lives.

You’ve mentioned wanting to give young readers characters you didn’t have growing up. What do you hope mixed Native Hawaiian readers find in Aouli’s story? 

I hope mixed Kānaka readers find comfort in knowing that colonizer-imposed concepts like blood quantum don’t define us. Your ancestors know you! They claim you! You are the answer to their prayers!

And, most importantly, I hope mixed Native Hawaiian readers find the confidence to tell their own stories. I hope they see that stories by us, about us, and for us deserve to be heard.

What are you working on next? 

I am currently writing what hopefully will be my next novel-in-verse (slowly though…very slowly).

Cynsational Notes:

Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams is a Kanaka Maoli/Native Hawaiian, Asian, and white author and poet originally from Seattle, Washington. Today, Kaua lives in sunny southern California on a bird sanctuary with her partner, where she spends her time writing, reading, daydreaming, dancing hula, and bending to her dogs’ every wish and whim. An Expanse of Blue is her debut novel.

A.J. Eversole is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and a writer of adult and children’s literature. Her work appears in Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Heartdrum/HarperCollins), a Michael L. Printz Award–winning anthology, Beyond the Glittering World, and Never Whistle at Night Part II (Vintage, 2026). She also reports on Native voices in literature for Cynsations. Find her online @ajeversole.

The post Author Interview: Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams Speaks to Carrying Ancestral Wisdom Into Her Writing appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Author Andrea M. Page

Author Andrea M. Page (Hunkpapa Lakota) died March 5, 2026 at the age of 61, after a difficult battle with breast cancer, stated Walker Brothers Funeral Home. Andrea taught 6th grade English Language Arts for more than 30 years. During that time, she started researching the Lakota Code Talkers, a quest that spanned more than two decades and led to her first book, Sioux Code Talkers of World War II (Pelican Publishing, 2017), now in its fourth printing.

We discussed her long path to publication in a 2017 Cynsations interview and Andrea recounted how challenging it had been to find the right way to tell the Code Talkers’ story. She got a positive response to a query letter from Pelican editor Nina Kooij who said they might be interested if Andrea could double the word count.

“I was excited, but at that time, I had no idea how to double my word count. I knew I put all my solid research in the manuscript, I didn’t know what to do. But, I was not going to give up,” Andrea said.

She detailed her writing journey and how a technique from Tom Bird’s Call of the Writer’s Craft (Simon & Schuster, 2009) opened creative doors and let her discover her voice.

“Basically, you access the right brain, write fast, and write a lot. I stopped editing lines and wrote about topics in my book in no particular order. I filled a huge, blank sketchbook. (I still write this way today) I found my voice while piecing together the chapters in my book,” Andrea said.

Telling the Code Talker’s story wasn’t limited to publishing the book with Pelican. Andrea also lobbied for the veterans to be recognized by Congress, and attended a hearing in support of the Code Talker Recognition Act.

“Some elders testified in their own language. Since the hearings are recorded, this may be the first time testimony was documented in Lakota. I heard the pride in the veterans’ voices when they explained this, and it made such an impression on me that I pursued trying to have some of the code messages translated.”

Andrea worked with elders to ensure the Lakota language that appeared in Sioux Code Talkers would be authentic and readable.

Andrea created educator guides for publishers (see her 2021 Cynsations interview) and also compiled Native book lists for We Need Diverse Books’ Indigenous Reads Rising site.

Andrea was selected for the 2022 We Need Diverse Books’ Native Writing Intensive, where she connected with agent Adriana Dominguez of Aevitas Creative Management and later signed with her. This paved the way for publication of Andrea’s second book, Who Was Wilma Mankiller? (Penguin Workshop, 2025). Andrea was the first Native author to write for the Penguin Workshop Series.

Andrea was very active in the children’s literature community: a former board member of the Children’s Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) and is a longtime member of SCBWI and RACWI, and was a Highlights Foundation (now Boyds Mills) instructor.

While fighting cancer, Andrea finalized work on her third book, Gabriel’s Winter Count, illustrated by Alfreda Beartrack Algeo, to be published by Charlesbridge Oct. 6, 2026.

In our 2017 interview, Andrea summed up her drive for sharing authentic Native stories. “Our schools teach about historical events, but oftentimes from the non-Native point of view. I hope my book opens the eyes of students and teachers to the two points of view. Both sides need to be studied. This is part of our history as a country.”

Donations in Andrea’s honor can be made to the Rochester Public Library for children’s books, or Boyds Mill for the Andrea M. Page Scholarship for “storytellers who carry that same belief as Andrea: stories matter, representation matters, and generosity is not only our responsibility, but our privilege to provide to one another.“

Author-Illustrator Michael Hague

Author-illustrator Michael Hague died March 10 at the age of 77, Shannon Maughan reported for Publishers Weekly.

Hague was always interested in illustrating children’s books, but as a student at the Art Center College of Design was told classes weren’t offered in that specialty because it would be impossible to earn a living that way, he said in a talk for a Chemers Gallery Show in 2013. After completing his BFA, Hague worked as an illustrator for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Mo. The card company published his debut picture book, a pop-up version of Gulliver in Lilliput by Jonathan Swift, and adapted by Edward Cunningham.

A few years later, Hague illustrated a fairy tale for Cricket magazine, before being offered the chance to illustrate Jane Yolen’s Dream Weaver story collection (Philomel, 1979). Publishers Weekly described Hague’s work as “mystic paintings in velvety shades, beautiful mirrors of Yolen’s surrealistic tales.”

Hague illustrated many classic works and fairy tales, and also collaborated with his wife, Kathleen Hague on several books, most recently, Good Night, Fairies (Chronicle, 2001).

In the Chemers Gallery talk, Hague shared the most useful advice he got about creating art: “Stick to it, because eventually you get a break.” He explained that after years of sending out portfolios and receiving rejections, new editors came on board who saw his work differently. “That’s why you should never give up.” Hague illustrated nearly 100 books over 38 years, working with Henry Holt, Simon & Schuster, Doubleday and HarperCollins.

Author Marsha Wilson Chall

Author and writing instructor Marsha Wilson Chall died March 29 in Maple Grove, Minnesota at the age of 72, reported Shannon Maughan for Publishers Weekly. Chall published one chapter book and 11 picture books.

On her website, Chall explained why chose to write for young readers. “Writing for children allowed me that joy of experiencing the world over and over again for the first time. Adults lose this childlike appreciation through over-complication. I like to make the complex simple. Not simple-minded, but pared down to the essential.”

Chall also taught in Hamline University’s MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults. “Teaching critical and creative writing for children’s writers at the college level has given me that rare chance to study children’s literature and the writer’s craft so that I learn what I know and how it’s of value. Teaching teaches the student and the teacher,” Chall wrote on her website.

Bookseller Jewell Stoddard

Jewell Stoddard, who opened one of the first children’s bookstores in the United States, died March 10 at the age of 92, reported Shannon Maughan for Publishers Weekly. After teaching third and fourth grade nearly a decade, Stoddard and colleagues Charlotte Berman, Helen Neuberg and Pamela Sacks opened Cheshire Cat Children’s Books in Washington, D.C. in 1977. First daughter Amy Carter was one of the store’s first customers, Stoddard told Allie Bruce in a 2014 interview for Shelf Awareness.

Stoddard served on the 1994 Caldecott Committee and on the committee that nominated Jon Scieszka as the Inaugural National Children’s Literature Ambassador.

Stoddard’s son, Philip, wrote a moving tribute on his blog, Eye of the Cormorant. He recalled how she befriended many authors including Maurice Sendak, Tomie de Paola and Allen Say.

“As an extra attraction for the store, Jewell raised monarch butterflies from the egg – when the caterpillars were ready to pupate she moved them to a tree branch in the front window. In a week, they would emerge as butterflies and be released.” Philip Stoddard noted this drew a flock of humans to the store to watch the butterflies each morning.

After the Cheshire Cat closed in 1999 Stoddard became the children’s buyer at Politics & Prose (P&P), where she continued the monarch tradition. P&P booksellers Ron Tucker and Maria Salvadore elaborated on the butterfly details in their tribute to Stoddard. “Jewell always seemed to know when each monarch was ready to fly, because at just the right moment she (or someone else under her direction) would carry the full-grown monarch with those dry wings outside and let it fly away.”

Stoddard also worked diligently to expand the depth, diversity and direction of the children’s collection at P&P and shared her motivation in the Shelf Awareness interview with Bruce. “I don’t think we can ever become an integrated society until we have diverse books. If children grow up not knowing how others live, not knowing how others are, what their joys are, how can they know what the world is really like? It’s critical.”

Editor Ellen Rudin

Longtime children’s editor Ellen Rudin died March 18 at the age of 92, reported Shannon Maughan for Publishers Weekly. Rudin began her career in publishing at Random House as an assistant in school and library marketing in 1957. Three years later she moved to Putnam, Coward McCann and John Day as director of school and library publicity, then took a job as editor of School Library Journal in 1961. Over the years she worked at Harper & Row Junior Books, E.P. Dutton, Follet and Golden Books.

Rudin is credited with discovering Caldecott winner Emily Arnold McCully after seeing her subway posters of “children at play” ads for a radio station. “She tracked me down and asked if I would illustrate a book called Sea Beach Express by George Panetta (Harper & Row, 1966). It was an incredible stroke of luck. It led to another assignment, then another,” McCully wrote on her website.

Rudin later commissioned a book from a humor writer she found in Scholastic’s teen magazine Bananas. The result was How to Be Funny: An Extremely Silly Guidebook by Jovial Bob Stine (Dutton, 1978), who soon shifted to writing scary novels as R.L. Stine.

Cynsational Notes

Gayleen Rabakukk holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and recently completed a Master’s in Library Science at the University of North Texas. She also has an undergraduate degree in Journalism from the University of Central Oklahoma. She has published numerous newspaper and magazine articles, and two regional interest books for adults. She is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

She’s a Librarian at the Lago Vista Public Library, where she leads a book club for young readers. She also teaches creative writing workshops and loves inspiring curiosity in young readers through stories of hope and adventure. Follow her on Instagram and Bluesky.

The post In Memory: Authors Andrea Page, Michael Hague & Marsha Chall; Bookseller Jewell Stoddard & Editor Ellen Rudin appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By AJ Eversole

Today we have Christine Hartman Derr (Cherokee) to discuss her debut novel, Raven Rising (Heartdrum, 2026). Raven, Rising has received two starred reviews ahead of its July release. Today Christine speaks to the heart of the story and how being Cherokee has shaped her life.

