By Mitu Malhotra

Spotlight photo: Authors Rebecca Gardyn Levington and Naomi Gruer with editor Lili Rosenstreich from Kalaniot Books.

Today we welcome two picture book authors to talk about their new releases. Rebecca Gardyn Levington’s I Wish that You Knew, illustrated by Alyssa Russell (Little Bee Books, 2026) was released Aug. 25 and Naomi M. Gruer’s debut Hear Me Roar I’m a Hanukkahsaur, illustrated by Mel Zohar (Kalaniot Books, 2026) was published Sept. 29.

I have known Rebecca and Naomi for over a decade as part of a New Jersey SCBWI writers support group. What has struck me, as I have watched their journey to publication, is their inspiring dedication to storytelling and writing, and how much of this journey is unpredictable. Yet, writers persist because they believe in the uplifting power of stories for young children. Rebecca and Naomi share their precious resources and strategies for practicing a writerly life.

Congratulations Rebecca and Naomi! And how does it feel to finally hold this particular picture book?

Rebecca: I Wish That You Knew is particularly special to me for two reasons. First, because it is probably the most personal book I’ve ever written, based upon my own feelings of loss and memories of my grandmother. And second, because this is my tenth published picture book, published exactly 10 years after I started to write picture books in 2016!

It feels pretty incredible to look back and see how far I’ve come. When I started, I had no idea if I’d ever publish even one book, so to now have 10 of my book babies out in the world is just amazing.

Naomi: It’s surreal to hold my debut picture book—it’s a moment I visualized for years! Before I held the actual book, there were other exciting moments such as viewing the editor’s digital dummy, approving pages before the book went to print, and leafing through the Advanced Review Copy.

Both your books are thematically connected, with the threads of tradition and rituals observed in families. What inspired you to pick this specific topic for your book?

Rebecca: For those who haven’t yet read I Wish That You Knew, it is about a little girl who is remembering the special relationship she shared with her grandmother, who passed away one year prior. It takes place during the grandmother’s unveiling ceremony, with is a Jewish ritual that occurs on the yahrzeit, or one-year anniversary, of a loved one’s passing, and is the time when the permanent grave marker is placed and “unveiled” at the burial site.

As I mentioned, this was a deeply personal book, with the primary inspiration being my Grandma Charlotte, my gram. She was just 46 years old when I was born, so I had her in my life for almost 40 years and she was truly my best friend. So much of who I am is a result of my relationship with her. In 2023, around the 10-year anniversary of her death, I was thinking about how much has happened in my life since she died. She never got to see my two sons grow up or see me reinvent myself as a children’s book author and poet. She never got to read any of my books.

And so, I did what I do when I need help grappling with my strong emotions. I wrote a poem. I never initially intended this poem to become anything other than a way for me to process my grief, but as I continued to write and revise, I felt like there was a more universal story coming through me that might help others cope with their own losses. But when I did a search for comp titles, I found so many beautiful books on grief already, so I put the manuscript away, thinking it wasn’t special enough.

Then, after attending a friend’s father’s funeral, I started to think about Jewish traditions when someone dies. Since the book is about a child reminiscing about moments her grandmother missed, it would make sense to have the story take place a year after the grandmother’s passing, at her unveiling ceremony. Maybe the incorporation of this tradition could give my story the angle it needed to stand out in the market.

As it turned out, when my editor, Jaime Gelman at Little Bee Books, expressed interest in the book, she said: “I’ve been looking for an unveiling book” which shocked me (in the best way, of course!). So obviously, this book found its exact right home with the exact right editor at the exact right time. I’m very fortunate.

Naomi: Usually, I come up with ideas and decide which I’m most passionate about, but the topic of dinosaurs and Hanukkah picked me! I’m a preschool teacher, and the same year my kids pretended to be dinosaurs, one of the preschoolers wore a “Menorah-saur” sweatshirt featuring a dinosaur with Hanukkah candles instead of spikes. The seed was planted. Though there are many Hanukkah books, and some with dinosaurs, I haven’t read any with Hanukkah-inspired dino names that also capture the big energy exhibited by my students every day.

For this particular book, would you share with us the process of gestation, from idea to execution, and if there were any hiccups along the way to publication?

Rebecca: As I mentioned, this manuscript started as an ode to my own grandmother, so my initial draft was pretty melancholy and sentimental, so my challenge was figuring out a way to turn this poem into a story that would resonate with kids, rather than a personal lament.

Thankfully, Jaime, my incredible editor, helped me. She asked me to revise with two pieces of feedback in mind. First, she asked me to step back emotionally, to separate myself from the protagonist to “center the joy of the relationship, instead of just the sadness of her being gone.” This was super helpful because I began to think of the child as separate from myself, freeing me to create more scenes of joy and humor, making the book more child-friendly.

Second, in the initial draft, I included the unveiling ceremony simply as a backdrop. But Jaime, brilliantly, asked me: “How specifically does the unveiling ritual help the character process her grief?” She wanted me to include more ceremony details and address how participating in this ritual helps the child begin to heal from her grief.

While I’d attended several unveilings, I’d never thought through why the ritual exists. One of the reasons I uncovered in my research is that it offers us time to get used to life without our loved one before we make the goodbye more permanent with a grave marker. With this in mind, I revised so the child is both missing her grandmother while also recognizing that the passage of time has been a gift that has given her distance from her loss, so now (a year later) she is finally ready to start moving forward. As she says: “It’s time to let go of some of the sad/and celebrate moments of joy that we had.”

This, too, made the topic more child-friendly by offering a more hopeful ending in which the character feels she has permission to simultaneously miss her grandmother and to feel immense gratitude for having had her in her life.

Naomi: Once the seed was planted, I submitted several versions of the manuscript to my critique group. I’d mentioned the manuscript to my agent before she attended the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, so when an editor asked if she had a client with Hanukkah book, she brought up mine. There weren’t hiccups to publication; rather a honing of the focus while making sure the manuscript didn’t sound didactic. My character’s dino-sized energy was causing him to get carried away, and my agent suggested he clean up, also. Once I signed a contract, the editor and I worked together to ensure the story represented the main character’s enthusiasm while poring over illustrations to take out extraneous text.

What is your favorite revision strategy with picture book texts?

Rebecca: Sharing my picture texts with my trusted critique partners is crucial to my revision process and my favorite revision strategy. I know some people like to share their stories very early on in their process to determine if their idea has legs or if they are the right track, but I don’t ever do that.

What works best for me is to get my story into the absolute best shape I can before sharing with anyone. My feeling is that you only get one chance with that fresh set of eyes, so I don’t want to waste it on drafts I know in my heart aren’t yet ready. I don’t need my crit partners pointing out things I already know aren’t working. Instead, I get my drafts super polished to the point they are ready to submit, and Then I send them.

In what I believe is a “polished ready-to-go” story, these amazing writers will point out plot issues I can’t see because I am too close to the story, word choices that can be more descriptive, or places in the meter that have them stumbling. Once I gather all their feedback, I sit down and soak it all in. I don’t always take all their advice, of course, particularly since some of it may be conflicting. Instead I remind myself of my intentions for the story, and choose to revise those parts that will be elevated by the changes they’ve recommended.

I know a lot of people enjoy having critique partners who only praise their work and find zero flaws, but I actually love it when my crit partners push me and question my choices. It always makes my work better.

Naomi: At some point during the revision process, I paginate the text by sitting with a physical picture book in my lap. I turn the pages of the book while typing my manuscript and thinking about the layout of text and illustrations. I sometimes take this a step further by making a physical dummy of the manuscript. I print out my manuscript, cut up the lines, and glue them onto the pages.

“To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme” this is the eternal dilemma of a picture book writer. Please share your personal take on this. Rebecca you have been part of Renée M. LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab in the past, are there any other resources that can help writers attempting rhyme?

Rebecca: The Lyrical Language Lab is honestly the gold standard and I 100% credit that course with teaching me everything I now know. If you really want to learn the craft and science behind writing in rhyme and perfect meter (because it is a science, as well as an art!), as well as how to insert more lyrical language into your prose, I really can’t recommend that class enough.

In a strange twist of fate, ten years after I took the course, I will be co-teaching the class with Renée in January 2027! This is a 10-week intensive where students receive personalized video feedback on assignments every week from us. So, for anyone who is interested, go to Renée’s website and sign up for her newsletter. That’s the only way to find out when registration will open (should be sometime in November or December). The class always fills up very quickly because she only offers it once or twice per year.

In the meantime, I would recommend folks check out Renée’s free YouTube channel where she has a ton of videos about the craft. I also recommend you read as many picture books in rhyme that you can get your hands on, and to type out those you love the most so you can study their structure.

Naomi: Some of my manuscripts rhyme and others don’t, but for some reason I love writing rhyming onomatopoeias! It may even be a signature of mine. I love the expressive, energetic, and show-rather-than-tell characteristics of onomatopoeias. Three resources I rely on are The Scholastic Rhyming Dictionary by Sue Young (Scholastic, 1994), The Penguin Rhyming Dictionary by Rosalind Fergusson (Viking PRH, 1985), and merriam-webster.com.

I fill pages with rhyming words, and when I pair them, I try to do it in a way that moves the plot forward. An example from Hear Me Roar! is when Miles imagines he’s a Ve-latke-raptor and wants to help make potato pancakes, what happens? “Glop! Drop!” In two words, readers understand his dino energy and how the batter ends up on the floor.

