The Life and Medieval Times of Jamie Pacton

This week’s guest. Doan Phuong Nguyen is a middle grade author, photographer, daydreamer, and creative girlie girl. She was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States when she was in elementary school. She received her MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

Purchase a copy of Mèo and Bé.

Follow Doan Phuong on Instagram. Or find more information on her website, doanphuong.com 

Find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitchr, IHeartRadio and more.

Rachel Werner joins us today to talk about the art (and grind) of becoming a full time writer. She gives us freelance tips, marketing ideas, and talks about the importance of an email newsletter! She’s an author, content creator and media consultant from Madison Wisconsin. She’s the founder of The Little Book Project WI as well as a teaching artist for Hugo House, The Loft Literary Center and Lighthouse Writer' Workshop. She’s written a cook book, and a science book for kids. Her next kidlit book with Capstone (“Moving and Grooving to Fillmore’s Beat”) will be released in Fall 2023. It seems there’s nothing she can’t do. 

Preorder MOVING AND GROOVING TO FILLMORE'S BEAT

Follow Rachel on Instagram @therealscript, Twitter @therealscripts and for more socials, check out her website! 

In this episode, Parrish Turner joins Chelsea and Renee to talk about the HarperCollins union, the 2022 strike, and the passion for the job that keeps him going.  We talk about the state of publishing, the things we love about the job, and how people can get involved in the fight for living wages at HarperCollins and other publishers.

Follow the Union on social media: https://www.instagram.com/hcpunion/

Parrish talked about: Lou by Breanna Carzoo

**I don't know if WASH THE CAT is out yet, so there's no link. But I'm personally going to check back in a few months because I know my kid would love it!**

Or just to support them generally by buying books you were already going to buy anyways: bookshop.org/shop/hcpunion

SUPPORT KT LITERARY HARPERCOLLINS AUTHORS:

NINE LIARS by Maureen Johnson

HAYLEY ALDRIDGE IS STILL HERE by Elissa R. Sloan

Katy James joins us today to talk about her book TOO MUCH MAN. It's a fun, flirty debut about a grumpy former hockey player and a bisexual coffee-shop owner refuse to commit—to themselves or each other. We talk about identity, hockey, and Katy's day job as an archivist and rare book librarian. 

Buy TOO MUCH MAN.

Preorder the next book TOO HOT TO TOUCH.

Visit Katy's website or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

You can find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER is about an autistic trans kid navigating their new school while finding friends—and love, along the way. It’s written by Maya MacGregor, and though they are no stranger to publishing, it’s their debut YA novel!

Maya and Allegra talk about the joys of bringing Sam to life on the page and in the audiobook, the exciting time we’re in for queer stories, and what this book means to their past selves.  

Maya's Instagram, Maya's website

Allegra's Instagram, Allegra's website

Buy THE MANY HALF-LIVED LIVES OF SAM SYLVESTER! 

Hardcover

Audiobook

Meet our new agent, Kari Sutherland! We are so excited to have her on the team!

Find Kari on Twitter.

Here is her Query Manager form if you're ready to submit! 

And here is her MSWL.

Patty is an educator, an accomplished horse woman, and a fantasy super fan. She joined me to talk about her new novel FORGING A NIGHTMARE, her love of messing with established mythology, and how she brought her characters to life. We also talk about the racist and bigoted book banning that’s gone on in her district in Pennsylvania. If you’re in the book world, you’ve heard about this. This story has been featured in CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, and many other news outlets. Patty and I discuss the book ban and and the amazing group of students and teachers who stood up and said, “no”! 

Panther Anti-Racist Union Media: https://linktr.ee/YourConscience

Instagram: @cy.paru

Buy FORGING A NIGHTMARE here!

Follow Patty on Twitter and Instagram.

What the heck is going on with supply chain issues? Why aren't there more books? What can we do about it? What advice do we have for authors?

This week, Sara Megibow joins the podcast to talk about all these issues and more! We get granular about how books are made, what the "pain points" are in the process, and what that means for books releasing now. And though it all sounds a little depressing, we promise, it isn't! We also talk about a few tangible things that authors and readers can do to get through this.

This is an episode for veteran authors, debut authors, authors on submission, and readers alike. 

Sara's on Twitter! Follow her @SaraMegibow. 

You can find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitchr, IHeartRadio and more.

Mayonn Paassewe-Valchev has always been a storyteller. From her youth in Liberia, to her time living in the Netherlands, and now residing with her family in Georgia, stories have played an important part in her life.

In this interview we talk about mythology, capturing oral storytelling on the page and how she did that in her new Middle Grade book THE LEOPARD BEHIND THE MOON. 

Buy THE LEOPARD BEHIND THE MOON.

Follow Mayonn on Twitter, Instagram and find her on her website, mayonn.com.

You can find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitchr, IHeartRadio and more.

Considering a post-pandemic trip to a quaint English Village? Be sure to add this book to your packing list.

Maureen Johnson, Jay Cooper, and Kate Testerman get together to discuss the new book YOUR GUIDE TO NOT GETTING MURDERED IN A QUAINT ENGLISH VILLAGE. We discuss the most dangerous element of a quaint English Village, the thing that would probably get us killed, the age-old place to dump a bodë (It's IKEA) and whether or not The Doctor (the Timelord) can be considered an English detective. 

Buy the book.

Socials:

Maureen's Twitter, Instagram

Jay Cooper's Twitter, Instagram

Kate Testerman's Twitter Instagram