Raven possesses magical powers in the kitchen. Her treats can mysteriously change lives. How does this concept of kitchen magic connect to Cherokee traditions around food and community?

Raven’s magic isn’t connected to her Cherokee heritage, as I didn’t want to play into any “mystic Indian” stereotypes. That said, food plays such an important part in the plot. Raven and her mom were accomplished bakers, with dreams to one day open their own cupcake bakery. Food is a way to share care, to connect—in Cherokee traditions and non-Native traditions alike—and definitely plays a part in Raven’s healing journey. Baking is Raven’s path to self-forgiveness, to healing, and to helping her new community.

You’re originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and now live in Tennessee. How does Raven’s experience of being a Cherokee girl navigating a new place reflect your own journey or the experiences of Cherokee families living away from tribal lands?

I moved a lot as a kid, first around Oklahoma and later out of state. Staying connected to culture and community requires intentionality, which was something I wanted to show through Raven’s journey. Her community continues to be there for her, across the miles—distance can’t stop love.

Cherokee Nation has thousands of at-large citizens, and I wanted to show that whether we are living on reservation land, in neighboring areas, or far away, there is no distance that can keep us from connecting to our people, culture, heritage, and ways of life as long as we continue to be intentional about maintaining and strengthening those bonds.

Raven faces a cruel rumor. Can you talk about the decision to address both supernatural prejudice and grief simultaneously in a middle grade novel?

Off-hand comments can turn into rumors that take on a life of their own.

At the same time, Raven’s grief isn’t only hers; her aunt—now her guardian—and many friends and family in her life are affected, too. Though these seem like disconnected issues, Raven hesitates to seek support from her aunt or faraway friends because she knows they’re hurting, too.

Middle grade readers don’t exist in a vacuum; they have as much going on in as many areas of their lives as the adults around them, and they often become aware of this in these middle-school years. Raven’s problems do seem big—bullying, grief, moving away from community.

Although the scope of her issues seems larger, kids are dealing with similar problems every day. Maybe it’s on a different scale, or they’re grieving a pet, or a grandparent, or a lost friendship. Maybe their bully is their own internal monologue or they wouldn’t even call the unkindnesses they face ‘bullying’. But these are concepts they’re likely familiar with, and life rarely only throws one curveball at a time. I wanted them to see where Raven gets it wrong as well as how she works to get it right.

The vice principal keeps targeting Raven for dress code violations. Why was it important to show this specific form of institutional bias against a Cherokee girl?

Dress codes have historically been used to target girls, female-presenting people, and minorities. I wanted to show how disruptive these problematic systems can be, and how they can be weaponized to attempt to control others. Having spent my middle and high school years as one of the few Native students in my school system, I am quite familiar with institutional bias. I often experienced it in Social Studies classrooms, but institutional bias is rarely limited to one avenue.

My hope is that Raven’s experience working to change a broken system might prove helpful to students experiencing similar issues in their lives.

Raven’s magical baking stopped after the accident that took her parents. How do you see her magical abilities as connected to her healing journey and relationship with her Cherokee identity?

Well, Raven’s baking stopped after she lost her parents. But the magic kept poking at her, prodding her to return to it. Sometimes, we all need a little push on our healing journey. Raven’s magic is her push. Being pushed to return to her baking also helps her to not distance herself from other activities that remind her of her parents, like practicing Tsalagi language. So while her magic isn’t connected to her heritage, her magic does give her the push she needs to step forward on the path of healing.

You’ve spoken about your commitment to Cherokee language revitalization and including Cherokee language learners as characters. How does language appear in Raven, Rising?

Raven is a Cherokee language learner, and she ultimately makes a choice she fears is a betrayal to her linguistic education, her culture, and her community. She then has to work to mitigate this potential harm and work on healing relationships. Her self-forgiveness allows her to return to language learning and demonstrates how far she’s come in her healing journey.

My hope is that this shows there is no pressure to be perfect. We are all trying, we will all undoubtedly make mistakes along the way, and it’s our willingness to keep trying and do what’s right that is most important. I also hope that the significance of the language, how it shapes Raven’s worldview, sparks a deeper interest in Cherokee language for readers.

Laurel and Hazel are Raven’s lifelines in this new place. What role do these friendships play in helping her navigate both the mundane challenges and the magical ones?

Laurel and Hazel are integral to Raven’s healing journey. They are fierce and strong in their own rights and show Raven that there is a place for her in Bear Creek Falls. Most importantly, they show her that she isn’t alone and she doesn’t have to face these challenges on her own—that she doesn’t deserve to face these challenges on her own.

Their friendship is magic!

Raven considers using her magical sweets to whip up a justice so powerful it would set everything right. Can you talk about this exploration of justice, power, and consequences in middle grade fiction?

So often, middle-grade readers are treated as though they are powerless. They don’t yet have the agency that a driver’s license affords teens, but they have a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the world than they did in the early elementary years. But they can affect change. This age range is exploring their understanding of justice, power, and consequences through the media they consume, the world around them, and what is happening in their schools and neighborhoods.

Yes, Raven considers using her magical sweets to help her cause. But she also takes action that young readers could emulate: talking to those in positions of power, bringing the issue up with their peers, utilizing petitions and the power of story.

Injustice thrives when no one is addressing it. So why not show our young readers that it’s okay, and even needed, to bring these issues into the spotlight?

You won multiple awards at Vermont College of Fine Arts including the Revisionary Award. You were selected as a DEI Fellow and Center for Arts and Social Justice Fellow. How did your time at VCFA shape this debut novel?

Ah, this is a difficult question. On the one hand, winning awards is, of course, so fun. It offered a confidence boost at a time when I really needed it. My DEI work and Center for Arts and Social Justice fellowship allowed me to use my voice in much the same way Raven uses hers: to notice, to see, to listen to others and work to make positive changes.

On the other hand, for every award and fellowship I’ve been selected for, I have a rejection (or three) to match. It’s tough to not be chosen. To feel like you weren’t good enough. My time at VCFA taught me that a ‘no’ now isn’t a ‘no’ forever. It was an important lesson to learn, as publishing decisions are based on so much more than ‘good enough.’ There’s a lot at play that those on the submitting end may not be privy to, and not being chosen doesn’t mean you didn’t deserve to be chosen.

I also learned a lot about the craft of writing, of course! And my favorite acquisition from that education is my writing community. My time at VCFA connected me with many incredible people and led me to apply for other writing related events like the We Need Diverse Books Native Children’s and YA Writing Intensive. Finding and being a part of these writing communities has been life changing in the many ways. Publishing is a hard business. But the writing community? That’s the best part.

What are you working on next?

I’m currently working on a middle grade novel in verse that follows a sixth grader as she moves from Oklahoma, where sixth grade is middle school, to Indiana, where sixth grade is still considered elementary school. As she struggles to find where she fits in this place, she discovers a dark history that her new town doesn’t seem to acknowledge and works to correct that while healing a rift in her family.

Cynsational Notes

Christine Hartman Derr is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Christine lives in East Tennessee with her spouse, children, and a rambunctious crew of lovable pets with themed names. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from VCFA. Find her short fiction in Just YA and Legendary Frybread Drive-In. Her debut picture book, Until We Meet Again: Donadagohvi and debut novel, Raven, Rising, are forthcoming from Heartdrum/HarperCollins Children’s.

A.J. Eversole grew up in rural Oklahoma, where wide open spaces fueled her imagination and a lifelong love of stories. An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, she writes across adult and children’s literature, from stories centering Cherokee identity and cultural reclamation to fantasy, speculative fiction, and narratives of everyday courage.

Her work appears in Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Heartdrum/HarperCollins), a Michael L. Printz Award–winning anthology, Beyond the Glittering World (Torrey House Press), and Never Whistle at Night Part II (Vintage, 2026). Through her fiction, Eversole centers Native voices and futures while honoring the living presence of tradition, community, and story.

In addition to her creative work, she reports on Native voices in literature for Cynsations. She lives and writes in Oklahoma. Find her on social media @ajeversole.

The post Author Interview: Christine Hartman Derr Explores Culture, Connection & the Magic of Food in MG Debut, Raven Rising appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Mitu Malhotra

Today we are excited to welcome to Cynsations, Nora Shalaway Carpenter, contributing editor of Onward (Charlesbridge Teen, 2026) a collection of sixteen short stories published on Feb. 24. While reading Nora’s latest anthology, I was reminded of Amitav Ghosh’s words: “The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence—a task to which fiction is the best suited of all cultural forms.” Kirkus Reviews called this book “A powerful look at a shifting world,” and in a starred review, Shelf Awareness, mentions Onward “is a distinct and intriguing collection.” Nora’s climate fiction or Cli-Fi anthology touches science, history, and deeply personal human experiences curated to ensure that each short story stands on its own while still contributing to a larger narrative about our relationship with the environment.

Onward, a one-word title is accompanied by a striking cover image of an organic shaped hourglass—water flows into an idyllic pool with fish and abundant plant life—promising, yet the dark background creates a sense of foreboding urgency. What was the journey of arriving at this title and illustrator Violeta Encarnación’s cover design? Who in publishing hierarchy decides on the visual package of the book that seals the reader’s attention on first look?

The original title of this anthology was “Everything Needs To Change,” a Greta Thunberg quote. But with the necessary subtitle, it became too much of a mouthful. We agreed that the main title needed to be super short, one word if possible. I thought about what the real purpose of the book was—to encourage and empower readers to keep going and to become climate activists at some level. That’s how we arrived at Onward.

Every publisher has a different process for letting their authors (or not letting them) have input in the cover. I’m so grateful Charlesbridge included me from the beginning. I was sent six possible illustrators, and the editors and I all decided Violeta was the artist for this cover. Thankfully, she agreed!

Can you share the germination of the Onward seed idea? Did your agent submit a themed proposal as with a nonfiction book and a sample story to the publisher? How did you select the various pieces, did you commission authors or have an open call? Take us behind the scenes—how do you curate an anthology from scratch?

Onward had a long gestation period due to a number of personal and market-related factors. I was in the middle of writing my second novel, Fault Lines (Hachette, 2023), with a plot that revolves around fracking (something my family has firsthand experience with due to where I grew up in rural West Virginia) when I first had the idea to develop a proposal for a climate fiction anthology specifically written for Generation Dread— Generation Dread (Knopf Canada, 2022)—which also included an accessible, practical resource section.