Do you have any recommendations of craft books or resources for aspiring PB writers?

Rebecca: Yes! Rules For The Dance: A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse by Mary Oliver (HarperCollins, 1998), Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry by Sage Cohen (Queen of Wands Press, 2019), Poem-Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston (HarperCollins, 1991), and How To Write Poetry by Paul B. Janeczko (Scholastic, 1999).

Naomi: I’ve taken dozens of workshops and classes at just as many conferences and retreats, so for me the learning is cumulative and constant. Several sources are Boyds Mills, The Writing Barn, and SCBWI. For SCBWI, I suggest looking outside of your region. You never know what another state is offering.

What’s worked for you in terms of book promotion, and how do you balance visibility with boundaries?

Rebecca: When my first book, Brainstorm! illustrated by Kate Kronreif (Sleeping Bear Press, 2022), came out, I tried to do all the things: tons of blog posts, giveaways, social media, book festivals, school visits, bookstore readings, library events, etc.

But the longer I’ve been at this and the more books I have out, the more I realize there isn’t much I can do to move the needle when it comes to sales — a difficult reality to come to grips with because I really dislike feeling like I have no control (I’m very Type A!), but also a bit freeing because now I can focus on the things I actually enjoy doing, rather than feeling pressure to do it all.

So now I try (emphasis on try) to only say “Yes!” to those things that I really want to do and will help boost my own personal goals. For instance, this year, I decided I wanted to do more presenting and teaching because I enjoy helping other writers and sharing the lessons I’ve learned along the way (with the hope of saving others from making the same mistakes!). Since I write mostly in rhyme and all 18 of the books I’ve sold so far are in rhyme, I’ve decided that I want rhyming to be a big part of my “brand,” and want to help fellow writers in this way.

So, I said “Yes!” to teaching a session on rhyme at the local NJ SCBWI conference, “Yes!” to doing a webinar for the 12×12 Writing Challenge community called “Rhyme is NOT a Crime: Writing Rhyming Picture Books That Sell,” and “Yes!” to writing an article for Writer’s Digest with tips on rhyme.

I also said “Yes!” to presenting I Wish That You Knew at the Association for Jewish Libraries conference in Chicago, and “Yes!” to book signings at both ALA and NCTE, and “Yes!” to doing a webinar called “Should I Say Something: Leaving Room for the Illustrator Without Losing Your Vision” for the Writing Barn on October 20.

I don’t particularly enjoy social media, so I don’t spend a lot of energy there. But I do want to remain connected to the online kidlit community, so I post occasionally (and respond/post about others’ works), just to let people know I still exist!

I also do in-person book festivals, but I’m very picky and only do a few per year. Book festivals take up an entire day of my life and, at most, I sell maybe 30 books, and while I love reconnecting with fellow authors and meeting readers, time is very precious!

In terms of finding balance, I’m still working on that, but when an opportunity is presented, I try to pause and force myself to take a day or two before responding. I really think through the time commitment and the pros/cons.

One thing I do really love, is writing my newsletter. I’ve been sending it out every month for almost 4 years. In each issue I answer a reader question, often about craft or a publishing subject, share book recommendations, something that has inspired me, and tell folks about what I’ve been up to writing-wise. I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback from my subscribers which helps keep me going!

Naomi: Since Hear Me Roar! is my debut, I’m new at book promotion, but decided on a three-pronged approach. The first goal was to give my social media a facelift by continuously adding content related to writing, parenting-and-teaching, and book promotion. Focusing on only two social media channels, Instagram and Facebook, made this doable.

The second goal was to expand the reach of the book, so I hired a children’s book PR professional to send out a press release and line up a Blog Tour that includes reviews and interviews. The third aspect entailed me reaching out to over a dozen bookstores to schedule events.

I’ve ordered swag: stickers, dreidels, gelt and tiny dinos for mini goodie bags, and also sewed adorable pillows for Blog Tour giveaway winners. My publisher, Kalaniot Books, has supported me by handing out mini-ARC’s along with dino eggs at ALA, printed bookmarks, and posted promotional graphics online.

Cynsational Notes

Watch for part 2 of Mitu’s conversation with Rebecca Gardyn Levington and Naomi Gruer tomorrow on Cynsations.

Rebecca Gardyn Levington is an award-winning children’s book author, poet, and journalist with a particular penchant for penning both playful and poignant picture books and poems – primarily in rhyme. She is the author of 18 books for children, including Finding Forgiveness (a Sydney Taylor Book Award Notable and PJ Library selection), Whatever Comes Tomorrow (a SCBWI Crystal Kite Honor winner and Northern Lights Book Award winner, which has been translated into 11 languages), Afikoman, Where’d You Go? A Passover Hide-And-Seek Adventure (a PJ Library selection which was named one of the best holiday books of the year by both School Library Journal and the Association of Jewish Libraries), Some Days I’m The Wind (a 2026 Children’s Book Council Librarian Favorite and a 2026 Children’s Literature Assembly Notable), and Brainstorm! (a Pennsylvania Readers’ Choice Award winner). Rebecca’s poems and articles have appeared in numerous anthologies, newspapers, and magazines. She lives with her family in Summit, NJ, where she enjoys bouncing on a mini-trampoline, playing Mah Jongg, and eating chocolate-peanut butter ice cream (although not usually at the same time!). Find out more and sign up for Rebecca’s monthly newsletter at www.RebeccaGardynLevington.com.

Naomi Gruer is a freelance writer who has published articles, essays, a column, and a blog. She’s written leveled test texts for NYC’s Department of Education and, as a Microsoft Guest Educator, has participated in World Read Aloud Day by Skyping with schools in Spain, Canada and the U.S. She’s a preschool teacher in New Jersey where she’s raised triplets and a younger daughter. She’s represented by Rena Rossner. Hear Me Roar! I’m a Hanukkahsaur is her first picture book. Find her on Instagram: @naomimgruer and Facebook: Naomi Milsten Gruer

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 a 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 Authors Interview: Rebecca Gardyn Levington & Naomi M. Gruer Share Insights on Picture Book Craft & Marketing appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Suma Subramaniam

I first met Khushboo Patel through her books. When I read the announcements for Stolen Colors and All That Chandni Knows in Publishers Weekly, I was immediately drawn to both premises. After reading the books, I was even more impressed by the depth she brings to her characters. I’m delighted to welcome Khushboo to Cynsations.

Your new middle-grade book, All That Chandni Knows (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2026), is a coming-of-age verse novel set in India that follows a twelve-year-old girl as she navigates new beginnings, difficult family secrets, and a crush, while Stolen Colors: A Story About Body Safety and Consent, illustrated by Tara Anand (Levine Querido, 2026) is a picture book about body safety and consent that every family needs. Both books deal with powerful, sensitive issues. What was the inspiration for these stories?

My inspiration had a lot to do with my own interests. In literature, I am drawn to works with complexity and deep emotions that explore things that people don’t talk about and questions where there are no easy answers. While both stories have that in common, I came to them a bit differently.

Stolen Colors: I was looking for books about body safety to read to my kids, and while I found some good ones that talked about consent, good touch/bad touch, and good secret/bad secret, and how important it was to say No! and tell a trusted grown-up, it made me immediately think about how tough it is to actually do that in the moment, especially when, so often, it is actually a trusted grown-up that crosses a line.

I had this overwhelming urge to tell a kid in that situation that if you can’t do what’s being asked of you, it’s not your fault. That the freeze reaction and all the complex emotions one may feel are actually normal.

So, for me, Stolen Colors started out with that urge and this question of: How can I tell an honest story about abuse for children? Realistic characters, plot, and layers are very important to me, so I also spent a lot of time thinking about how I could do it in a way where the subject matter doesn’t overwhelm everything else.

All That Chandni Knows: This also started for me with some questions that I was interested in exploring: When the world as we know it is upended, what do we fear, what carries us, and where do we find relief? How do we tread this push-pull between ambition and protection and acceptance and agency, and perfection and freedom?

Some of these are my personal struggles and while it is a story of pain, I also wanted the work to be a celebration of the things I am interested in and love: coming-of-age stories, mother-daughter stories, intimate lyrical storytelling, music, lesser-known settings, languages, food, and culture. I especially loved getting to show kids today school life before the internet.

The references to FLAMES, Bata shoes, Gold Spot, and P‑language in All That Chandni Knows beautifully evoked the 1999 era and reminded me of my own middle school and teenage years. How did your research into that time period and place influence your approach to writing the story?

That is so lovely to know! Thank you for sharing that with me.

World-building for this book was a bit challenging because the story is in first person so weaving in descriptions seamlessly felt tricky, especially it being Chandni’s own world. But it helped to have Chandni as a character who, in part because of the situation she’s in, is hyper aware and notices those little things. So when she mentions small details, it feels natural to who she is, rather than othering or taking you out of the story.

I’ve also always loved how small details can evoke things more deeply sometimes perhaps more than big descriptions can, and I wanted the book to feel immersive in that minute way. Most of my research was centered around mining my own memories and those of friends and family.

I had the good problem of “a lot of rich material,” and the challenge was to weave it in a way that didn’t feel forced, and have a reason for including other than sentimental value. There were so many cultural/ school references I would have loved to add but had to leave out!

