This week, Tracy Deonn has a “legendary” launch; Scholastic authors partake in a virtual panel on reality; Lilliam Rivera Zooms into The Lit. Bar for a time-honored tradition; and Alex London takes drawing lessons from Marie Lu.
Won't Stop Till We're Legend
On September 15, Tracy Deonn celebrated the release of her YA contemporary fantasy debut, Legendborn (S&S/McElderry), with a Zoom event hosted by Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, N.C. Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles series) and Zoraida Córdova (Brooklyn Brujas series) joined Deonn to discuss King Arthur remixes, worldbuilding, and romance. Guests were able to contribute to the conversation by using the hashtag #LegendbornLaunch on social media.
What About Real, Real Life?
This past Monday, I read YA launched the I read YA @ Home monthly virtual event series with “I read YA Presents: Writing for Real Life”. Hosted by McNally Jackson and moderated by bookseller Parrish Turner (top l.), the event featured (clockwise from top c.): Stephan Lee (K-Pop Confidential, Point), Bill Konigsberg (The Bridge, Scholastic Press), Deborah Wiles (Kent State, Scholastic Press), Lucas Rocha (Where We Go from Here, trans. from the Portuguese by Larissa Helena, PUSH), and Katrin van Dam (Come November, Scholastic Press).
Bar None
Lilliam Rivera (l.) (Never Look Back, Bloomsbury) digitally returned to the Bronx’s only general-interest bookstore, The Lit. Bar, on September 15 for what has become a tradition: the launch of her latest novel. Rivera participated in a q&a with journalist and author Shea Serrano (Movies (And Other Things), illus. by Arturo Torres, Twelve) and Noëlle Santos, founder of The Lit. Bar. The conversation touched on Rivera’s past careers as a journalist and teacher, craft discussions on developing as a fiction writer, and why addressing the taboo of mental health in Latinx communities is so significant.
We’re Soarin’, Flyin’
Earlier this month, Alex London virtually launched the final installment of his Skybound Saga, Gold Wings Rising (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), at Children’s Book World in Haverford, Pa. London was in conversation with Marie Lu (Skyhunter, Roaring Brook); the duo discussed London’s series while Lu offered a bird-drawing demonstration, inspired by the Skybound Saga. An audience q&a followed, and guests were invited to share their own bird drawings on screen.