I pitched the idea to several author friends with whom I was teaching at the time—Erin Entrada Kelly and Sarah Aronson. Once they signed on, I reached out to other authors I knew who were interested in climate justice and climate fiction.

Open calls are much more common for nonfiction and scholarly anthologies. Most fiction publishers I know advise against them. Because so many authors want to be part of fiction anthologies, you usually need some kind of connection to the editor. Even then, the acquiring editor usually has some authors they want to work with, too, so they also have some say.

Onward is your fourth anthology since your first Rural Voices (Candlewick, 2020) was published. How different or similar was your creative approach to curating Onward compared with the anthologies that came before?

In one way, my work on Onward has most resembled my work on Rural Voices, namely because I had a wonderful co-editor, Rocky Callen, for AB(solutely) NORMAL: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes (Candlewick, 2023) to split the work!

I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with brilliant acquiring editors for each anthology: Kaylan Adair for Rural Voices and AB(solutely) NORMAL, Sean Petrie for Spinning Toward the Sun: Essays on Writing, Resilience, & the Creative Life (Burlwood Books, 2025) and Julie Bliven and Natalia Vázquez Torres for Onward.

Spinning Toward the Sun is a nonfiction essay collection benefitting the victims of Hurricane Helene, so it’s a completely different beast, but of my three fiction anthologies, my creative approach has been fairly consistent, I think. In each case, I started with a theme. I then reached out to authors I knew were also interested in that theme, and those authors recommended people they knew. The list filled quickly. I gave each author free reign to write in whatever genre they preferred. Each piece then went through a series of one-to-four edit rounds with me before moving on to the final edit with acquiring editors, Julie and Natalia.

Trees are symbolic of life and longevity—the opening story titled, “The Care and Feeding of Mother” by Erin Entrada Kelly and the last one titled, “The Stealth Arborist” by Rachel Hylton deal with this primal human connection to trees and create a narrative circle. How did you pick these two intriguing bookends for your anthology?

I love this question! As I mentioned earlier, the authors had free reign to choose their genre and specific environmental story idea. As soon as I read Erin’s piece, I knew I wanted the book to open with it. Rachel’s piece felt like the perfect, hopeful story to bookend the collection. Another anthologist once told me that putting together the story order is like putting together a playlist. There are multiple ways you could arrange the pieces, but you keep shuffling them until you get an order that just feels right.

I enjoyed reading your piece of contemporary realistic fiction “Armadillo by Morning” which is written in close third person point of view, interwoven with stretches of effective dialogue as well as revealing monologue. What sort of revision process did this story entail? Do you have any craft tips for writing dialogue that rings true for YA audiences?

I’m so glad you enjoyed “Armadillo by Morning.” I think one of the reasons I have enjoyed anthologies so much is that the short story form is not my most comfortable structure. I am much more confident in and comfortable with the novel form, so short stories challenge me creatively. “Armadillo by Morning” was no exception.

In my writer brain, I see so many threads and subplots, and short stories don’t allow for nearly as many threads as novels, simply due to space. So at first I struggled for a while to figure out what the story was really about. Sure, there was an armadillo in a state it wasn’t supposed to be and yes, it was because of climate change. But what then? What was the meat of the piece? What did this mean for the main character? What else was she dealing with, and how could the climate piece parallel that? Julie really pushed me to get rid of any extraneous material and to keep tightening the narrative.

Regarding dialogue, the best thing to remember is that story dialogue is not the same as real life dialogue. Story dialogue should mimic real life dialogue, but with all the boring parts removed. Story dialogue should also be doing multiple things at once—conveying subtext, illuminating character or setting, or forwarding plot. It doesn’t need to do everything at once, but the best dialogue is always doing more than one thing at any given moment. This is something to be addressed in revision.

First, figure out what your characters need to say to one another, then keep tightening and revising until only the essential and interesting parts remain. And then, revise again to make sure your characters are also communicating through subtext.

Can you share with our readers the scope of work for a contributing anthology editor i.e. you versus that of an acquiring editor such as Julie Bliven responsible for this book? How do you navigate creative tension when you and an editor see things differently?

Ooh, this is another great question. From speaking to other anthologists, this seems to vary vastly depending on publishing house and acquiring editor, but I can certainly tell readers about my experience. I always tell people interested in putting together an anthology that they need to be prepared to spend as much time on it as they would on a novel. Your time will be spent differently, of course, mostly in helping bring out the best versions of other authors’ pieces, but it nonetheless requires a lot of time.

Plus, instead of working solely on your own schedule, you’ve got to accommodate the schedules of all the other contributors as well, most of whom will be working on other projects at the same time, too.

I’ve been fortunate to have had wonderful experiences with my acquiring editors. Most communication happened by email, but for any especially challenging parts of the compilation, we hopped on a phone call to figure out exactly what a particular story needed and how we could best convey that to the author. Regarding specific responsibilities, I worked directly with each contributor on revisions until I felt the piece was ready for Julie, who then sent back her own notes for a final revision.

As an author, what social media platforms do you use to promote your writing? How do you balance time spent online and time to craft stories? What would be your advice to a debut author in this matter?

Oof. I think everyone is aware that things are a bit of a mess in the industry right now, and that huge structural changes are happening.

In all honestly, social media doesn’t sell books.

My first novel The Edge of Anything (Hachette, 2020) ended up on a viral TikTok reel—over a million views—and I think it moved like twenty copies? Sure, if your book is repeatedly featured on BookTok for weeks, that will probably really help you out.

Social media can be super bad for a creator’s mental health and self esteem, so I recommend spending as little time as possible on there. Maybe set a timer for five minutes or something. It’s good to have at least one online presence so that people can find you—I use Instagram—but please post more than “buy my book” posts. No one wants to hear it, but how your book sells is outside of your control.

It depends mostly on 1) the publisher’s marketing, 2) on social events—what’s happening in the world the day your book releases? Are current events lining up with your book’s theme? Do most people have money to spend on books? Is a huge author also releasing their book on the same day, etc. and the biggest 3) plain old luck. Does a big influencer or film producer happen to read your book and fall in love with it? Does it hit certain lists, a type of luck in itself because the people making those lists have subjective tastes. Does it find the right people who spread it by word of mouth? Etc.

My best advice is to try really hard not to judge yourself by external factors. Celebrate every win, including the fact that you have a published book! Then focus on writing your next book.

Authors today rarely rely on just book sales—they stack multiple income streams. You and I have spoken about the side hustles from speaking engagements at conferences, workshops to being a writing coach, can you tell us about how you configured this jigsaw and what your current schedule holds?

[Deep Sigh]. The first thing to recognize is that “making a living” as an artist means different things to different people, depending on your cost of living, whether you have dependents or a financially contributing partner, etc. In my opinion, it’s disingenuous to suggest to aspiring authors that most writers can be financial independent on book publication alone.

When I was in graduate school, my advisors told me they make most of their income from teaching and speaking engagements, and that’s true for me as well. At the same time, the more of those events you do, the less time you have to write creatively, so you need to be incredibly mindful about what your goals are. For instance, someone who is writing to pay rent is in a much different situation that someone who has a partner to pay rent.

Last year I ended up traveling so much my creative writing time suffered, so this year I’m being much more mindful and selective about what non-writing opportunities I take on. My current patchwork quilt of income is comprised of 1) invited speaking events, 2) teaching events, 3) creative writing, 4) voice work.

My next teaching opportunity is during the August Whole Novel Workshop at Boyds Mills, which you can learn about here.

Anytime a student asks me for “writing life advice,” I tell them what I wish someone had told me way back when I was an undergraduate English major: take some business and marketing classes. Artists of all mediums are essentially small business owners, and it’s a folly not to prepare for that. Even now, I take as many webinars and classes about business strategies for artists as I can; that advice is really helpful.

It’s also about finding the kind of work that feeds you creatively that can also pay the bills. For example, I really enjoy public speaking and the energy exchange at those kinds of events, so teaching and speaking engagements are a natural fit for me. If public speaking doesn’t feed you, then don’t incorporate those into your revenue streams.

I’ve also had to pivot a lot and try new things. For example, after a number of people told me how good of a reader I was, I decided to take a shot at audio book narration. That has opened up in a way I never expected: I ended up voicing the main character in Diana Renn’s seven episode nature mystery audio series Rambling Roads, and am in the process of recording Nancy Werlin’s titles. It’s not writing, but it allows me to be creative in a different way, and I love it! Voice work, like anthology editing, was never something I imagined I’d be doing when I was in school, but both stemmed from opportunities that arose and I seized.

I think a lot of us long for color-by-number career advice, but for those of us who follow a creative career path, I truly think the best advice I can offer is to be open to pivoting. Take opportunities when they come. Not all will pan out, but some may change your life in the best ways.

A QR code to access resources at the end of this book—that fluid touch allows back matter to be updated in real time. Is this standard practice for most books being published now? How long will Charlesbridge review and maintain this database?

Different parts of the back matter were composed by different people, and it’s my understanding that the resources will remain on Charlesbridge’s website indefinitely. They also live on my website. The incredible discussion guide was created by Charlesbridge’s in-house education specialist, but the Climate Action Resources were pulled together by me. Several of the contributors and the acquiring editor Julie Bliven gave me wonderful resources that connected with their specific stories, and the Charlesbridge team made it look great on the website, but for the most part, that section was on me.

The Resources section was a critical piece of the book from the very beginning proposal stage. Stories are essential to inspire and empower readers, but taking that next action step of doing something is crucial to saving our planet. I wanted readers to have immediate, accessible resources not matter where they are in their journey.

A lot of us want to do more, but the climate crisis is so vast and overwhelming, it can be difficult to know where to begin. The point of the Climate Action Resources is to give you a “start here” helping hand. Initially, the Resources were going to be printed back matter, but the book would have been unwieldy! Plus, like you mentioned, the online version is easy to update and expand as needed.

Is there a particular story in this anthology that you would want every young person to read? And why?

This is like picking one of my children as my favorite, so it’s an impossible question that I can’t answer. Besides, I really think you need to read the collection as a whole to get the main effect; each story is sort of like a freshwater stream, lovely and nourishing in its own way. But when read together, they become a beautiful, gushing river that can erode even the fiercest stone.

As we talk today, the world is under the shadow of war and an ensuing destruction of the environment. What would you say to the non-believers who think there is no climate crisis unfolding around us?