I think for many of us new diverse authors, we feel like we have just one chance at setting something in a particular place/culture/time, and so one feels the pressure and temptation of including all that one holds dear. The mindset of – ‘does this actually serve the story?’ – helped a lot.

The illustrations by Tara Anand in Stolen Colors are evocative and deepen the emotional tone of the book. What was it like seeing your story interpreted through her art? Did your text change with the passes?

I was (and still am) in total awe of Tara’s extraordinary work on this book. The first time I saw the full art, I didn’t even look at the text, and experienced it as a wordless book.

Tara brought in so much beauty, power, and subtlety while still being direct, and the result took my breath away. The bold vibrant colors (and how they change through the book), and the addition of the flowers and the tiger (both of which were not in the text) added layers and depth.

I didn’t know the book would have artwork on the case cover too, so that was a lovely surprise, and Tara and the team at LQ put so much thought into every single aspect of this book. The beauty and the production quality make the book truly irresistible, and it is art that you cannot pull yourself away from, which feels pivotal for a book of this kind.

I also love how unafraid and beautiful the cover is, full of meaning. The last line in the book has the words “fresh blank page,” and it was so incredible to see the blank page portrayed on the cover of the book in this way, showcasing what was taken away, and then on the final page, we see the possibility again.

The actual story went through minimal changes once the book was acquired, though we did spend some time making minor edits to the text.

I had it originally written in more of a poem format with more line breaks, which impeded the space for pictures, so we had to adjust that a bit. We also changed the setting from India to the U.S. and the title.

I struggle with titles and the story was initially called ‘I Love to Paint,’ which the team at LQ rightly felt was misleadingly cheerful for such a serious book. They suggested ‘Stolen Colors’ and it was brilliant and perfect – bold yet subtle, and more specific to the act of creation and how creativity can be crushed by trauma.

Your books take readers through complex experiences across different stages of girlhood. What did writing these stories reveal to you about your own growth, both as a writer and as a human being?

You go through so much of your life dealing with and pursuing things, that there is often very little time or even maturity to reflect on things as they happen.

Real life can be chaotic, sometimes more cruel, sometimes more boring, and often just random, whereas in stories, we look for meaning. Writing is an extraordinary exercise where you are forced to sit with and dwell on emotional experiences and mold things in a compelling way and cull some meaning out of it. It’s a very uncomfortable process and I learned that I don’t think I would have undertaken it if I wasn’t writing for young people.

Writing these books revealed for me, how resilient children are, and at the same time, how much young people need to know that they are not alone, and need to see others’ honest struggles through things, however imperfect or unlike their own.

And I also learned, as a writer and as a human being, that growth is not linear and perfection is a myth and if you do X, Y will happen is bonkers, and I think I feel like I need some years away from being in the thick of writing each story to truly reflect!

Your author’s notes for All That Chandni Knows and Stolen Colors are quite distinct. All That Chandni Knows feels deeply personal, while Stolen Colors blends guidance with lived experience. How did you decide what each book needed from its author’s note?

I struggle with writing author’s notes and in general, speaking outside of the story itself, and I am so grateful to have had direction and insight on how to approach this from my brilliant editors for both books.

The note in Stolen Colors is for parents and caregivers, so it made sense to have a list of resources and a note from an expert in the field.

For All That Chandni Knows, it was an opportunity to speak directly to a young reader, so I opened up a bit more because I know what it would have meant to me as a young person to see that kind of honesty and vulnerability.

Having worked as both an attorney and an entrepreneur before writing for young readers, what skills or insights from those professions have carried into your creative practice?

Is it odd that I haven’t thought about this until now? Sometimes I forget that I used to be a lawyer and an entrepreneur, and when I had those careers, I never thought that one day, I would write books for children.

I think studying law taught me the importance of words and also a lot about society and how to think critically.

The decision to become an entrepreneur was a big leap and a huge risk at that time for me, and while that worked out for me, I guess it was practice for being okay with ‘uncertainty’ and ‘failing,’ which is key to pursuing publishing. And I learned a lot about problem-solving, which is also what writing is.

I will say that writing is also very different from those professions, because it requires operating from the heart as well as the mind, and requires courage in a very different way.

What do you want readers to take away from All That Chandni Knows and Stolen Colors?

Both books are my attempts to make the unsayable sayable. I share them with the world in the hopes that they will reach the kid(s) who may really need them, but these (and all) books are for everyone.

I also hope that they can offer readers something more than the obvious. So while Stolen Colors is a book about abuse, it is also about losing passion for something because of something extraneous and finding one’s way back to it, about jealousy and friendship and connection, about how secrets can weigh so heavily on the heart (whether it’s abuse or bullying or anything really), and how hard it is to speak up and the regret and guilt that follows when you can’t, and how sometimes one needs to see courage in action to find courage of our own (courage is contagious), and how courage can also look different for everyone, and the role that love plays and what that looks like in action.

And All That Chandni Knows, for me, at its core, is a mother-daughter love story that explores themes of growing up and navigating complex relationships and situations and those questions I mentioned above, but it’s also a study of society and how that shapes the individual. So I hope it will also offer an opportunity to reflect on biases, norms, and power structures.

What do you love most about the creative life/being an author? Why?

Grappling with the story problem/ the hard questions is what I love about writing. It is never easy for me, but the act of creating something and watching it grow through the many attempts/revisions/passes/failures is such a rewarding process, regardless of the ‘results.’

I also love that I get to work with such amazing editors and artists and be in community with so many wonderful creators. It has opened up my mind and life in the best way and I am so grateful for the deep friendships this work has led me to.

It’s also really nice when I get a message from a reader and get to hear about how the books spoke to them. And I’ve only done one school visit so far, but interacting directly with young readers was such a special experience. Young people give me so much hope.

Can you tell us about any forthcoming books? What are you working on next?

My House is a Muddy River, illustrated by the amazing Lavanya Naidu, will be out from Putnam in Spring 2027. It is a flood story set in India that explores the meaning of home in the wake of hard times and the courage we need to carry on. It was actually my first book deal, so it’s very special to me, and I can’t wait for everyone to see Lavanya’s stunning work on this book.

In terms of what’s next, I am trying to write more picture books and I’m also working my way through this YA idea I have, and I truly don’t know if anything will come of it. It’s all going very slow, but that’s okay. Stories take time.

Cynsational Notes

Khushboo Patel is the author of the picture book Stolen Colors and the middle-grade novel in verse All That Chandni Knows. She was born and raised in Vadodara, India, and currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children.

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. When she’s not recruiting or writing, Suma volunteers with SCBWI and We Need Diverse Books or blogs about children’s literature. Learn more at https://sumasubramaniam.com.

The post Author Interview: Khushboo Patel on Writing Stories of Courage & Complexity appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Today we’re celebrating the upcoming publication of Gabriel’s Winter Count by Andrea M. Page, illustrated by Alfreda Beartrack Algeo (Charlesbridge, Oct. 6, 2026). From the publisher’s website:

A warm, intergenerational picture book introducing the Lakota tradition of winter counts and celebrating resilience, remembrance, and connection across distance. A moving story of love and tradition – perfect for kids discovering their role in their family and the power of remembering.

Gabriel’s parents are leaving to serve, and he will stay with his grandmother, his unci. When Gabriel forgets to give his parents a parting gift, an important tradition in their Lakota family, he is bereft. But then he learns about winter counts from Unci, and slowly but surely he both waits for his parents to return and becomes the keeper of the winter count in their family.

Take a look back to a 2021 Cynsations interview with late author Andrea M. Page (Hunkpapa Lakota) on creating educator guides.

Teacher’s Guides: Andrea M. Page on Creating Guides as a Freelancer

By Gayleen Rabakukk

As a former teacher, did you use teaching guides in the classroom?

Yes, I found some very helpful. Well-written guides saved time in the classroom.

You also wrote an educational guide for your own book. Do you ever find yourself thinking about what will go into the guide as you’re writing?

At the time, I was learning how to craft a story of the Sioux Code Talkers of World War II (Pelican Publishing, 2017) while I was still teaching. I always thought about how topics in the manuscript would connect to the curriculum, but I wasn’t actively thinking about creating an educator guide while writing my book.

You’ve written resource guides for other authors as well. How do you approach those assignments?

Each project is different and I like to discuss ideas with the person first in order to map out a plan. I need to know what their expectations are for the guide and who the audience will be. Then, I read the book. I’m a slow reader, so I plan my time.

Reading rates change according to your purpose for reading, so when I’m plugging away, at first I want to read to enjoy the story. I’ve found using the post it flags (or creating my own if needed) lets me mark a spot to revisit. When I’m done, I write a summary of the story and go back to reread the flagged sections.

Then, as I make my way around to the story again, stopping to re-read all around those flagged sections, I want to make sense of why that passage stood out for me. Analyzing the story scenes requires a slower, closer reading.

At that point, I rewrite the parts that grab my attention, by hand on index cards. (This is the same approach I used with my students when they did some kind of research.) For me, using index cards is easier to manage. They can be shuffled into different categories or ranked in an order of significance. Once I have those sorted, I reflect on the themes in the story.

Thinking about themes is challenging because as an author, you have an idea of what you hope a reader will take away from the story. But when I was teaching, there were several books I read with children again and again because they were fabulous models of writing. As I re-read and discussed these stories with students, we uncovered more and more themes within a single title.

