Middle Grade Fiction: Empowering Young Readers

Jaynie Royal and Pam Van Dyk chat with Mimi Herman, author of The Kudzu Queen, and Dale Neal, author of Kings of Coweetsee, about Southern fiction, the "seeds" of literary work, and the research and inspiration required to make them "grow." Join us for a fabulous conversation! 

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Join us for a deep dive into Southern fiction and Regal House's Sour Mash series with Marjorie Hudson, author of Indigo Field, and Culley Holderfield, author of Hemlock Hollow. 

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We welcome Roxanne Doty, author of Out Stealing Water, and Amy L. Bernstein, author of The Protero Complex, to our podcast to discuss Writers as Recording Artists: Power and Empathy in Fiction. Novelists writing of their contemporary world are historical commentators of their time. They offer sweeping and sometimes dystopian views of government and the people who run it, tapping into real fears and fundamental truths about the world, its people, its leaders and their policies. Civil unrest, wars, plagues, famines all find their way into literature. Roxanne and Amy have created fictional worlds that touch upon economic power and economic deprivation, upon the scarcity of resources, and the social justice implications of differential access to those resources.

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One of the most common themes in literature for young people is boundaries crossed—in friendship and family.  Young people are changing rapidly, and they often find it very hard to know their own boundaries, or when they've crossed the boundaries of others, until conflicts arise.  With our guests Ona Gritz, author of the middle grade novel, August or Forever, and Carol Dines, the author of the young adult novel, The Take-Over Friend, we  explore what boundaries are, why they are important, why boundaries change in relationships, and why communication in family and friendship is both challenging and important.  

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Gary Eldon Peter, author of The Complicated Calculus (and Cows) of Carl Paulsen, and Valerie Nieman, author of In the Lonely Backwater, join us to discuss the rich opportunity for YA fiction world building with non-binary characters in rural settings.

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Ginger Park, author of The Hundred Choices Department Store, Frank Morelli, author of Breaking News, and Diana Renn, author of Trouble at Turtle Pond join us for a lively discussion about trends, gatekeepers, and the authenticity of voice in middle grade literature. 

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We are delighted to welcome Michele Herman, author of Save the Village, Laraine Herring, author of A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens, and David R. Roth, author of The Femme Fatale Hypothesis to discuss mortality in literature.

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M.B. McLatchey‘s memoir Beginner’s Mind and Kevin McIntosh‘s novel Class Dismissed address similar educational themes and explore some of the same tensions in and out of the classroom. M.B. McLatchey and Kevin McIntosh will be joining Jaynie Royal and Pam Van Dyk to explore the philosophical threads of these education-themed literary works. 

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 Jon Sealy, founder of Haywire Books and author of The Edge of America, The Whiskey Baron, So You Want to Be a Novelist, and The Merciful  and   Heather Bell Adams, author of Maranatha Road and The Good Luck Stone (published by Haywire Books), will be joining us to discuss the indie publishing scene, the editor-author relationship, as well as their recent releases.

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 In anticipation of the release of our 2019 Kraken Book Prize-winning title, Thomas Creeper and the Gloomsbury Secret, J.R. Potter will be joining us on A Conspiracy of Lemurs to chat about would-be heroes in crisis, heroes who have nothing to lose and everything to gain. We’ll explore the role of the underdog hero in middle grade fiction and the lessons we can learn from them at any stage in our lives. 

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