You know, I wrote the story “Armadillo By Morning” partly to process the frustration I felt with the kind of people you’re describing. The character named Audrey is a high school senior who takes AP science classes and yet doesn’t believe in climate change. This enrages and flabbergasts main character Emaline, who at one point starts to insult Audrey. Emaline shares my attitude; sometimes I just want to shout at people: look at the evidence! How can you not believe in the truth happening around us? And yet, as another character points out to Emaline, no one ever changes their mind about a deeply held belief because someone made them feel stupid or yelled at them. On the contrary, psychology research has proven the very opposite: people will buckle down on their beliefs in those cases despite evidence.

Stories and connections change hearts and minds. Although I wish I was that magical, I don’t think there’s anything I (or anyone, for that matter) could say in one conversation that would reverse the opinion of someone who has been fed false news for years. Instead, it will take many conversations, many stories, many interactions with people who do believe in climate change. That’s why, as frustrating as it may sometimes be, we cannot simply write off everyone who doesn’t see the world as we see it. In certain extreme cases, perhaps that’s the only option, but in many instances, those of us who recognize climate change as a reality will be more effective if we continue to connect with climate deniers and relate to them as people.

You have to gain someone’s trust before what you believe or show them has any impact, so we need to start there: connecting to people on the human level. Ultimately, I guess, “Armadillo By Morning” is what I’d say to them. Hopefully, other stories (both published and those of their friends or neighbors) will pile up and begin to change their hearts.

Nora Shalaway Carpenter is the award-winning author of the novels Fault Lines and The Edge of Anything, the picture book Yoga Frog, and contributing editor of four anthologies.  Her fiction has been named to NPR’s and Kirkus Reviews‘ Best of the Year lists, praised in the New York Times and People, and won the Green Earth Book Award, the Whippoorwill Award, and the Nautilus Book Award. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches at Boyds Mills’ (formerly the Highlights Foundation) Whole Novel Workshop. When not writing her own books, Shalaway Carpenter works as a voice actor and serves on the executive team of Kindling Words. Learn more at noracarpenterwrites.com.

Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has been recognized as a Lee & Low New Visions Award finalist, winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature, and with scholarships from Boyds Mills/Highlights Foundation, Tin House, and a Djerassi Program writing residency. Her short story “Toxins” is part of ELA curriculum and her writing has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Thin Air Magazine and elsewhere. In previous avatars, Mitu was a textile and fashion designer, and has taught in India, the Middle East and the US. Mitu is an active member of CBIG (Children’s Book Illustrators Group, NYC) and SCBWI, New Jersey. When not writing or drawing, Mitu can be found cooking, upcycling clothes and sewing memory kimonos or building miniature doll houses from salvaged materials. Website: www.mitumalhotra.com Instagram: @mituart Bluesky: @mitumalhotra.bsky.social

The post Author Interview: Nora Shalaway Carpenter on Crafting Short Stories & Editing “Cli-Fi” Anthology, Onward appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Mitu Malhotra

Today we are super excited to welcome Ernesto Cisneros to Cynsations to talk about his new middle grade novel Queso, Just in Time (HarperCollins 2026), which was released in March. Ernesto Cisneros’s debut Efren Divided (HarperCollins, 2020) won the Pura Belpré Award in 2021. Last fall, I met Ernesto at the Boyd’s Mills Whole Novel Workshop, during that workshop retreat, Ernesto shared anecdotes about his upcoming book and I was intrigued by Queso’s story—a book that is equal parts heart and humor much like its creator—a book that has already made it to School Library Journal’s Mock Newbery List 2027!

What personal truth did you want to share via this new book with young readers?

At its heart, Queso, Just in Time is about wanting more time with someone you love. I wrote it from that very human feeling of wishing you could go back—just to say one more thing, ask one more question, or sit with someone a little longer. That feeling became even stronger for me after losing people close to me during the pandemic. I wanted young readers to know it’s okay to miss people and that remembering them is one way we carry them with us.

Queso, Just in Time resonates uncannily with current times. Our world is in turmoil, and woven in the fabric of this book is a librarian ally, and a war veteran with PTSD, who was scarred by “fighting a war he never started.” Looking back, what surprised you most about your writing journey, from your seed idea to the publication of this book?

What surprised me most was how this very personal story began to connect with bigger, real-world experiences people are having. I began with Queso’s journey, but as I wrote, other characters and themes grew in importance too—questions about who gets supported, who gets overlooked, and how people carry invisible scars. I didn’t set out to write something timely, but the story ended up connecting with the world in ways I hadn’t expected.

In Quesos’s “Back to the Future” story, when and how did you conceive the idea of a tree house turning into the portal for time travel?

The treehouse wasn’t the original portal. It began more as a symbol—something passed down, something full of memory and story. But as I kept drafting, I realized the book didn’t need a flashy, high-tech portal. It needed something more intimate and rooted in childhood, imagination, and family. Once I saw the treehouse that way, it all clicked.

After reading this book, the Aztec legend of the ‘Rabbit in the Moon’ will always stay with me. Do you have another favorite myth from your cultural heritage?

What has stayed with me most isn’t one single myth, but the way stories are passed down across generations. Growing up, I heard stories like El Cucuy and La Llorona before I fully understood them. As a kid, they scared me. Later, they became a source of connection—to family, culture, and memory. That idea of stories being handed down and reshaped definitely influences my writing.

Queso, Just in Time is your third middle grade novel since Efren Divided released in 2020, besides being an author, you are also a full-time school teacher. How do you carve time in your busy schedule to write and revise?

I write in the spaces my life allows. As a full-time middle school teacher, that often means early mornings, weekends, school breaks, and small moments during the day when I can grab them. A lot of the work also happens away from the page—while I’m driving, teaching, or listening to my students. I think of it less as finding time and more as collecting it.

You are surrounded by your ideal audience as a middle school teacher, and this experience must inform your ability to pen effective dialogues, jokes, and repartee between children of that age. Do you have any tips for beginning writers who aspire to write for children in this regard?

The biggest mistake is trying to make kids sound too polished or too clever. Kids are funny because they’re honest, awkward, impulsive, and often unintentionally hilarious. Really listen to how they talk—how they interrupt, change subjects, exaggerate, and misunderstand each other. And don’t clean up dialogue too much. Let it be messy. That’s usually where it feels most real.

How would you describe your collaboration with your editor, Courtney Stevenson? Was there an editorial moment during the revision rounds on Queso, Just in Time that helped you see this manuscript more clearly?

Working with Courtney Stevenson has been one of the most valuable parts of shaping Queso, Just in Time. She really helped me better understand pacing—when to let a scene breathe and when to move on. She also pushed me not to rush past the heavier emotional moments just to get back to the humor. That made the book stronger. The revision process included big-picture edits, then more focused work on character and pacing, and finally line edits at the sentence level.

What was the trajectory of your prepublication apprenticeship as a storyteller, could you tell us about any specific mentors who guided you and encouraged your craft?

Before publication, I spent a lot of time learning how to fail productively. I wrote drafts that didn’t work, got hard feedback, and slowly learned more about the craft through workshops, community, and revision. Organizations like SCBWI were important, and so were the other writers who encouraged me along the way. The Tightens [Ernesto’s critique group], especially, have been a huge source of support, honesty, and encouragement. I definitely didn’t get here alone.

How has your relationship with your agent evolved over time? What advice would you give to writers who are seeking representation?

My relationship with my agent has grown over time. At first, it was about finding someone who believed in my work. Now, it’s about having a creative partner who understands my goals and helps me think long-term about my career.

Over time, we’ve built a real friendship too—she’s someone I genuinely enjoy being around, which makes the work even more meaningful. Publishing a book is a long-term relationship. You’re tied to that person through every stage of the process and beyond, so it really matters that you trust them and enjoy working together. For writers seeking representation, I’d say look for someone who not only loves your manuscript but also communicates well, respects your voice, and feels like the right fit for growth.

What has worked for you in terms of book promotion and what hasn’t? How do you balance visibility on social media with boundaries?

What’s worked best for me is connection. School visits, meeting readers, and talking with educators are the parts of promotion that feel most meaningful. Social media can be useful too, but it can also be overwhelming at times—toxic too.

Over the years, I’ve had to learn that I don’t need to do everything. Setting boundaries helps me stay grounded and focused on what matters most. At the end of the day, I do the best I can, trust the work I’ve put in, and let the rest go.

What’s next for you, now that Queso is out in the world? Any new writing projects you can share?

I’m continuing to explore stories that blend humor with emotional depth—stories about young people trying to make sense of complicated feelings and situations. I’m especially interested in how a touch of the magical can help illuminate very real experiences. The next project leans into that in a new way—it has a bit of a superhero thread, but not in the traditional sense. I’m drawn to the idea of the least likely kids—those who feel overlooked or misunderstood—stepping into that kind of power. I can’t share too much yet, but I’m excited about where the story is heading.

Cynsations Notes

Ernesto Cisneros is a 25-year veteran teacher currently serving the city of Santa Ana: the colorful but mostly dismissed section of Orange County, California.  He teaches reading and writing to local students at an inner-city intermediate school. He holds an English degree from the University of California, Irvine; a teaching credential from California State University, Long Beach; as well as a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from National University.

Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has been recognized as a Lee & Low New Visions Award finalist, winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature, and with scholarships from Boyds Mills/Highlights Foundation, Tin House, and a Djerassi Program writing residency. Her short story “Toxins” is part of ELA curriculum and her writing has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Thin Air Magazine and elsewhere. In previous avatars, Mitu was a textile and fashion designer, and has taught in India, the Middle East and the US. Mitu is an active member of CBIG (Children’s Book Illustrators Group, NYC) and SCBWI, New Jersey. When not writing or drawing, Mitu can be found cooking, upcycling clothes and sewing memory kimonos or building miniature doll houses from salvaged materials. Website: www.mitumalhotra.com Instagram: @mituart Bluesky: @mitumalhotra.bsky.social

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By AJ Eversole

Today we welcome author Byron Graves (Ojibwe/Lakota) whose debut novel, Rez Ball (Heartdrum, 2023) won the William C. Morris Award, the American Indian Youth Literature Award and multiple student-choice state awards. His new book, Medicine Wheels, publishes June 2 from Heartdrum.

What drew you to explore skateboarding culture after the success of Rez Ball? How does skating on the rez differ from basketball culture there?

After Rez Ball, I knew I wanted to tell a parallel, but opposite Indigenous sports story. Basketball is so loved and celebrated, and being a successful student athlete can feel like being a rockstar. Even though skateboarding is respected, it still feels like it sort of has a misfit, counterculture, punk-rock vibe to it. There are no gymnasiums packed full of fans cheering on a skater, no leniency at school or with anyone else. Skateboarders aren’t really celebrated or adored the same way. I wanted to tell a story through that lens, and show the beauty found in loving something that no one else celebrates or cares about except for you.