When thinking about themes as I’m writing an educator guide, I gravitate to more generalized values to cover a broader audience. And it helps to search different grade level state standards to see what topics to highlight in the discussion questions as well.

I’m mindful when creating questions, hopefully leading the reader through the book from beginning to end.

When you’re creating these guides, are you most often hired by the author or by the publisher?

So far, it’s been an equal amount of authors and publishers that I’ve been honored to work with, and I’m booked through next summer.

Cynsational Notes

Author Andrea M. Page (Hunkpapa Lakota) died March 5, 2026. 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.

Andrea’s second book, Who Was Wilma Mankiller? was published by Penguin Workshop in 2025. Andrea was the first Native author to write for the Penguin Workshop Series.  Adriana Dominguez of Aevitas Creative Management represents Andrea’s literary estate.

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.

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 Throwback Thursday: Author Andrea M. Page on Creating Education Guides appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Mitu Malhotra

Today we are excited to welcome Rebecca Bendheim to Cynsations to talk about her debut novel, When You’re Brave Enough (Viking/Penguin Random House, 2026), which released on April 7th. In this hopeful, queer Bildungsroman, Lacey the protagonist’s emotional journey is so achingly real, with all her worries about traditions—whether they are the weird loving family kind or religious temple kind or school theater ones—that any teen would find it relatable.

You can watch the book trailer here. When You’re Brave Enough was chosen as the June 2027 middle grade NEA Read Across America pick, and they created these discussion questions for young readers.

Congratulations on your debut! The multimodal format of When You’re Brave Enough: emails, video transcripts, song lyrics, and immersive monologues woven in-between its short chapters, are perfect bite-sized reading for the reluctant middle grade readers. How did you decide on this medley of forms?

Thank you so much! It actually took six years for this medley of forms to come together. I first wrote When You’re Brave Enough as a novel-in-verse with physical letters between Lacey and Grace woven between the poems.

In my first revise & resubmit with an editor, which didn’t pan out, the editor asked me to change the poems to short chapters, which I ended up loving. Then, when I started working with Kelsey Murphy at Viking, she suggested I change the letters to emails, since it’s rare for thirteen-year-olds to be sending physical mail. I pushed back at first; letters are so sweet and romantic! Emails are so boring and corporate! But when I looked around my sixth-grade classroom, I saw that my students loved emailing each other. Plus, Kelsey told me I should “have fun” with the emails, throw a bunch of ideas at the wall and see what works.

I’ve always loved experimenting with different forms, from co-writing songs with musician friends to once taking a screenwriting class with the screenwriter of High School Musical, so it was amazing to get the chance to write songs and video transcripts to build out Lacey and Grace’s world.

At around twenty-one, I even had a period of being dead set on becoming a songwriter. I thought I’d fully given up on that dream, and definitely never expected to get to hear Gail Shalan, my very talented audiobook narrator, sing and play ukulele to songs I wrote in the audiobook. I even got to sign a songwriter’s contract for the melodies! I love how many of the paths I thought were detours have ended up coming back around for this book.

Sections titled, “What I Didn’t Say” and invertebrates: worms and insects, effectively get the reader into the protagonist’s head. The book length “flitting fruit flies” metaphor captures the anxiety and a “Spikey” worm forms a foil for the child transitioning into adulthood. Tell us about building interiority when writing for children.

To me, the hardest thing about writing for tweens is writing emotion. I love to write characters who are having a feeling for the very first time, don’t know exactly what they’re feeling yet, or definitely wouldn’t tell you if they did.

This is common for this age, especially for queer kids; studies show that most queer and trans kids first realize they are queer or trans in early adolescence, but don’t come out publicly until years later. Metaphors like these are a way to bring readers into my character’s inner world without losing the authenticity of that character’s voice in that period of their life.

I also want to touch on the worm/caterpillar metaphor. There are a few times when Lacey mentions feeling like a worm surrounded by butterflies. It was hard for me at Lacey’s age, with no queer role models, to see a future for myself.

My main goal for this book, with Lacey and Grace but also with Grace’s moms and my other queer characters, is to show LGBTQ+ readers that there are many fantastic ways to grow up.

“You don’t have to kiss someone if you don’t want to” this comeback from the protagonist is one of the most powerful lines in your book, a perfect segue to have conversations with children about identity and consent. Is there a line or a scene, special to you, or something that stayed intact through the life of this book?

Thank you! Having Lacey repeat that line to someone younger than her was important to me.

And yes, while I’ve had to cut quite a bit (including a full fourth member of the Isa-Nell-Lacey friend group!) much of the heart of this story has stayed the same.

The scene that is probably the most word-for-word from my first draft is the one where Lacey comes out to her sister. I based Mack’s response on how the first friend I came out to responded. We were in college and had just finished a sunrise, pre-class hike. She had pulled up in front of campus, and instead of getting out, I told her. She asked if I thought it was a bad thing and I realized, right then, that I didn’t. Like for Lacey, this was a “good thing” for me that would lead me to authentic relationships and joy. That realization carried me through a hard year, and from the start, I knew I had to include it in Lacey’s story.

I also read a 2021 study of over 20,000 LGBTQ students that found that 97% of them had heard negative comments about LGBTQ identities at school. The middle grades were the worst years for this, which I’ve seen firsthand.

I want to do whatever I can to combat this shame and negativity, even if it means repeating the words “good thing” fourteen times (I just checked) throughout the book.

You have subtly subverted tropes to add layers of meaning to each supporting character. I love how Violet upends clichés about visual cues of dress and behavior. Your secondary characters hold weight on the page, yet never overshadow the protagonist. What is your process for developing secondary characters?

My secondary characters start out flat. They often have placeholder names in the first few drafts and only truly come alive in revision. I learned the “character onion” exercise from my VCFA advisor, Jennifer Ziegler, where you draw a bunch of ovals inside each other and ask yourself these questions:

• What does your character want that is clear for all to see?
• Why do they want this?
• Why do they really want this?
• What from their past contributed to these feelings?

I usually do this exercise for each character and then do a full revision of the draft only focused on them. For When You’re Brave Enough, I had a group of amazing teen beta readers, campers at a camp I worked at who asked if they could look at my draft, ended up reading it in one night, and gave hilarious feedback that transformed this book. In the draft they read, Violet, Andre, and Jaden had much smaller roles in the story, but their passion for these characters inspired me to give them the page time they deserved.

When You’re Brave Enough has a large, yet cohesive cast—with plenty of adults that teachers warn the novice children’s writer about. How did you integrate these adults, believable and a little fallible, into this story, and was there an editorial moment that helped you gain clarity?

One of my favorite parts of writing middle grade is that while friends and crushes are very important, parents, siblings, theater directors, coaches, and rabbis often play just as vital a role in a tween’s life.

In both writing and teaching, we talk a lot about agency. I often start by giving my characters (and sometimes my students) too much of it; my first drafts include tweens/teens running about town with pretty much no adult involvement. As I revise, I further integrate the adults, but with the thought of agency always in the back of my mind.

My young characters are always the ones driving the story, making the big decisions, learning from their own experiences, mistakes, and wins, and saying the line that matters. The adults in their lives support them, or at least try to, and I hope this encourages readers to turn to different adults in their life for support. But in the end, the adults in my books learn from the young characters, not the other way around.

The refrain, “It’s a good thing” adds a lyrical reassurance to the chapter endings in this book. What inspires you to write, any hobbies that are “a good thing” for you?

I wish I was the kind of writer who often felt inspired to write. Instead, I have to force myself into my chair, block all distractions with a variety of weird apps where a garden grows or a sentient bean knits socks for each minute I focus, blast white noise, and then, if I’m lucky, the writing starts to flow and suddenly it’s impossible to stop.

I do think bike rides and showers are fantastic for brainstorming and recently, When You’re Brave Enough inspired me to get back into theater, which I haven’t done since I was Lacey’s age.

Last week, I was in my first community theater production and it was definitely a “good thing” I want to keep doing!

Tell us about using a classic book as a layer in your contemporary story. Did you have other helpful mentor texts as you were developing When You’re Brave Enough?

I first read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was around Lacey’s age and remember feeling shocked at how much her writing sounded like my innermost thoughts, even though our lives, time periods, and circumstances were so different.

While revising When You’re Brave Enough, I decided to re-read it, and this time, picked up the definitive edition, which has some passages that are not in other versions. I was so surprised to see a passage about Anne’s “strong desire” to kiss her friend Jacqueline and attraction to women in her art history textbooks.

I wished I could give this version to my thirteen-year-old self, but since I couldn’t, I gave it to Lacey.

Another book I read many times throughout the revision process was The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books, April 2020). In this book, the main character is struggling in the aftermath of something the reader doesn’t know about until the end. This book helped me work toward my goal of having readers realize Lacey’s feelings for Grace right along with her. It’s also just a beautiful book!

How do you balance writing from personal truth and imagined empathy while setting emotional boundaries around sharing your lived experience?

This is hard and I’m still working on it!

My first experience sharing my writing with a large group of people was through spoken word poetry. If you’ve ever been to a poetry slam, you know that these poems are often extremely personal and emotional, and I love that about them. You’re in some bar or tiny black box theater and you suddenly feel like everyone in the room is your closest friend.

That feeling got me hooked on writing, and because of that, I think I’ll always write from deep personal truth.

However, with social media and the internet, I do feel like I need to set more boundaries.

