Kidlit Happy Hour

Ep. 32: Voice: Aida Salazar on Embarrassing Your Characters and Writing as a Spiritual Practice

Our conversation with Aida Salazar is here! Aida shares about how one workshop radically changed her approach to voice, why writing is a spiritual practice, how she stays open to receiving stories from our ancestors, and so much more.
 
Aida Salazar is an award-winning author, arts activist, and translator whose writings explore issues of identity and social justice. Her critically acclaimed verse novels and picture books have received numerous awards including: a Caldecott Honor, the Malka Penn Award, the Américas Award, Tomás Rivera Book Award, International Latino Book Awards, California Library Association Beatty Award, Northern CA Book Award, Jane Addams Peace Honor, an NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor among other distinctions. She lives with her family of artists in Oakland, CA. 
 
 

Ep. 31: Character: Jasmine Warga on Robots, Geese, Turtles and the Alchemy of Writing

Here are some highlights from our conversation with NYTimes-bestselling, award-winning author Jasmine Warga!:
Excavating not simply WHAT your characters want, but WHY they want it
The necessity of internal contractions 
Becoming a collector of ideas and moments throughout the drafting and revision process
How images drive her plotting process
The role of alchemy in storytelling
The consistent theme at the root of her stories, and writing for our inner 10-year-olds
The art of crafting the twist
Jasmine Warga is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of middle grade novels Other Words For Home, The Shape of Thunder, A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall and A Rover’s Story. Other Words For Home earned multiple awards, including a John Newbery Honor, a Walter Honor for Young Readers, and a Charlotte Huck Honor. The Shape of Thunder was a School Library Journal and Bank Street best book of the year, a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Children's and YA Book Award, and has been named to several state award reading lists. A Rover’s Story, her latest novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Indie Next List and a Junior Library Guild selection, and was named a best book of the year by Publishers Weekly and The Washington Post. She is also the author of young adult novel, My Heart and Other Black Holes, which has been translated into over twenty different languages. Originally from Cincinnati, she now lives in the Chicago-area with her family in a house filled with books.

Ep. 30: Character: Adib Khorram on Keeping Your Mental Filing Cabinet Full and Why NSYNC Transcends Backstreet Boys

Here are a few highlights from our conversation with the award-winning Adib Khorram:
How his notes app has come to be bursting with character ideas and peoples' idiosyncrasies
Impact of theater school on character-building
Operating as a subconsciously-driven artist
How his starting place for creating character differs from other authors
Prioritization of character vs plot vs world building
Revision as the time to sharpen or dull edges of character
Why you may want to think twice before eating a D.C. taco from a gas station 
ADIB KHORRAM is the author of DARIUS THE GREAT IS NOT OKAY, which earned the William C. Morris Debut Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Young Adult Literature, and a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor, as well as a multitude of other honors and accolades. His followup, DARIUS THE GREAT DESERVES BETTER, received three starred reviews, was an Indie Bestseller, and received a Stonewall Honor. His latest novel, KISS & TELL, received four starred reviews. His debut picture book, SEVEN SPECIAL SOMETHINGS: A NOWRUZ STORY was released in 2021. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where people don’t usually talk about themselves in the third person.
 
LINKS:
Website: www.adibkhorram.com
IG: Adib Khorram
First listen to Adib's overshare, then watch him white-knuckle (and crush) his speech at the FYE Conference in 2020

Ep. 29: Character: Randy Ribay on Asking the Right Questions and Graphing Relationships in Writing

Here are highlights from our conversation with award-winning, NYTimes-bestselling author Randy Ribay:
 
How characters explore the same internal questions he’s grappling with in his own life
Writing towards ideas rather than adhering to a firm outline
Doing the work of finding your own process
What compels a reader to take off their own mask
The genius of Succession’s character building
Why Caroline gets all Randy’s royalties on the next book
 
Randy Ribay is an award-winning author of young adult fiction. His most recent novel, Patron Saints of Nothing, earned five starred reviews, was selected as a Freeman Book Award winner, and was a finalist for the National Book Award, LA Times Book Prize, Walden Book Award, Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. His other works include Project Kawayan, After the Shot Drops, and An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes. His next novels, The Chronicles of the Avatar: The Reckoning of Roku (Abrams) and Everything We Never Had (Kokila/Penguin) will be out in 2024. 
 
Born in the Philippines and raised in the Midwest, Randy earned his BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his Ed.M. in Language and Literacy from Harvard Graduate School of Education. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, son, and cat-like dog. 
 