Bryce is learning to ride like his late father. How does this father-son connection through skateboarding compare to the brother relationship in Rez Ball?

With Rez Ball, it was intense in a different way since it was his sibling, and in real time where the teammates and the community were still mourning a loss.

Medicine Wheels explores the mourning process of a parent from an almost exclusively internal perspective, and how it evolves over the years. How we can always find ways to connect to our loved ones that we’ve lost.

Bryce starts the summer with no parents, no phone, and only the clothes on his back. What was important to you about showing this kind of instability alongside his athletic journey?

I know a lot of youth from my rez who unfortunately face a lot of unfair unknowns and turbulence. My intention with Medicine Wheels was to give those kids a story where they can see someone battling a lot of similar challenges. Bryce finds his lighthouse in his love for his fledgling skateboarding skills, the positive escapism it grants him, and the ever growing confidence it gives him.

From personal experience, during dark times, I know it’s important to have something you love to do. Embrace whatever that passion and joy is, always.

Can you talk about the meaning behind Medicine Wheels? How does the concept of the medicine wheel connect to Bryce’s journey?

Skateboarding becomes Bryce’s sanctuary. The skatepark becomes his place to heal. But that includes the hard work, commitment, discipline and most importantly, all the fun that it takes for Bryce to gain new tricks and develop his skills. It’s all part of a connected process. I wanted to show that a passion, a goal, our hopes and dreams can give us a north star to pursue, to uplift us, and keep us on a healthier path in life. But there is a meaningful beauty in the work; there is a deep pride that you can carry with you for life. I believe that knowing you wanted something, so you fought for it, learned about it, worked at it, and saw the improvement, that is a medicine in and of itself.

You’ve mentioned skateboarding is one of your own passions. How did your personal experience skating inform Bryce’s story and the skateboarding scenes?

I believe that the basketball action and stories in Rez Ball resonated so well because I had played basketball. I’m a big believer in the age old, ‘write what you know’ writing advice. I had always loved skateboarding, as a fan, and had spent countless hours watching skateboard videos and playing the Tony Hawk Pro Skater videogame, all the while daydreaming about how cool it would be to skate.

When the premise of Medicine Wheels came to me, I knew I needed to at least have a fundamental understanding of what it felt like to learn, to zoom down a ramp, and yes, to slam on the cement. But before I knew it, I went from dabbling to better tell a story, to falling in love with it, and learning and enjoying it in deeper and more meaningful ways than I had ever imagined. So much of my time being brand new on a board to nailing those first tricks is shared in Bryce’s parallel journey.

Both Rez Ball and Medicine Wheels feature young men grappling with profound loss. What keeps drawing you to stories about grief, and how does Bryce’s journey differ from Tre’s?

I want to share the strength and unbelievable perseverance of the student athletes from my reservation, both past and present. I’ve lived and witnessed what it looks and feels like to lose loved ones, while doing our best to carry on, both in honor of them, as well as ourselves. I’ve kept that close to the heart when living alongside the characters I write.

In Rez Ball, Tre was experiencing an immediate, sharp and shared loss, one that had rocked the community. Tre feels a ton of pressure tied to his basketball success, with hopes that he can not only honor his brother, but in a way, heal his family, his teammates, and his reservation by winning that elusive state championship.

Bryce is left, feeling alone, yearning for the safer and happier times he once knew, but those better times are becoming faint memories. Bryce’s connection to his late father are nostalgic, and his love for skateboarding becomes an opportunity to bond once again in an existential way.

Mikayla is described as “online famous” and “captivating.” How does social media culture play into the story, especially in a reservation setting?

Mikayla’s family is incredibly well off, financially. The polar opposite of Bryce’s world. Her skateboarding skills, style, vibe and kindness have created both a real life popularity, as well as online. It’s an additional form of clout. An additional type of success, making Bryce feel even more insecure about his every burgeoning crush on his childhood bestie.

Robbie, Bryce’s best friend has also created a large online following for his skate content. Social media serves as a chance to even the playing fields, an outlet, and a possibility for making it, even if the odds are slim. In a rez setting, it opens up windows and perspectives of all kinds.

When I was growing up, I only knew the world of my rez and the misleading representation of life in a sitcom. Now, we can follow our favorite skateboarder, chef, artist, whoever. We can learn from them and be inspired by them. In places where there might not be a lot of job opportunities, social media gives another possibility to create our niche. You could blow up for skateboarding while sipping cranberry juice and listening to Stevie Nicks, or making short clips centered around “Indian Humor,” or sharing your thoughtful perspective.

Bryce needs to lean on his Ojibwe community to get back on the board. What does community support look like in this story compared to Rez Ball?

It’s more direct, more connected. There aren’t hundreds of fans and supporters cheering on Bryce. But the people that do, the people that love him and want the best for him, are predominantly people who know him and his family. They’re there for him as a person, not an athlete. It’s not until the end that his skateboarding is part of what is celebrated.

The book explores what it means to not be a loser. How does Bryce’s understanding of success and self-worth evolve through the story?

Bryce feels like he is a loser when comparing himself and his situation in life to others. There are people around him who have nice cars, wealth, new clothes, and good looks. All the typical superficial elements people cling to as status symbols. Bryce also is intimidated by the super talented skateboarders, which leads to a different sense of inferiority complex and insecurity.

Thanks to his budding skateboarding skills, and the ever deepening bonds between him and his family, Bryce eventually has the self realization that what matters most to him is his family, his friends, being kind, and that his love and fun with skateboarding is dependent on his enjoyment of it, not what tricks he can or can’t do.

The description mentions Bryce discovering “his father’s real legacy—and the true meaning of unconditional love.” Without spoiling, what made you want to explore these themes of legacy and love in Medicine Wheels?

Love is buoyed by forgiveness, appreciation, and recognition. Bryce learns to forgive his mother for her chemical dependencies and the instability that has brought to their lives. The care and support his family and friends provide him deepens his appreciation of them.

Bryce has constant recognition throughout the story, the connection to his late father, the strength of his grandparents, the fearlessness of his community, and the bond of his friendships. They’re all seamlessly connected in Bryce’s ever evolving healing process and understanding of unconditional love.

What are you working on next?

I’m not sure how much I can share just yet. But it’s the most exciting and daunting project I’ve ever attempted. It is centered around the exploration, understanding, acceptance, and recognition of my gender identity.

It takes place in the same world as Rez Ball, but also shares a setting in another, digital world. There are some elements of my last two books, but it also goes to a place I never thought I would be brave enough to write, create or share, kind of resetting what I had ever imagined for my story telling journey.

When I first embarked on my writing and artistic life I promised myself that if what I was creating didn’t scare me at least a little bit, then it might be game over for me. This next book boldly takes that promise to the next level.

Cynsational Notes

Byron Graves is Ojibwe and Lakota and was born and raised on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota, where they played high school basketball. When they aren’t writing, they can be found playing retro video games, spending time with their family, or cheering on their beloved Minnesota Timberwolves. Rez Ball was their debut novel; Medicine Wheels is their second book.

A.J. Eversole grew up in rural Oklahoma, where wide open spaces fueled her imagination and a lifelong love of stories. An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, she writes across adult and children’s literature, from stories centering Cherokee identity and cultural reclamation to fantasy, speculative fiction, and narratives of everyday courage.

Her work appears in Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Heartdrum/HarperCollins), a Michael L. Printz Award–winning anthology, Beyond the Glittering World (Torrey House Press), and Never Whistle at Night Part II (Vintage, 2026). Through her fiction, Eversole centers Native voices and futures while honoring the living presence of tradition, community, and story.

In addition to her creative work, she reports on Native voices in literature for Cynsations. She lives and writes in Oklahoma. Find her on social media @ajeversole.

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By Mitu Malhotra

Sharon G. Flake is as much an inspiration in person, as are her written words on the page. Today we are excited to welcome this three-time Coretta Scott King Honor winner, and veteran author to Cynsations to discuss her latest release Hattie Mae Begins Again (Knopf, 2026)—a middle grade verse novel set in 1938 Philadelphia.

Congratulations on the release of Hattie Mae Begins Again! What inspired you to write a companion novel to Once in a Blue Moon (Knopf, 2023)?

Once in a Blue Moon is the sort of book that begs for a sequel. The protagonist is an eleven-year-old boy who struggles with anxiety due to an incident he blames on himself.  James Henry refuses to leave the house, even to attend school. Yet every evening, he boards an imaginary spaceship along with his twin sister, Hattie Mae. Together they explore planets and far off galaxies. Hattie is James Henry’s protector and confidante. She believes in order for James Henry to heal, he  must return to the place where his troubles began—the lighthouse under a blue moon, if all is to be set right again.

At the conclusion of the novel, Hattie Mae decides to attend an elite school for girls in Philadelphia. When readers meet Hattie in my new novel, Hattie Mae Begins Again, she is all set to take a solo trip to the big city. Like millions of others during the great migration, Hattie Mae is a seeker, looking for a new life. The girls at her new school are the daughters of prestigious doctors, lawyers and architects. Several of the young ladies, however, are not very fond of girls from the South.

“Go back to the farm,” was a familiar term used in the ‘30s. Politicians threw the term around, as did others. It was a way to look down on the new arrivals; to separate oneself from them or one’s own Southern roots or to curry political favor with constituents by villainizing and othering newcomers. Like any new student at a new school, Hattie Mae does her best to fit in. But there are bumps along the way, sacrifices to be made.

Will she leave her old self and family values behind to be accepted among Philadelphia’s elite? Should she return home and forget about the life she envisions for herself? Hattie wrestles with a lot in this book, but fun, joy and friendship are also part of her journey. Along with readers, Hattie discovers a great deal about herself and turns out to be one terrific girl, a true leader as well as an inspiration to the community.

Every writer weaves a trace of their own history in the fictional books they put out in the world. How do you draw boundaries–emotionally or professionally–around sharing your lived experience?   

I have spent much of my career writing realistic fiction. I only have a kernel of an idea when I begin to write those books. I allow my characters, muse and creativity to lead the way. But, like other authors I do draw on my life occasionally when I write. Take The Skin I’m In (Hyperion, 1998), my first published novel. I wrote it several years after giving birth to my daughter Brittney, a tall, dark-skinned beauty. She and my protagonist, Maleeka have those two things in common. But that is where their similarities end.