A month before When You’re Brave Enough came out, one of my posts about my book got reposted by an account that did not think kids and teens should be allowed to read about LGBTQ+ people. This account had millions of followers, and for over two weeks, my DMs, comment sections, and email inbox were flooded with death threats and messages calling me an abuser.

I was terrified for my in-person events and thankfully got support from Authors Against Book Bans and Penguin, since both organizations unfortunately have a lot of experience with situations like this.

I will never stop writing queer books, but going forward, I know I’m going to need to set more boundaries on how I engage with others when it comes to my writing. While I feel so lucky to get to publish my books on a larger scale, sometimes I miss the trust and intimacy I felt in a rapt black box theater.

I have heard you recite poetry at open mic nights in Vermont. You have authored a memoir in poems, Coming Out Party [Burlwood Books, 2023]. Did you ever consider writing a novel in verse? Or is there one in the pipeline?

This book was originally a novel in verse, and I love reading verse novels whenever I can get my hands on them! I’d love to write another one day, but for now, I often write in verse when I’m struggling with a scene in a prose book. It helps me get right to the emotional heart of the scene and lets me figure out things like dialogue, setting, and physicality later.

How do you approach communication and career strategy with your agent, Patricia Nelson, and what advice would you give writers who are seeking representation?

One of the reasons Patricia is so great at her job is that she is very honest and direct.

We’ve been working together since 2021, and though we didn’t sign a publishing deal until 2024, she kept pushing, confident When You’re Brave Enough had a chance. She has a fantastic editorial eye and deep knowledge of the market, my writing, and what it takes to build a long career, so I know I can trust her, whether she’s telling me she likes a certain direction or that an idea doesn’t have legs or it’s time to set a project aside.

In publishing, it can sometimes be hard to get clear answers, and I so appreciate her honesty, vision, and steadfast belief in my career.

I want writers seeking representation to know that there are so many different types of author-agent relationships.

So as you scour Publisher’s Marketplace to research which agents are making deals in your genre, I also recommend thinking about how you work best.

Maybe you want an editorial agent, or maybe you have a strong critique group and just need someone to send your finished manuscript out. Maybe you want someone who feels more like a friend, or maybe you’d work best with someone who intimidates you a little bit or is super organized.

Many authors, including me, are happy to talk to you about our agents. Before querying, I had many calls like this.

Finally, cold querying works. I was sure I would need a personal connection but ended up meeting Patricia through the query trenches. The waiting and rejection is brutal, but you’ve got this!

What have literary friendships brought to your writing life, especially like the Austin-based Typewriter Rodeo, and what sustains you most in community with other writers?

I’m an extrovert who would never survive as the classic version of a “writer,” writing alone by a pond deep in the woods.

My literary friendships keep me going, whether I’m typing and sharing poems with my fellow Typewriter Rodeo poets, brainstorming with my great friend and one of the Typewriter Rodeo founders, Sean Petrie, on his apartment rooftop while eating cheeseburgers, or doing online writing sprints with my VCFA friends.

What sustains me most is getting to hear about all the different stories my friends are working on and telling them about mine. It’s in these moments that I get to take a step back from the task of trying to force my mind into focus mode and really think about how incredible it is that we are all creating entirely new worlds with words, something people have been doing for connection and reflection and pure fun since the dawn of human existence.

In the last few years you have been actively involved with Authors Against Book Bans. What does it mean for you to be a storyteller for young people today, and how do you see writing as an act of advocacy or care for your readers?

My least favorite thing about book bans is that because most banned books are about kids of color, queer kids, or kids going through something difficult, they send a message to these children that their existence in itself is inappropriate.

To me, writing for young people today means fighting to show readers that they are not alone in their struggles and who they are is fantastic. While I’ve received many death threats and truly gross accusations since writing When You’re Brave Enough, I have also received fan art from a nine-year-old who wanted to draw every outfit my characters wore to Lacey’s bat mitzvah and a message from a young teen who said she felt like the book was her diary being read back to her in book form.

Being a storyteller right now means pushing through the negative noise and always coming back to that kid who desperately needs to feel seen.

I feel lucky to be part of Authors Against Book Bans because of the guidance and community support they’ve given me through the hard moments of publishing a queer middle grade book as well as the amazing policy advocacy I’ve gotten to join them in.

And finally, tell us about your next book, How to Take a Risk (Penguin Random House, 2027). Preorder Link at Barnes & Noble.

How to Take a Risk is my second queer middle grade that comes out in February 2027!

Its main character, Reagan, is very different from Lacey. While Lacey is always thinking and questioning, Reagan is a girl of Action.

She loves to cliff jump, hill-skateboard, and complete her annual summer “Risk List” of dares with her best friend Zander across their coastal Maine town. But when the summer before seventh grade brings a ton of change, from Zander wanting to be more than friends to a new baby sister coming soon, she takes on increasingly scary dares to avoid facing her emotions head-on. You’ll get queer friends-to-crushes, a sweet sister relationship, and big emotions and realizations like in When You’re Brave Enough, but also a lot that’s brand new.

I hope you enjoy it and thank you so much for this interview!

Cynsational Notes

Rebecca Bendheim is the author of the middle grade novel When You’re Brave Enough and a graduate of Vanderbilt University and Vermont College of Fine Arts. She types poems around the country with the Typewriter Rodeo poetry troupe and lives in Maine with her wife, an orange cat, and a chorgi (chihuahua-corgi) puppy.

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 a 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: Rebecca Bendheim on Author-Agent Relationships & Being Brave appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Mitu Malhotra

Today we are excited to welcome National Book Award–winning author Shifa Saltagi Safadi to Cynsations to talk about her recent novel Sisters Alone (Putnam, PRH, 2026) which released on Sept. 8. This expertly crafted verse novel with its honest depiction of anxiety and intrusive thoughts will definitely resonate with middle grade readers. You can read more about Shifa’s thoughts on the writing process and Things AI Could Never Do in Publishers Weekly.

Sisters Alone is your second novel after Kareem Between (Putnam, 2024), which won the National Book Award. How similar was the process of writing in verse this time round, especially after an award-winning debut?

Writing Sisters Alone was definitely a huge difference for me from writing Kareem Between, and honestly, it was actually more difficult, if you can believe that! I think if I had waited to draft it before I won the National Book Award, I might not even have been able to finish it. But thankfully, it was already acquired when I won. My main issue was the pressure of trying to follow a book that so many people loved with a new title, and worrying if I would be able to live up to the expectation. But also, the writing itself was a challenge.

Sisters Alone was still in a very raw and unrefined draft at the point my editor had taken it on. Not quite a first draft, but also not where I wanted it to be either. I had actually written Kareem Between in prose before changing it to verse, and so I feel like that really helped me focus on the plot and character arc first before the language.

With Sisters, I drafted the book as a novel in verse, and because poetry came out of me first, I struggled majorly to “kill my darlings” and let go of the beautiful lyrical parts that needed cutting while revising. I also felt like the plot was weak— in the first draft, it was a survival story with one sister, and it was only on revising that I added the second sister.

Adding a whole other point of view meant I had to rethink the plot. Anyone who loves to write knows you can’t just add a POV. Every change done to the story must flow seamlessly and it has to feel like it was there all along.

During revisions with my editor, I rewrote vast parts of the book multiple times, and the end result was a quite different manuscript than the one my editor acquired. The heart of the story, however, remained the same. And in fact, all my revisions and work only served to help the heart of my story shine clearer to readers.

And that leaves me feeling super proud. I might not know how this book will be received, but I know I did my best!

From the opening of this dual POV novel, the voices are so distinct. Your use of lowercase pronoun “i” and no capitalization as well as the italicized before and now in Leena’s narration, combined with the all caps and succeeding large fonts in Rama’s narration, are great visual cues for the young reader. What was your process of discovering and defining the voices of the two sisters as you wrote this verse novel?

Thank you for asking this question! I am going to be honest, I don’t know that I really thought too deeply about middle grade voice before Sisters Alone. Kareem Between’s voice was very defined by football, and so it was very easy to pin his personality and character down. But for Sisters Alone, I was sort of forced to do a deep dive on voice and characterization for this book because it was two POV’s, and I was adamant that the two girls had to sound and look immediately different to the reader. As an avid reader myself, I know how confusing it can get if characters sound too similar to each other in a story.

To make the voices distinct however, I had to really know who these characters are. And boy were they elusive to me. They did not want to cooperate with my process, and I constantly found myself just staring at the screen for hours thinking about the girls and what they were feeling in certain scenes. It took until the very last draft for me to finally crack the code into who they were and click everything into place.

One way to define voice was as you stated, was Leena’s use of lowercase i to signify her lack of feeling strong or capable, and her short flowy words trickling down the page like the water she loves to swim in. Leena is creative and artsy and so you see her photograph-based poetry be described vividly.

Rama is more the eldest daughter, bossy, loud and very type A. And you see her control lead her to want to forget the past and just fix her future. Her intrusive thoughts and anxiety make her spiral into loud and large repetitive thoughts, shown through capital letters and italics.

I had always heard that syntax and word choice are the key to voice, but it was only until I applied these changes to both sisters that I finally understood what this meant.

You have effortlessly integrated words like wudu, janaza, anse, ayas, duaas etc. in your text that ring true for your Syrian American protagonists. Do you have any tips or strategies on creating word banks or in text explanations for beginning writers who want to employ non-English words in their stories?

