Weekly Wrap Up

As usual, there is much to link to and love about this last week.

The first-ever Pub Camp SxSW Interactive sponsored by Kirkus was a hit! Though it was windy outside (the screen streaming the events inside almost blew over several times) the information shared inside was eagerly soaked up. Check out these fab photos from WLT photographer Amy Rose Capetta.

If you want to see the streaming footage of the event, go here. 
The event was co-sponsored by the WLT and was a fab event.

Over at Scribe, the WLT blog, interviews are being posted with YA A to Z Conference faculty. Check out this weeks interview with agent John Cusik--not to be confused with actor John Cusak.

This last week also brought a rally to Save Texas schools. The education worries are real and the discussion continues.

 


Dear Teen Me continues to host and post amazing authors with amazing letters to their teen-selves. Be sure not to miss Sara Zara's letter. Sara was one of our first Hunger Mountain contributors and this year she will be offering a 50 page critique as part of the Hunger Mountain/VCFA E-bay Auction later this spring. (More critique-rs will be announced soon--but the growing list includes some top agents, authors, and we're hoping for an illustrator or two.)


Friend Bobby Pyron celebrated the release of her new book, A Dog's Way Home, at her home away from home, The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City. Check out her blog for pics and video footage.

Historical novelist Laurie Calkhoven was featured all over the web this week. See Clara Gillow Clark's series of interviews with Laurie, March 10th interview    and her March 16th interview  as well as Laurie's Inside the Writer's Studio interview with me this last Wednesday. And for those of us who can't get enough of Laurie and her Boys at War series, here is the cover for the next book in the series, Michael at the Invasion of France, 1943.

And for those of us eager to help Japan, the Huffington Post listed all the many ways we can contribute.


Over at Cynsations, Cynthia Leitich Smith is helping me get out the call to YA authors who'd like to participate in the upcoming ReachOut.com Campaign, during May--Mental Health Awareness Month. She posted this blurb on her Thursday March 17th posting.

Attention YA Authors: If you would like to participate in a series of author chats seeking to lower teen suicide rates, in conjunction Reach Out, and Inspire, contact Bethany Hegedus at bahegedus at gmail.com. Peek: "While the main goal is to lower the youth suicide rates, to do so, a bevy of concerns and issues must be addressed: Bullying, Depression, Eating disorders, OCD, Bi-polar Disorder, Self-Harm, Schizophrenia, Suicide, Violence, Sexual Abuse, GLBTQ issues and rights, etc. Though YA literature is not issue driven, kids and characters grapple with these concerns daily. Fantasy novels offer an escape (while still dealing with many of these same concerns in other wordly settings) and contemporary novels address the issues directly." Note: YA book bloggers interested in participating in the initiative should also contact Bethany. See more information.

And in sad personal news, my aunt, Susan Katherine Hegedus, the world's best cook, baker, card player, cat-lover, book-reader, country music fan, and creator of an endless supply of hand bejeweled canes died yesterday at 5:05pm. My aunt--Susie Q--to me, shared my love of books and I had a signed copy of Janet Fox's Faithful to give to her when I saw her next. Though I wasn't able to present her with the autographed copy, both she and the book will always be cherished. Love you, Susie Q.