I grew up insecure like Maleeka, the protagonist. However, I was not bullied like her. But I feared speaking up for myself. At college parties, I stood in the center of the room hoping to gain some invisibility. The teacher in the novel, Miss Saunders, and I both had the same career as a public relations specialist. I am also quirky like the math teacher. Did I consciously plan any of this? No, believe it or not. Pieces of a writer often leak onto the pages like ink although we may not be fully aware of it at the time.

I loved the neighborhood and block that I grew up on.  So, at the core of my books you will always find adults who see and believe in young people, as was the case with me.  You will find neighborhoods serve as a reminder that young people need not live elsewhere to feel as if they belong, are valued and equal to those outside their communities.

I grew up in a house with three brothers, two sisters—and one tiny bathroom. The girls slept in one room: one bed sometimes as well. The boys had a bigger room, given the times, I believe it was simply because they were boys. Our parents had the largest bedroom, but my siblings and I had the most fun.  At night, with the lights off you could hear my brother Gregory yell something silly or ridiculous. That was all it took to set the other five Flake children off.  A cascade of laughter would ensue as we held our belly’s or spit slid down chins from all the giggling. Ultimately, my parents’ door would open wide. “Get back to sleep or else,” my father would yell. Still, it would take a while for us to settle down.

Everyone on our narrow block knew the Flakes. And we knew them. My mother did days’ work (that’s what it’s called in Philadelphia). She made other women’s lives easier by caring for the inside of their homes. Some jobs she took were out of the city, in New Jersey. I remember going along with her on occasion. Beautiful homes. The shore close by, blue and quiet. Sliding glass doors, huge patios. The homeowners were always white, kind. I could sit and watch television, snack, relax on the patio without interference. But I never wished to live in any of those places. What could be better than my neighborhood? People knew me there, loved me. When our parents were at work, our neighbors parented us. “Does your mom know you’re on the porch?” Miss Connie or Ms. Portia would say. Of course we would lie. But they knew better. So, back into the house we went.

Summertime was the best time to live on our block. There was nothing better than getting drenched under the spray of the fire hydrant on a blazing hot day. Or jumping double Dutch in the middle of the street. We chased friends during a game of hide and seek. And helped our parents set up picnic tables, umbrellas and food for block parties that started in the morning and lasted until the moon came out.

Every book I write comes out of this community. Mr. Nixon, a tall lumbering man, and a few other neighbors made it into my novels. But mostly it is the lessons I learned living there that appear in one book after the other.

We are responsible for one another; we learned on our block. Neighbors can be like family, is another lesson. It is okay to be a little Black girl from the hood. And nobody, regardless of where they live, is more valued or important than we were. 

With a zip code like ours, it might be easy for people to think we are poor. No such thing was true—not that poverty is a crime. But such notions limit our view of people in some communities. They can limit the way people see my characters and the neighborhoods they envelop as well. I will never forget my oldest sister Veronica saying that Black people regardless of economics had middle class values. I knew what she meant, because I had grown up seeing it.

Our neighbors had a strong work ethic. They valued education and home ownership. They were family people who believed in being good citizens and good neighbors. And they wanted more for their children than they might have grown up with—more opportunity, more financial freedom and more education.

Those values are in my book if people have eyes to see. It is why Maleeka’s mother in The Skin I’m In speaks a bit of French and talks of playing the stock market. It is why John-Jon’s father in The Family I’m In is an entrepreneur with several businesses. And why Hattie Mae ends up at an elite school in a Black neighborhood attended by Black girls of means, though she herself has lived on a farm.

Hattie Mae Begins Again is richly layered with history. What drew you to a particular historical moment that form the setting of this story?  

Readers should remember that Hattie Mae Begins Again is the follow up to Once in a Blue Moon, which takes place in 1938. I selected this time for two reasons—there was a blue moon that year—and my father would have been around the same age of my protagonist, James Henry, eleven years old.

I began my research with a walking tour of the most historically significant African American community in Philadelphia—the Seventh Ward. W.E.B. Du Bois, a pioneering sociologist and scholar, conducted his groundbreaking research of the Seventh Ward. Going door to door, he gathered direct information from about 5,000 residents on their social conditions, educational experiences, housing concerns and more. His study The Philadelphia Negro, demonstrated that a legacy of slavery, poverty, and Jim Crow laws made it nearly impossible for residents to lead a quality life or to become upwardly mobile without significant, pervasive changes in America. My tour took me to Engine Eleven home to one of the first all-Black fire companies and firemen in the nation.

I toured Mother Bethel African Episcopal (AME) Church, one of the oldest Black churches in America. My research also took me to The Free Library of Philadelphia, Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania. I did not stop there; however, I hit the Internet as well. My time online was a game changer. There I learned about Black Doctor’s Row on Christian Street in the Thirtieth Ward of Philadelphia. I did not believe most people had heard of it or knew of its historical significance. That is why I made the decision to place Hattie Mae’s school—Miss Abigail’s School for Exceptional Girls—on that block.

Please tell us about your time at the Free Library of Philadelphia, ‘plowing through The Tribune’, and the Temple University archives. What was your process of research and selection of facts to present to the young audience. 

As a child, I often walked to my neighborhood library. It was on Lehigh Avenue, about six blocks away from home. As an adult, I could still recall the smell of those small, wooden chairs in the children’s area. Research on the city would not be possible without a trip to the library, I believed. I went to the Free Library downtown twice, staying for hours. I used the microfilm to access The Philadelphia Tribune from 1938 through the spring of 1939. This period covers Hattie Mae’s life on the farm and her arrival to, and experiences at, the girls’ school in Philadelphia. I brought my water bottle along because the librarians did not mind patrons taking a sip or two of something refreshing. I had my laptop out, as I took copious notes.

To my parents, the Tribune was the official record of Black life in Philadelphia and other areas of the country. When I was young, they read it twice weekly, cover to cover. Politics, society pages, education, history, social commentaries—The Tribune had it all. As I conducted research, it provided me additional information about individuals and organizations I had only learned about weeks prior while researching at the University of Pennsylvania.

There I learned of the school’s first African American medical school graduate, Dr. Nathan Mossel. He was also the founder of Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School for Nurses. Mossell played a prominent role in elevating and working with Black doctors and nurses, while also promoting more positive healthcare outcomes among African Americans. Douglass hospital was only one of two Black hospitals in America at its founding. While reading the Tribune, I learned that Douglass hospital ran into financial trouble years later. It also had a rich, long history in the Seventh Ward as well as a dental clinic. I knew I had to find a way to include this information in Hattie Mae Begins Again.

A treat for me was browsing through the Tribune and learning more about our community by reading the society pages. There were pages of articles detailing who was coming to town for the holidays, special events, church teas and more. The Tribute listed your address, the wardrobe you had on, and everything served on the menu. Both the elite and the everyday man appeared on society pages, dozens of clubs as well. There were clubs that focused on card games and others built around sewing or cooking, jitterbugging or playing an instrument. Through these clubs, I witnessed the social lives and expansive interests of African Americans, young and old. I could see what they valued as a community. How important a rich social life was to Blacks in Philadelphia at the time. A favorite scene in Hattie Mae Begins Again, takes place when a group of women in a club sow into Hattie’s life. In doing so, they plant the seed that blooms in Hattie later—leadership.

Temple University’s Charles L. Blockson Afro-American collection has over 500,000 items, from paintings, to documents, books and statues. I arrived to find dozens of documents awaiting me. I read and took photos and notes. I discovered organizations I had never heard of, such as the Pyramid Club. This organization of professional Black men consisted of doctors, lawyers, artists and others. It provided a social outlet for like-minded men but also provided a vehicle for them to do social justice work as well.

At the Blockson, I saw the full spectrum of Black life in statistics and groundbreaking studies, in pictorials and novels, and Black faces dating back to the seventeen hundreds. Over and over again, I was reminded of Black joy, Black excellence, determination, community and family values.

Maybe you have enough research material to pen a third verse novel in this book series? Could you share with us what you are writing next? 

I plan to take Hattie Mae back to the farm, so she and James Henry will be together again. I love lighthouses and hope James Henry will be a lightkeeper for a while. I plan to spend the night in a lighthouse as part of my research on this book. Hattie Mae will work at the summer campground/seaside resort that her Uncle purchases. Trouble is never far afoot in a novel. But I am not sure what form the trouble will take in my next book just yet.

How would you describe your collaboration with your editor Gianna Lakenauth especially across this duology? Were there any editorial moments that helped you revise your manuscripts more clearly?

I love working with Gianna. She was not the editor for a big part of the first novel, however. She stepped in during some of the final processes, and we hit it off right away. Gianna gives me a lot of freedom. I write before I do the research, then back my way into the story. That means a lot of rewriting, of realizing that I went up an alley that no longer serves me. She was good at keeping me on track and valuing the directions I traveled in at the same time.

When the book opened many rewrites ago, we met Hattie’s friend Alabaster right away. It was clear she felt as if she had to fix him; protect him from the girls at school. Hattie had a similar relationship with her brother, James Henry. Gianna pointed that out, and it was significant too. Hattie did not always seem as if she fit into this environment. Gianna could see this when I couldn’t. As a result, I was able to dig deeper into the research to create a world that fit all of Hattie’s needs and seemed real to the reader as well.

In Hattie Mae, the vocabulary and voice in free verse hits the mark for middle grade readers. The book length metaphor of the suitcase is particularly striking with the poem “Getting rid of things that no longer suit me” appearing at end of the first act. Could you tell us about the imagery and motifs and how you strung them together in this novel?

I am exceptionally good at painting pictures with words. Young readers tell me often that reading my novels seems like watching a movie. This is how I write my verse novels as well. For several drafts, I had Hattie Mae toss her old clothing into the trash can in the backyard. Her clothes symbolized someone she wasn’t anymore. She wanted to distance herself from them. One day Hattie stepped inside her closet. That is when I remembered the suitcase in the corner. Why wouldn’t Hattie stash her things inside it, I thought? This would also give her a way to retrieve them later, symbolizing a renewed way to see both the value of her past as well as her present situation. And for the reader to see her work hard to set aside her old things and her old life.

With regards to your process of building poetic language, do you have any tips to share with beginning writers who may be thinking of writing in verse? Any writing exercises or mentor texts? 

For starters, they may want to read a few well-written books in verse. My writing exercises are simple–I sit down and write novels I am being paid to write. I do teach writing classes periodically. I love to come up with writing prompts that get students going. Often, I lead students to Charles Johnson’s novel Middle Passage. I want them to see how to create great writing and imagery. Reading his novel as a novice writer, I learned the power of figurative language in writing. It was a game changer for me when it came to writing The Skin I’m in.