I often discuss this with other BIPOC writers, but truly, I love including cultural and language and religious words and contexts very authentically on the page as how I perceive the characters to behave, and expect the reader to use context clues to understand what these words mean. I have thought deeply about how in-text definitions or glossaries can sometimes other a character, or take a reader out of a tale.

I think for me, as a fantasy reader, I feel confident in readers’ abilities to understand the word or guess at its meaning by reading the paragraph, dialogue, and descriptions and filling in the blanks. And I think that it is a brilliant way to teach our kids how to learn context clues, and be challenged in their reading experience to use their minds more.

As for weaving in these words, I try to just think of how the character would behave naturally.

In my chapter book series Amina Banana [illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel (Putnam, 2025 – 2026)], she uses Arabic in the most of all my books because she is a refugee who came recently from Syria to America.

In Kareem Between, Kareem is feeling stuck between Syria and America and so he highlights this between feeling by dwelling on the differences between his two worlds, and so you see Arabic balanced with English.

Rama and Leena are Syrian American, and so their world in Sisters Alone is shaped by this sort of “between-ness” but also, it is not something that they dwell on at all. It is just their language sometimes includes Arabic and Islam, threaded into their day to day, a matter of how they live. This is part of their character and so to not include these details would be to hide part of who they are. And I always want to make sure to never hide or hesitate with my words on the page, because I believe that fear kills good writing.

In Sisters Alone, Rama deals with a ‘mind monster’ and intrusive thoughts plague her. How did you craft her anguish-filled emotional journey and draw boundaries around sharing your own lived experience with anxiety?

This is a bit difficult of a question to answer simply because I don’t really have a good answer. I would love to say that I was able to separate myself from my character and deal with the book objectively, but truthfully, there were times where I was able to, and also many times where I was not. I had many writing days where I felt triggered by Rama’s intrusive thoughts because they sounded identical to my own, and until now, when I do a reread, my heart hurts when I read her scenes.

I wish that there was a happy way to answer this question, but I think that being real about anxiety is the way I have tried to cope with it the most. Anxiety, as I mentioned in my author’s note, does not have a solution or a quick fix.

All I can do is admit that it is hard, and lean on those I love to try and survive the harshest moments of panic. And so in Rama’s story, I tried to craft the same idea of my own experience—that she does not get cured from her struggles, even if she survives the blizzard. But she does admit her struggles to her family and her friends, and this admission itself, being real to readers, and her commitment to seek therapy is a step of the healing too.

Was it easy…no. But I kept reminding myself of how many readers will be helped by this story and feel seen in their own struggles, as I feel seen when I see anxiety represented. And so I promised myself to pour honesty and truth on the page, and that promise carried me through to the end.

The alliterative consonance of your similes and metaphors is a pleasure to read. For example, “hijabs cascading out of her drawer in a wrinkled waterfall,” and “dawn’s / blushing lilac light / a cradle.” How do you reach beyond the clichés to create imagery that feels fresh for the young reader?

Oh man, thank you for this beautiful compliment!

Can I be honest with you!? One of the hardest parts of my writing process (besides the emotional truths I write) is my feelings about my own poetry craft! I genuinely constantly think to myself about how I could not possibly be an amazing poet, and when I read other incredible poets like Jacqueline Woodson, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Naomi Shihab Nye, I feel my breath taken from my whole chest, and wonder if I could ever write that well!!

I constantly wonder if I should just stick to prose because at least then, I wouldn’t feel the pressure of writing gorgeous words and can just focus on plot and character. But I love poetry, and that is why I keep writing it.

I truthfully don’t think that poetry comes naturally to me. Some of my friends write words that I can only marvel at. But I read A Lot of poetry, and I study a lot of poetry craft books, so I do want to be good at language, and I do try and endeavor to be better at it. But again, I will say that I try so hard. It isn’t effortless. Those metaphors and words you love in my story took me hours and hours and hours of writing and rewriting before I felt like I got to the right word or simile that brought a meaning to a phrase that I could feel in my heart.

And usually that is where I feel like my poetry is revised enough. When I can feel it viscerally in my bones. And then I hope that this feeling is transferred to my readers and felt by them too.

So maybe that is the way to avoid cliches? To keep revising and sit with each stanza by itself and think over it for hours? At least that is what I end up doing!

In our conversation, you mentioned mentor texts like Dusti Bowling’s The Canyon’s Edge (LBYR, 2020). Which other verse novels have inspired your writing journey and how?

Alone by Megan E. Freeman (Simon & Schuster, 2021) is one of my main inspirations, too! I adore that survival novel in verse so much, and its companion novel Away (Simon & Schuster, 2025). And Megan is a wonderful human who kindly did a blurb for my book! Her verse novels bring vivid plots and exciting storylines to poetry, and it inspired me to step out of the box in writing verse novels.

I also love Iveliz Explains it All by Andrea Beatriz Arango (Penguin Random House, 2023). Iveliz is a gorgeous tale about a girl who deals with PTSD, and seeing the mental health so unapologetically portrayed on the page inspired me to shed my fears and write bravely about anxiety in my own work.

And of course, Jackie Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (Nancy Paulsen Books, PRH, 2014). The lyrical language and vivid voice of Jacqueline’s poetry always inspires me to be a better writer, and I am always changed for the better every time I read any of her books.

We spoke about the challenges of being a writer while raising a family. How do you carve writing time and enjoy the incidental benefits of having beta readers at home?

Writing is not easy as a mom, and I was also an ELA teacher before Kareem Between got published! I had to choose what to drop when I became a writer truthfully, and so I had to stop teaching to dedicate my spare time to writing fulltime, and even in that is great privilege, because my husband’s income supports our family.

Writing time for me during the summer is mostly done in the morning, before the kids wake up. I have to wake up super early to try and get in a lot of silent hours before they are clamoring for my attention, and then I get busy with the day and taking them out to activities and swimming and such. In the school year, I do have an easier time, because my kids are at school, and so I am able to dedicate many hours of my time in my day to my writing.

But I have learned to also adjust to life. Some weeks I will write for hours and hours, and some weeks will pass where I will not write at all. And I have learned that it is part of the creative process to just let my brain breathe, and let myself go with the flow. Creativity is best done when I am rested and my best rest is joyous time spent with my loved ones.

I also really love to ask my kiddos for ideas, as well as rely on them to be my little beta readers. I will often have an idea, and run it by my kids to see if they think it is exciting enough before I commit to writing it. They are very honest with me, and if something sounds boring, I can nix it before I waste my time on it! I also realize through them that kids these days prefer shorter, faster-paced plots, and so it helps me try to make my books more engaging for readers.

They are also my biggest fans! My middle kiddo loves my Amina Banana series, and they are our main read alouds every night, each chapter being the perfect length before bed, and she often demands I change my endings to make them happier, which always makes me laugh. I think maybe if your mother is an author, you think she will change the ending of books for you, but it is so interesting that writing is its own craft process, and I often feel like the endings just make themselves, without my control. But my little one does not accept that excuse! So it makes me smile to see her investment in this book series, and I love that it helps bring up conversations about life with us that we might not have had in the first place.

Tell us about life before and after the National Book Award. How do you approach setting time aside for writing and other public engagements?

Oh man. Can I be honest? My writing process itself hasn’t really changed much!

Like yes, the name recognition and the award has elevated my books so much more than I could have ever dreamed of, and I am So Very Grateful for it. But also, in terms of writing, I have to treat each story as its own journey, and it helps my stories to keep my focus on the craft rather than on my popularity as an author. After all, each book should stand for itself story-wise in my opinion.

As for speaking engagements, podcasts, and interviews—I try to accept as many as I can, especially in the between times where I have a lull between deadlines, but also am forced at times to decline requests as well, which is hard as a people-pleasing person! But, if I accept every single engagement, unfortunately, it means I have zero time for fulfilling my deadlines and writing new books. Sales are obviously very important for a continuous future in publishing, but so are new crafted stories that can boost backlist sales. It is a delicate thing to try to figure out, and I am not sure I have achieved the right sort of balance yet. But I sort of try to take it day by day, week by week, month by month, and just try my best.

Please share the literary friendships that you hold close to your heart. And any advice on how to navigate competition or comparison in a field full of highs and lows?

Literary friendships are foundational and hugely important in the field of publishing and writing. This industry is so unpredictable, and so much of it is just trying to figure out how to best handle tough situations—rejections, tough revisions, or reviews, among other things. And what has helped me so much is holding on to my critique partners and friends.

Not only do we help each other out craft wise, and recommend awesome books to each other to read for inspiration, but we also just exist together in this space and offer a shoulder to lean on.

Sometimes, all you can do is vent in the moment about something making you sad, and then you feel better about facing it. I strongly recommend writers find their circle of people who will be there for them, and in that is a special relationship where you truly are so thrilled for all the good happening to your author friends! When I hear of my friends’ successes, it honestly makes me feel like it is my own success too! And we cheer each other on through it all.

How do you feel about being a storyteller for young people right now, during these challenging times? What message would you like young readers to take away from Sisters Alone?

Sisters Alone really highlights the need to have our circles of people to carry us through the storms of life. Unfortunately, the world feels more full of conflict and hardship than ever, and it can swallow you up if you let it.

Sisterhood and love, is the thread that we can cling to through it all, knowing that we are in community with incredible people all working for the betterment of the world helps me feel like we are trying our best to do good. And in these whirlwinds of life, that is all we can do sometimes. Keep going.