Randy's website
 
Randy's Instagram

Ep. 28: Setting: Grace Lin on Writing Where You Want to Be and the Myth of the "Real Writers"

Highlights from our episode with the bestselling, awards-winning, queen herself, Grace Lin:
Picking a setting where you *want* to spend time
Identifying as a storyteller vs. a writer
Why she is the 1% of writers who do NOT start their story with character
Her pals persistence and doggedness
The role of faith in writing
How publishing has shape-shifted over the past 30 years
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” and the Theodor Geisel Honor for “Ling and Ting.” Her novel “When the Sea Turned to Silver” was a National Book Award Finalist and her picture book, “A Big Mooncake for Little Star” was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is also an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio, a reviewer for the NY Times, a video essayist for PBS NewsHour, and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, “The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf,” as well as the co-host of the Book Friends Forever podcast.  In 2016, Grace’s art was displayed at the White House where Grace, herself, was recognized by President Obama’s office as a Champion of Change for Asian American and Pacific Islander Art and Storytelling. In 2022, Grace was awarded the Children’s Literature Legacy Award from the American Library Association. 

Ep. 27: Setting: Liz Garton Scanlon on Creating Context and Chasing Stories Through a Dreamscape

Here are some highlights from our conversation with award-winning, bestselling author Liz Garton Scanlon:
 
📚 Why setting is not relevant only in hsitorical fiction or fantasy and how it impacts every single experience of ourselves and our characters
📚 Setting as context, and reverse engineering elements of craft
 
📚Honoring the rhythms of being a s l o w writer
📚 Stories emerging in a dreamscape
📚 How what we know about our fledgling stories becomes self-perpetuating; ask the questions questions, follow the pathways
📚 What to do with envy in a publishing career
 
Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of numerous beloved books for young people, including picture books Frances in the Country; Kate, Who Tamed the Wind; One Dark Bird; the Caldecott honored All the World, and many others, illustrated by some of the very best artists in the business. She's also co-authored several books with her pal Audrey Vernick, including the hilarious Bob, Not Bob, and the upcoming World’s Best Class Plant. Scanlon’s middle grade novels are The Great Good Summer and Lolo's Light, and her delightful chapter book series Bibsy Cross debuted in 2024. Liz has taught at Austin Community College, the Writing Barn, the Writers’ League of Texas, and at countless schools and conferences. She currently serves on the faculty and is faculty co-chair of the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, but lives in Austin, Texas. 
Liz's Facebook: Liz Garton Scanlon
Liz's IG @LizGardenSalad
Liz's Website: www.LizGartonScanlon.com
 
EPISODE LINKS:
Snag your copy of Liz's irresistable Bibsy Cross!
Joanna's latest A City Full of Santas is out TODAY! Get your copy at your local independent bookstore HERE!
That Instagram post we couldn't stop blabbing about....
 

Ep 26: Theme: Minh Lê on Burying Telephone Wires and Leaving Space for Connection

Highlights from this episode include:
Starting with a story and discovering theme along the way
Propping up a story with telephone poles and burying the wires in between
Leaving space for readers to lean in and discover things for themselves
Minh Lê is the award-winning author of household favorites Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), Real to Me, The Blur, Lift (an Eisner Award nominee). He also writes popular middle grade graphic novels, including Green Lantern books and Enlighten Me. He is also a has been a contributor to a number of national publications including the New York Times, The Horn Book, HuffPost, NPR, Book Riot, and Reading Rainbow, and was until very recently, on the Board of We Need Diverse Books. He's also on the faculty of the Hamline MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.
IG: @bottomshelfbks

Ep 25: Theme: Laurel Snyder on Maintaining an 8 year-old Brain and Creating in the Face of Capitalism

We're thrilled to introduce our first guest of Season 2, the brilliant author Laurel Snyder. Highlights in this episode include:
Theme bumping against character, setting, plot and more in order to find its path
Writing from the heart in a capitalist system
Writing like a cook, not a baker
Why the outline changes the minute she starts writing
The realities of loving, and envying!, authors like Kate Messner
Episode links:
Laurel's episode on the Commonplace Podcast with Rachel Zucker
The Ezra Klein Show podcast episode with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy
 
Laurel Snyder is the beloved author of many picture books and novels for children, including National Book Award nominee Orphan Island, the Geisel Award winner Charlie & Mouse, and the Sydney Taylor Award winner The Longest Night. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in writing for children and young adults program. She lives in Atlanta with her family and can be found online at laurelsnyder.com.
IG: @ohmylorelai
 

Ep 24: We're back! Caroline and Joanna Kick off Season 2

In which we share ways we've taken our KLHH guests' advice to live life as inspiration for craft, and attempt to buckle down for this upcoming year - because the year actually follows the academic calendar, right?
We've got things cooking for you this season, and we hope we can find ways to connect with our listeners more. One way you can do that is by dropping your questions for upcoming guests on our KidlitHappy Hour IG! We're excited to be back for Season 2 - we've already got some gems ready for you! 
 
 

Ep. 23: Reflections: Joanna and Caroline on Taking Leaps That Make No Sense and Our Favorite Moments From This Past Year

It’s our final episode of the inaugural season of Kidlit Happy Hour!!! Join us as we surprise one another with favorite moments from each episode, reflect on the season, and talk through where we’re going from here.
 
We will officially be back in August with our second season that is PACKED TO THE BRIM with brilliant minds across kidlit. In the meantime, be sure to follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen and catch up on any episodes you missed!