Any favorite poets or poems you keep on your bedside for a daily dose of inspiration?

My great-grandfather Titus Cottingham wrote poetry. I think of him as a poet, though I have never seen his work. Had he been given the opportunity, might he have written his own book of poetry, I always wonder? In honor of him, I have a character named Titus in Once in a Blue Moon. Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, Claude McKay, and Maya Angelou are my go to poets.

It’s been twenty-five years since your debut, The Skin I’m In won The Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. What keeps your creative spark alive through the seasons of a long career?

I love what I do and who I do it for, young people. I still feel fortunate to be in this business, and to have generations of readers reach out to me about my impact on their lives. The new voices in our community, the new modes of telling stories all help to galvanize me and push me forward. And there is forever that small voice inside saying we’re not quite done yet.

Please tell us about any writing adjacent activities or daily pursuits that may feed your creative energies?

Returning home to Philadelphia is always inspiring. The neighborhood I grew up in still holds magic for me. But it seems easy for others to denigrate such neighborhoods. There are no lawns, just concrete. One may find graffiti, empty buildings and lots or trash cans askew days after the trash man has done his job. If this is all you see, you move through the world with limited vision, I’d say.

Philly has so many small blocks. I navigate this one and that one, noticing the different personalities of each. One such block near my dad’s house has cornstalks on the street pole in the fall, cascading flowers in a giant planter at the opposite end during the summer. There you’ll find a wooden bench inviting you to sit a spell. To relax. Close by you’ll find a backyard filled with the most glorious flowers one can imagine.

Occasionally, I stop and imagine my life as a kid taking arts and crafts classes a stone’s throw away in Fairmount Park; being driven to church by our good neighbors Mr. Nixon and his wife or headed to Jersey in a stationwagon driven by Miss Mary who returned often to buy crabs on sale. My father did not own a car. It was neighbors who drove us places at times. A Jersey trip was when I first discovered Dairy Queen. I am not certain if I had my own money or if Miss Mary purchased the sweet treat. But it sticks in my mind even now, tall as a tower, a dream built of sugar and sweet cream, much like the block I was raised on.

Have you ever paused or shifted your focus as an author? What helped you find your way forward?

Mid-career, I found myself in quite a pickle. It began when a new editor gave me written feedback on a novel. This came in the form of a twenty-three-page response. I had never received more than seven pages at a time during my then decade-long career. I was certain she did not like my work. It also did not help that I had been given the largest advance to date in my career. Call it ego, but for the first time in my career, I felt pressured to deliver and to perform in a big way. I ignored my editorial letter when my editor told me the manuscript was on the right track, and we did not have far to go. Not able to turn off my brain, I rewrote the entire book.

Now I had a four-hundred-page novel, not the two hundred plus book I began with. I was certain it was a masterpiece. And in my mind, it had to be. For I was convinced, I had something to prove. Turns out it was just awful. The publishing house was in transition. My book ended up with two different editors.  Luckily, they gave no real advice because they two were moving on. My agent ‘s advice was for us to take it to another publishing house. But the fire was lit, and my confidence in myself fragile.

But at least I was familiar with this editor. Andrea Davis Pinkney had discovered me. Her first thoughts about my novel—cut it by two hundred pages. Give my character a positive strength. The novel Pinned (Scholastic Press, 2014) went on to be nominated for an NAACP Image Award, a Kirkus Best book of the year award, and more. Last year, the Pittsburgh Public School system adopted it as a required middle grade read. I am told the protagonist is the only Black female wrestler in children’s literature.

I wrestled with Pinned for five years, many of those years prior to Andrea’s intervention. During this period, I continued to struggle with writer’s block, though I never stopped writing. Going to a hypnotist did not help.

Meeting with a woman who worked with athletes that were stuck, did the trick, however.

“What can you control?” she asked and my breakthrough began.

“Nothing,” I said.

And it was true. Writers cannot control what their editor, publisher or the public thinks of their work. We do not control the motives, actions or outcomes of book award committees. All we can do is write the best books we know how. Along the way, I had forgotten this.

Even after Pinned was published, I still sought perfection. It was only after receiving feedback on Once in a Blue Moon, that I realized what had happened with the other editor. She had given me line-by-line feedback, the same as my Blue Moon editor. I had no experience with it and took it as a slight—a big one. It shook me because I had no frame of reference for it, and saw it as critique and judgement rather than a critique. I have always been hard on myself and felt judged, it all became too much I suppose. Some editors give more global feedback, some give line-by-line feedback. Ten years after I had written the book that later became Pinned, I finally got it. Lesson learned.

What advice would you give to writers who are newly agented or seeking representation?

I would suggest they become a part of a community of writers and other creatives. I was on an island alone, which is also why I stayed stuck so long, I believe. Other writers have walked the road new authors have walked, pick their brains, go to conferences, get their advice, follow them on line. It’s all a win-win.

To learn more about Sharon’s thoughts on the importance of community see Cynthia’s 2018 Cynsations interview with her here.

You have approached writing as a form of advocacy for readers from your first book onwards. How do you stay in conversation with young readers, directly or indirectly?

My joy comes from going to schools to speak, connect and be in the company of young people. I take every opportunity when I am in a grocery store or walking in the park or a street to ask how young people how they are doing, to say hello. Most of these young people are strangers. But it is important that as adults we let them know we see them, hear them and believe in them.

For many years during my visits home to Philadelphia, I would go into the house to drop off my luggage and leave. Outside our front door, young people were nearly always jumping rope. They always let me be a part of that. I was in my thirties then. In my fifties, it wasn’t unusual for kids from up the street to knock on my parents’ front door. “Is Sharon home?” they’d inquire. We would sit on the front steps together, chatting. I will never forget the image of one neighborhood girl walking back and forth late at night, under the moon and the streetlight, as she read one of my novels.

These days most of my encounters with young people are online where they often find me, and during school visits. Most recently, I was at Black Rock Middle School in Villanova, Penn., and the Free Library of Philadelphia. The audiences could not have been more different, and yet the same. Most of the students at the library were African American, while Black Rock students were primarily white. Here is what I love about a good book, though. The response from both groups were very similar. So were the smiles. The hugs. The amazing, thoughtful questions.  And the way they looked at me—as if they are star struck—in love. I especially see this with boys, even if they have not read my books.

I talk about my challenges with grammar and spelling, why I’m not a doctor which was my goal for many years. The audience opens too, often. Boys share pieces of themselves too. It’s a fun, safe space and I think everyone picks up on that. Many of those in attendance run up to me at the end. “Sign my cast, my forehead, my paper,” they said to me at Black Rock. Students at the Free Library were no different. “Your book made me want to read,” a boy told me.  A teacher brought up another boy in the audience. He did not want to come to my presentation. She asked him to read about thirty pages before he makes up his mind. There he was in the audience, listening to my every word.

Young people will read. Boys will read. Putting an author in their midst helps a great deal to get them excited about books and the written word.  Making certain all students relate to the right book can nearly ensure a student will pick up the next book you recommend. Damn, I love what I do.

Cynsations Notes

Sharon G. Flake is the author of the groundbreaking novel, The Skin I’m In whichbrought a bold dimension to literature for young readers. Now considered a modern classic, the book is used in classrooms worldwide and studied by experts in education and literature. Flake has authored over a dozen books, with more than 1.8 million in print globally.  Her work has been translated into multiple languages including Korean, Italian, French and Portuguese. “My goal is to get young people reading, with well-written, fast paced, character driven novels that young people see themselves in, no matter where they live on the planet.”

Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has been recognized as a Lee & Low New Visions Award finalist, winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature, and with scholarships from Boyds Mills/Highlights Foundation, Tin House, and a Djerassi Program writing residency. Her short story “Toxins” is part of ELA curriculum and her writing has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Thin Air Magazine and elsewhere. In previous avatars, Mitu was a textile and fashion designer, and has taught in India, the Middle East and the US. Mitu is an active member of CBIG (Children’s Book Illustrators Group, NYC) and SCBWI, New Jersey. When not writing or drawing, Mitu can be found cooking, upcycling clothes and sewing memory kimonos or building miniature doll houses from salvaged materials. Website: www.mitumalhotra.com Instagram: @mituart Bluesky: @mitumalhotra.bsky.social.

The post Author Interview: Sharon G. Flake on Inspiration, Community & Poetic Outcomes appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By AJ Eversole

Today we’re welcoming award-winning author Carole Lindstrom (Anishinaabe/Metis) to discuss her new middle grade novel, Red River Rose (Bloomsbury, March 2026) and the importance of presenting authentic experiences in historical fiction.

You’re making your middle grade debut with Red River Rose. What drew you to expand into longer narrative fiction, and how was the experience different from picture book writing?

Miigwech for your kind words. Yes, Rose first appeared in The Gift Of The Great Buffalo (illustrated by Aly McKnight, Bloomsbury, 2025). I loved writing about Rose and her family in the picture book. The middle grade was a pretty organic idea that grew from the picture book. I knew I wanted to write a historical fiction middle grade, and my editor and I felt there was more of Rose’s story to tell. We felt strongly about setting it in the period of the late 1880’s to offer the authentic experience of a Native child/family/community as a counter to the typical historical narratives that mostly represented the settler point of view.

For me, that was the Little House on the Prairie series (by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Harper & Brothers, 1932 -1943). That was really the only series available when I was a child and I was very conflicted and hurt while reading it. I loved the family dynamic and Pa and Laura’s relationship, but at the same time, I saw how they felt about Native Americans, and it hurt me to feel that the [Ingalls] family I loved didn’t love me in return.

This novel is also in response to that series and a way for me to heal myself and others who may have felt the same as me.

But most of all Rose was such a compelling character – full of courage and pluck – and we thought the connection to the picture book would give readers of all ages a chance to meet her.

This book will be in conversation with stories like Little House on the Prairie and the Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Hyperion, 1999). Would you talk about what was important to you about creating a historical novel that centers Métis prairie life?

The settling of Canada is not familiar with many people. Since Canada is part of Turtle Island to us Native Peoples, I felt that was a story that needed to be told. Also, Métis culture and history is not well known among many people that I knew or encountered in my life. I’m very proud of my historical Red River Métis ancestors and how they fought to keep their land and way of life. I felt that story needed to be told as an alternative look at life on the prairie in the late 1800s. I’m grateful my editor also felt strongly about the story and loves Rose and her family as much as I do.