Cynsations Notes

Shifa Saltagi Safadi is the National Book Award winning author of Kareem Between, the Amina Banana series, and several picture books, including The Gift of Eid. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature, is a former ELA teacher, and is passionate about spreading a love of reading through storytimes and school visits. Shifa was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents as a young girl. She lives near Chicago with her husband and four children. Find her on Instagram @shifasaltagisafadi

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 a 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: Shifa Saltagi Safadi On Being a Vulnerable & Persistent Poet appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Jane Yolen, author of more than 400 books for young readers, died on June 11 at the age of 87, according to the announcement on her website.

Cynthia Leitich Smith first had the pleasure of meeting Jane on a listserv for children’s authors. Cynthia said, “Along with Toni Buzzeo, I was one of two apprentice writers on the list. After my first book sold, receiving a congratulations note from Jane became one of my most treasured career memories. Later, her leadership of her own speculative fiction imprint in part inspired me to move forward with establishing Heartdrum.”

In a 2005 interview with Cynthia, Jane recalled her first books published in 1963: a YA nonfiction title, Pirates in Petticoats (David McKay, 1963) and a rhymed concept picture book, See This Little Line (David McKay, 1963). Jane said she still remembered that feeling every day, and that she kept “trying to grow as a writer.”

In a 2009 interview, Jane shared her love of writing. “What I love most is the white heat, the total involvement in an evolving story when something new to the world (and to me) suddenly leaks out of my fingers and onto the page. For the length of the writing, my back doesn’t hurt, the world as it is disappears and the world as I create it takes over, and time in real terms stops.” She went on to say that she often lost track of time while writing and often hated leaving the story world she created.

“Writing is what I love and enjoy. Writing feeds me, gives me strength, makes me happy, keeps me whole,” Jane said.

Jane explained her secret for thriving in the competitive, unpredictable publishing industry was flexibility – trying every genre – and continually writing, ignoring market trends. “…I write what I want to and assume the market will find me. I can do that because of the sheer volume of stories, poems, essays, books that I write.”

She admitted there was a consequence for that mindset. “…I probably get more rejections in a month than most writers. Goes with the territory. A rejection just means I haven’t found the right editor yet.”

Jane gave Cynsations readers a glimpse into her critique group in a 2011 interview with Cynthia. At that time, her group included Patricia MacLachlan, Leslea Newman, Ann Turner, Ellen Wittlinger, Barbara Diamond Goldin, Anna Kirwan and Corinne Demas. They would meet each week, taking turns in one another’s houses. “We begin with the news—sales, rejections, F&Gs, family stuff, agent problems, editor tough love, etc. About an hour of that,” Jane said. “Then it’s manuscripts all the way.”

“We read aloud rather than pass manuscripts around, and we care truly and deeply about one another’s work and successes,” Jane explained.

Jane extended that care and support to a multitude of children’s creators over the years. In a 2016 Cynsations interview with Elisabeth Norton, Naomi Kojima shared the role Jane played in helping her become an author-illustrator.

“It was Jane who helped me start my career in children’s books. I went to the monthly meetings Jane organized in a small library in Hatfield. The group was called the Society of Children’s Book Writers, now the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators,” Naomi said. At the meetings she learned how to make picture books and shared drafts of her book during critique time at the meetings. “After several revisions, Jane told me that Mr. and Mrs. Thief was ready.” It was published by Thomas Crowell in 1980.

In 2019, Rabakukk was among a group of Austin book creators lucky enough to join Jane for a group dinner. She talked with each person about our writing projects and offered encouragement. A favorite bit of Jane advice: “Always have something out on submission (whether it’s a novel or an article); keep sending things out!”

At Jane’s public memorial service at the Eric Carle Museum in August, her daughter Heidi Stemple said nearly every time she’s in a public space, at least one person approaches her and shares “a special Jane Yolen story.” She recalled a recent time when someone shared their experience as a first-time SCBWI conference attendee eating lunch alone when a stranger sat down, and said, “May I sit here? My name is Jane. What are you writing?”

“My mom was just being herself. She loved community, especially the community that is the kidlit world, though to be fair, she absolutely hated the term ‘kidlit.'”

“She wrote every day. It was as important to her as breathing,” Heidi said. “She was as energized by conferences, book festivals, bookstore events, and anywhere where book people gathered. She loved teaching, sharing her journey with other creatives. Especially her picture book bootcamps. She taught the world Butt in Chair, Write with Joy, Touch Magic, Pass It On.”

“The worlds she has created have outlived her and will outlive everyone of us… we will miss her, but all you need to do is open one of her books or read one of her poems and she is very much still with us.”

Heidi closed with a quote from Charlotte’s Web: “It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend, and a good writer.”

Corinne Demas, a member of Jane’s critique group summed up Jane’s legacy for children’s literature. “I believe her most important contribution was the tone she set for the industry. Jane felt there was always room for more new books and more new writers in a world that’s otherwise highly competitive and sometimes unkind. Jane, in contrast, promoted the making of children’s books as a joyful communal enterprise. She worked her magic. She made us what we are: a community of writers and illustrators who love what we do and who support each other’s efforts. It is her gift to us, and her legacy.”

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: Author Jane Yolen appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Today I’m excited to welcome Leslie Adame back to Cynsations. Last fall I chatted with Leslie and other MG Escapades Authors about their debut experience. In this interview, Leslie reflects on current events, imposter syndrome and tackling revision notes. Her new book, Chloe Vega and the Missing Unseen, releases from HarperCollins on Oct. 6, 2026.

When you visited Cynsations back in 2025, you mentioned that you had already finished writing Chloe Vega and the Missing Unseen. Now, a book addressing fears related to U.S. immigration policy seems even more timely. When you started writing Chloe’s story back in 2018, did you realize your fantasy book would so strongly mirror real issues?

Oh gosh, it’s been tough, but I’m not entirely surprised. Fears about America’s immigration policy have always existed in my community, even before the events that transpired in 2025, though in different ways. People would be detained and separated from their families, but no media outlet would talk about it. I had peers choose not to pursue higher education at all out of fear of applying for financial aid and having their names documented somewhere. Immigration has been an issue in my community for years, but this is the first time since 2018 it’s been everywhere.

In a way, this series coming out now feels predestined, and it’s so strange and often uncomfortable. I’ve had many moments when I sat and thought, ‘Do readers even want this book right now?’

But a few months ago, at a school visit, a parent told me this book has been a shining light for a young reader whose father is currently detained. It’s making the reader feel like her father is also a hero, like Chloe’s parents in the book, and that no matter what happens to him, it doesn’t define who he is. I was holding back tears just listening to her, because that’s exactly why I wrote it. The media constantly paints a specific picture of immigrants . My hope is that readers get a more realistic and better picture of immigrants through the lens of a 12-year-old character going through those experiences.

What do you hope young readers will take away from the book?

There was a point in my author career where I genuinely thought Chloe Vega wouldn’t sell. I was afraid publishers wouldn’t be interested in a book that showcases the immigration issue so blatantly. But it sold, and the second book in the series is about to come out.

I hope young readers, especially those who come from marginalized backgrounds, read it and decide they want to tell their own stories. There’s room on our shelves for more diverse stories, and if this series manages to inspire a young writer to tell their own story, that’s a win for me.

Chloe also deals with imposter syndrome, a feeling many writers also struggle with. What are your strategies for dealing with imposter syndrome?

As a first-gen Latina, I used to struggle with this a lot, especially while I was pursuing higher education at UCLA and in the early days of my corporate career.

There have been so many instances when I’ve been the only Latina in a room with other professionals, and I quickly had to learn to get comfortable if I didn’t want my voice to be silenced. I think what helps me is remembering that I’m not just here representing myself, but I’m also representing the people who came before me and made many sacrifices for me to be here, and the people who will come after me.

The stakes are too high for me to let my imposter syndrome overcome me. It’s probably not the healthiest mentality, but it has helped me find the bravery to walk into those big, scary rooms or publish those big, fancy books.

How would you describe your collaboration with your editor? Was there an editorial moment that helped you see your manuscript or your own voice more clearly?

My editor and I have a very collaborative relationship, but I also love that when she gives me feedback, she gives me space to sit with it.

I’m like a bear going into hibernation when it comes to drafting or working on revisions. I like to process my art in solitude, and I really appreciate how thorough her notes are, because it allows me to retreat to my little metaphorical den to come up with solutions and maybe peek out once or twice to ask her for clarification on something.

Both my editor (and my agent) have made me a much better action scene writer, which was something I used to struggle with. Readers become stunned when I tell them this, because the Chloe Vega series is packed with action scenes, but it’s true!

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Don’t give up, especially when it gets hard. It’s so easy to get disillusioned in the face of rejection, and that doesn’t end after your first book sells. You will be told no many times, but learning to pivot sooner rather than later will do wonders for your career!

I recommend leaning on your support system when these things happen and keeping a folder of positive moments to reference when it gets super hard.

The one thing I truly believe will get you through those sticky moments, though, is remembering your why! Why do you want to be an author? What kind of stories are you looking to tell? Once you hone in on that, it will carry you through the hardest moments of your career.

What are you working on next? Will there be more Chloe Vega books?