You worked with Kade Ferris, an anthropologist, archaeologist, and knowledge keeper for the Red River Métis Nation, who turned out to be your cousin. Can you share what you learned from him and how his guidance shaped the book?

I am so touched and deeply grateful that you mentioned my dear cousin, Kade. We didn’t know we were cousins until we started talking about our kin from Turtle Mountain and realized that we were related. I was giddy with joy. Kade was such a gentle giant of a man. Such a kind and giving and loving soul to his wife and family. Sadly, he passed away over two years ago now. We all miss him so much in the Métis community.

He was such a knowledgeable and brilliant mind. I could message him at any time of day with a question, and he would message me back immediately with an answer or that he would have one for me, if he didn’t know at that moment. He also was a staunch defender of our historic Métis Nation. His love for our culture and people was one of the things that was so special about him. Miigwech, I appreciate this opportunity to speak of such a special person.

Rose is determined to help protect her family and community, even though she knows her efforts won’t change the outcome of history. Why was it important to show a young Métis girl taking action despite the limitations placed on her?

I feel all young people feel strongly that if they were allowed to help adults with big people situations they might be able to help in some way. Because they are young, they are often told they might get hurt, or they aren’t strong enough, big enough, etc….but in their minds, they see their family struggling and they want to help. They don’t have to solve all things. They don’t have to save the day. They just want to be part of making things better.

Rose also has a strong sense of what is right and feels she must fight for what she believes in.

The book shows Rose tracking rabbits, gathering roots, watching the ferry arrive. How did you research and recreate the everyday details of Métis life in Batoche, Saskatchewan in 1885?

Meticulously! Ha I love research. My graduate degree was from a research center. Sometimes I get lost in the research and forget to start writing. There is a wonderful resource called the Gabriel Dumont Institute that has extensive documents and photos of the Metis people. I studied photos, sketches, images and maps to get a feel for the area. Photos were so helpful in my research to put myself into the setting and actually be there as a character.

A lot of my research was focused on the time of year and the weather because it was so important to the outcome of the historical events, and for the book. I wanted to be sure I was accurate in the foods they ate and how they would have lived during that time to give the reader an authentic experience and allow them to feel they were part of that time period. Like I did.

What themes carry through from your picture book work into Red River Rose?

Resilience, persistence, resistance, courage, fortitude, determination, community, friendship, love, family, loyalty, hope.

The description says this book illuminates the less often told side of history. What do you hope readers, both Native and non-Native, learn about the Northwest Resistance and Métis history?

That they might want to continue to know more about the Northwest Resistance and the Red River Métis by exploring more about our culture and heritage.

There’s a through-line from We Are Water Protectors (illustrated by Michaela Goade, Roaring Brook Press, 2020) to Autumn Peltier, Water Warrior (illustrated by Bridget George, Roaring Brook Press, 2023) to Rose fighting to protect her homeland.

How do you see Rose’s story connecting to contemporary Indigenous resistance movements?

Very much so. Indigenous peoples are still fighting to protect and steward their homelands to this day.

What are you working on next?

A middle grade fantasy/portal story and more from Rose. I’m working on Book Two of Red River Rose. And always playing around with picture books.

Miigwech for this opportunity to share Red River Rose with your readers.

Cynsations Notes

Carole Lindstrom is the author of the New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Award-winning We Are Water Protectors. She is Anishinabe/Métis and is a proud member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe Indians. She was born and raised in Nebraska and currently makes her home in Maryland.

A.J. Eversole grew up in rural Oklahoma, where wide open spaces fueled her imagination and a lifelong love of stories. An enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, she writes across adult and children’s literature, from stories centering Cherokee identity and cultural reclamation to fantasy, speculative fiction, and narratives of everyday courage.

Her work appears in Legendary Frybread Drive-In (Heartdrum/HarperCollins), a Michael L. Printz Award–winning anthology, Beyond the Glittering World (Torrey House Press), and Never Whistle at Night Part II (Vintage, 2026). Through her fiction, Eversole centers Native voices and futures while honoring the living presence of tradition, community, and story.

In addition to her creative work, she reports on Native voices in literature for Cynsations. She lives and writes in Oklahoma. Find her on social media @ajeversole.

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By Suma Subramaniam

I connected with Varsha Bajaj through her books long before we became friends online. I have read every one of them and shared them with kids. It’s an honor to celebrate Varsha at Cynsations as she welcomes her new novel, Roar (Nancy Paulsen Books, May 2026).

Your forthcoming middle-grade book, Roar, is about a boy whose eye-opening trip to a tiger sanctuary ignites his desire to join those who are roaring to protect the animals. What was your inspiration for this gripping story?

A few years ago, I read an incredible news article about a tiger who traveled 1200 kms across India, looking presumably for habitat and a mate. I was fascinated. It was the ultimate survival story, full of bravery, courage, and endurance. (See the BBC story here.)

A year later, in stark contrast, I watched one episode of Tiger King, a television show in which tigers were bred and raised in captivity. It was horrifying and an affront.

I dived into the research rabbit hole to learn more about the tiger.

Both Thirst (your previous NY times bestselling novel) and Roar are set in Mumbai and center on young protagonists confronting conservation issues, water in Thirst and tigers in Roar. These stories reveal hard truths about human impact on the planet while still empowering middle-grade readers. What intentional craft choices guide you in turning complex conservation issues into emotionally resonant, accessible stories for middle-grade readers?

Thirst was set in Mumbai but essentially holds true for any part of India or the world that faces water scarcity. Roar is set in North India. Conservation is an issue close to my heart. I worry about the planet that we leave behind for future generations, but I’m also heartened by organizations and individuals who are fighting against climate and other disasters.

Understanding my protagonist and how these issues would affect them is the most important part of my process. Sometimes, I brainstorm for months. Sometimes I get discouraged. I fill notebooks and legal pads with random thoughts and words, and from that tangle, a character emerges and then I follow their lead, and invariably that young protagonist is hopeful.

Arya, the fierce tigress and her unusual, moving bond with Crow evoke the classic friendship of Charlotte and Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, illustrated by Garth Williams (Harper Brothers, 1952). How did your research inform the way you portrayed them realistically in their natural environment?

Thank you for the very flattering comparison. The crow is an enthralling creature. It’s extremely intelligent and fascinating in the way it problem solves, grieves, and socializes. Its presence is ubiquitous in India, which makes it almost disappear into the landscape. I think its deep dark feathers are gorgeous and beautiful, but it doesn’t have the plumage or colors that make bird watchers look for it. Crow is just present, the ideal companion for Arya.

In the story, our main character, Rohan quotes Malala, saying “she was just eleven when Malala started fighting for girls’ education.” Rohan is also eleven in the story, and he wants to save the planet, too. What do you hope readers take away from Roar?

That each one of us, irrespective of our age, can make a difference. Finding your voice and Roar doesn’t happen overnight, sometimes it can take a lifetime, but finding your passion can give you a purpose.

In a previous interview for the Cynsations blog, you shared how the exercise of reading aloud together turns a book into a shared, magical event that forges real connections beyond borders and boundaries. Your own works were included in the Global Read Aloud program and championed by teachers committed to education and social justice across America and even in Japan, Korea, and India. How did being part of a long‑standing book club influence the way you write stories designed to be read aloud and shared across communities?

You’ll have to go back to my childhood. My grandfather, to whom this book is dedicated, would sit in a rocking chair on the verandah and read aloud to me. He read to Jane Austen and P.G. Woodhouse. It was music to my ears. I also write picture books which are designed to be read aloud. Years ago, I discovered that reading aloud made all the flaws of my writing visible to me in a way that reading silently doesn’t. It was a turning point in my journey as a writer. I also enjoy the musicality of the spoken word.

Having written picture books and middle-grade novels for varying age groups with valuable SEL (social emotional learning) and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) themes, what did you learn about yourself as a writer and as a human by moving across different stages of childhood?

I’ve learnt that typically, I’m driven to create by emotions that grab me. Sometimes, the emotion is outrage, concern, and disbelief. At other moments, it’s love and respect for nature and the changing seasons. Each project determines its own the audience.

Your first book, How Many Kisses Do You Want Tonight?, illustrated by Ivan Bates (Little, Brown, 2004), was published more than two decades ago. In another Cynsations interview on thriving as a long time actively publishing author, you shared that if you had to do it again, you’d protect yourself from being crushed by rejection and the hurtful silence of agents and editors. What have rejections taught you that you’d want artists in any discipline, at any stage, to hear?

Somewhere along the way, I cognitively restructured the word rejection. I learned that rejections are feedback. They help you to grow, reflect, learn, and move on. Agents and editors are not rejecting you; they’re rejecting a particular manuscript. They’re not rejecting all your work, or the manuscripts that you will bring to life in the future. Sometimes, the rejection is not of your work at all, but it doesn’t fit their imprint, or their editorial style, or they may have acquired something similar.

How do you celebrate success?

With meditation, reflection, travel, time spent in solitude, and with a plain sugar cookie and a steaming cup of chai.

What are you working on next?

I’m in the early stage of writing my next middle grade novel. I’m hard pressed to articulate my concept because it’s a jumble of images and thoughts. Honestly, at this stage I’m not even confident that it will one day be a novel, but I will work at it, and my muses will hopefully cooperate.

I do have three picture books under contract. Go Tuk Tuk Go! releases in Fall 2027 and is story of a rickshaw/Tuk Tuk that practices mindfulness. It’s illustrated by Bao Luu and published by Nancy Paulsen books, Penguin Random House.

Cynsational Notes

Varsha Bajaj is the New York Times bestselling author of the middle grade novel, Thirst, Count Me In, and Abby Spencer goes to Bollywood, which was shortlisted for the Cybils Award and included in the Spirit of Texas Reading program. She also wrote the picture books The Home Builders (a Dolly Parton Imagination library selection) and This is Our Baby, born Today (a Bank Street Best Book). She grew up in Mumbai, India, and when she came to the United States to obtain her master’s degree, her adjustment to the country was aided by her awareness of the culture through books. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Suma Subramaniam is a recruiter by day and children’s book author by night. She writes picture books, middle grade, chapter books, and poetry. Her works include Crystal Kite Award winner: Namaste Is A Greeting, New York Public Library Vibrant Voices Selection: She Sang For India, ILA Notable: My Name Is Long As A River, and the V. Malar series. Suma volunteers with SCBWI and We Need Diverse Books or blogs about children’s literature. Learn more at https://sumasubramaniam.com.

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