I’m working on some YA projects, and I can’t say much about them other than that I’m having a really good time writing them! As for more Chloe Vega books, there could be more if readers want them. I think the story could use two more books to give her the ending I want, and the best way for readers to show they want that as well is to order and tell all your friends about it!

Cynsational Notes

Leslie Adame is a first-generation Mexican American and graduate of UCLA with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Film, Television, and Digital Media. She’s always enjoyed giving back and telling stories about characters not often found in books or films. Leslie grew up in the Inland Empire, specifically Ontario, California.

When she’s not writing, you can find Leslie scanning the aisles of your local bookstore, lovingly pestering her family, and catching a flight to explore a new place. She loves watching rom-coms, Disney movies, and trashy reality TV in her spare time, especially while cuddling with her cat.

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 Author Interview: Leslie Adame on Writing MG Fantasy that Mirrors Reality appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

By Suma Subramaniam

Your debut YA novel, A (Dead) Thing Like Me (Holiday House, 2026), is about a teenage ghost in love with life. She becomes bound to the house of the grieving artist who summoned her via Ouija board. The novel is a darkly funny YA paranormal. What was your inspiration for this story?

Okay so … I may have had a ghost roommate.

When I lived in a 1920s garage apartment, I (maybe) saw an electric-blue ghost girl sliding up my bedroom wall. Just a dream, I thought. But one morning, I woke to find scrambled, backwards letters — like mirror writing — carved into the kitchen countertop. I had no idea how it got there.

Then I remembered how my cousin once had a ghost roommate she named Victoria. (A psychic and an observant dog confirmed my cousin’s sighting.) Victoria fluttered around, flickering the lights. She hovered by my cousin’s bed — melting the wax candle despite the cold A/C — observing her sleep.

Not in a malicious way! More like she was curious about my cousin’s human life.

I became fascinated with this idea. In A (Dead) Thing Like Me, the narrator is a teenage ghost in love with life (especially junk food, which is why her name is Hot Dog). Hot Dog desperately tries to befriend the human girl whose house she’s haunting. But sometimes she’s accidentally terrifying. It’s hard communicating with the living!

I’ll never understand the mirror-writing on my countertop, but if it was from a ghost, I like to think it was a friendly — if unintentionally spooky — message, just like Hot Dog would have sent.

You also co-founded, alongside D.M. Hoffman, The Quiet Ones, a literary magazine dedicated to short-form quiet horror and author interviews. Could you share what draws you to the paranormal in your own writing?

Horror stories are learning experiences: They let us experience fear in a safe space, so we’re prepped to deal with scary situations in the real world. (A study showed that horror fans were more resilient during the pandemic.)

Personally, I love a spooky story, so long as it’s not too scary.

(If you’re wondering: A [Dead] Thing Like Me is a horror-comedy — the scary level is  “Stranger Things” Season 4 — and things do turn out well in the end.)

I also love paranormal stories because they let us explore what it means to be human. Hot Dog spends most of her story attempting to be a real, normal, living girl. But she has no clue how to accomplish this. If she could just eat a hotdog, would that make her human? What about an invite to a Halloween party? Or a Human Girl Potion? Of course, there’s no one right way to be a person, as Hot Dog eventually realizes. It’s a lesson I would have told my teen self — and that I still need to hear as an adult. We are perfect just as we are, and honestly, the weirder the better.

What themes carry through from your work with short fiction into longer prose? Did you make any informed craft-related choices?

I always try to tell a story from a deep, character-driven point of view. This was especially true for A (Dead) Thing Like Me. Hot Dog has spent a long time floating around as an invisible ghost — stuck in her own head — before Logan summons her, so she’s developed a unique inner voice. (So has her semi-sentient dress, which literally does not stop chattering.)

I kept her POV in very close first-person present tense. The book is both funny and spooky (often at the same time — think “Widow’s Bay”) — and Hot Dog’s close POV heightens both the humor and the scares.

To maintain Hot Dog’s unique voice, I had certain rules for myself:

• She repeats herself when she’s in a high emotional state (“Something is crawling up my cheek. It has little wings and fuzzy feet. It is making a buzzing sound. It is nothing nothing nothing to be afraid of.”)
• Sometimes she doesn’t use contractions, which gives her a strange voice unmoored from modern teen life.
• In some chapters, the prose dissolves into unpunctuated poetry, becoming as formless as she is.
• Without a body, she experiences physical sensations in more mystical ways (like the “heartbeat of stoppered stars” she carries in her chest).

What narrative techniques did you study to create the interstitial chapters in the book?

Without a body, Hot Dog is literally fluid — at one point, she stretches across the floor like early morning fog. I wanted the novel’s style to be just as creative and unbound.

Several chapters are short — less than a page — and read more like poetry than prose. Other chapters consist entirely of her Ouijia board conversations with Logan. In one chapter, it’s just an ingredient list for her Human Girl Potion.

I used a lot of freewriting and surrealist techniques to create these chapters. Here’s some tips if you’d like to try:

• I listen to the same soundtrack (or song) on repeat and stare into space until I’m practically hallucinating my story.
• I mentally “feel around,” the scene and free-write every sensory detail.
• I write down even the bizarre, seemingly unrelated images or words that pop into my head.
• Then I use these slightly unhinged notes to craft a scene that often surprises me. It’s how I ended up with a demon snake named Horse who likes margaritas and the politics section of the paper; eerie ghost crabs that carry Hot Dog’s memories; and a Needle Finger ghost eater who Hot Dog has to defeat.

You’ve got an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from VCFA. Tell us how that led you into the world of publication, Emily.

My mentors and workshop leaders at VCFA made me the writer I am today. Big shoutout to Nova Ren Suma, A.M. Jenkins, Louise Hawes, A.S. King, Margaret Bechard, Will Alexander, Susan Fletcher, and — oh, the list could go on forever. But truly, VCFA professors showed me how to connect deeply with my characters and find the emotional truth of a novel. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been equipped to tell Hot Dog’s story.

How do you see A (Dead) Thing Like Me connecting with readers?

I hope readers have a good time hanging out with Hot Dog. She’s a great person, even if her head sometimes does swivel around unnervingly, and I love to see her out here making friends in the real world.

There’s also a lot of themes in the book — healing, friendship, self-acceptance — that I hope resonate with readers on a deeper level. One early reviewer said they wished their teenage self was able to read the book.  That made my entire month!

I’m really excited to partner with book clubs, schools, and librarians to reach teen readers, and I offer a free 16-page resource and activity guide on my website.

What do you love most about the creative life/ being an author? Why?

The community! Writing may be a solitary activity, but along the way it’s also led me to some of my best friends.

As a YA author, it also feels like a big honor and responsibility to have an impact on teen readers. When I was in my early 20s, I found out I have OCD thanks to YA author Maggie Stiefvater, who openly shares her experiences. I try to do the same with my author platform so I can be that person for someone else.

What are you working on next?

I’m first-drafting two secret YA fantasies and revising an adult vampire fantasy I cowrote with Elliot Thomas, one of my best friends and fellow VCFA grads. Cowriting has been a blast because it’s sort of like when you were a kid and invented imaginary worlds with your friends, except this time there’s also due dates. (Hi Elliot! I promise I’m gonna finish the chapter I have due this week!!)

I’ve also been working hard on the launch for A (Dead) Thing Like Me. If you preorder from indie bookstores Tombolo Books or The Book Lounge, you’ll get free swag: two custom stickers and a mystery Oracle card from a deck my friend Marianne and I made for the book! You’ll find preorder links on my website: www.egyoungbooks.com

Thank you, Suma, for chatting with me today — and thank you readers for spending time with me and Hot Dog (your new ghost BFF)!

Cynsational Notes

E.G. Young (she/her) is a speculative fiction author living on the Gulf Coast of Florida. In her books, you’ll find weird-but-tender vibes, strange girls, dark humor, spookiness, and animals who all live at the end (promise!). She writes 90 percent of her drafts using voice-to-text dictation (shoutout to fellow hypermobile humans).

E.G. holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from The Vermont College of Fine Arts and is represented by Linda Camacho at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency.

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. When she’s not recruiting or writing, Suma volunteers with SCBWI and We Need Diverse Books or blogs about children’s literature. Learn more at https://sumasubramaniam.com.

The post Author Interview: Emily Young Explores Humanity Through Paranormal Mischief appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Effective immediately, Cynsations is on summer hiatus. Read the posts from our most recent series here:

• 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

We’ll return in the fall with more inspiration, insights and information on children’s-YA writing, illustration, literature and publishing.

In the meantime, check out Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Writing Craft Resources for insights on an array of topics from backstory to voice and everything in between. Cynthia also discusses those topics on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and LinkedIn.

Also, be sure to check out the following 2026 Heartdrum books: Here Come the Aunties! by Cynthia Leitich Smith and Aphelandra; Aaniin: I See Your Light by Dawn Quigley and Nanibah Chacon; Free to Fly by Karina Iceberg and Steph Littlebird; A Good Hide by Karina Iceberg and Natasha Donovan; Stronger Than by Nikki Grimes, Stacy Wells and EB Lewis; An Expanse of Blue by Kauakanilehua Mahoe Adams; Medicine Wheels by Byron Graves; and Shards of Silence by Brian Young! Pre-order Raven Rising by Christine Harman Derr and Like Glass by Jen Ferguson.

The post Cynsations Summer Hiatus appeared first on Cynthia Leitich Smith.

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.

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