CHARMING AS A VERB is out today!

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CHARMING AS A VERB is out today!
Art by the extraordinary cover designer Steffi Walthall

What can I say? I hope you enjoy it! Books take a while to come out so I’ve had time to process this once since finishing it. I don’t know if I have much of an eloquent statement in me… I really like these characters? Halti, Corinne, and Ming. Even Marvyn! The whole gang!

(I’m also obsessed with Henri’s hair in that art. I have no idea how to get that hair but that’s it. That’s what I want, dang it. )

“Wait, wasn’t it supposed to be out in September?”

Don’t worry about it.

“No, really I got a copy in September. I mean, the printing was weird but–“

QUIET TIME.

Anyway, where was I? Yes, CHARMING AS A VERB. You should buy it. I don’t want to politicize this space but I very much champion your right to buy a copy of my book — or even several. Go absolutely off. Did someone say a crate? I heard crate.

SURE, I’LL BE YOUR BLACK FRIEND Cover Release

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SURE, I’LL BE YOUR BLACK FRIEND Cover Release

Gulp. My first nonfiction non-YA book officially has a cover, folks.

I love this design. It was mocked up by my friend Brittany Reid, who is vexingly good at every last thing, for the book proposal and Harper Perennial ended up liking it so much that they used it for the final cover.

I’m going to miss the plausible deniability of fiction. (“What? No, of course, that character wasn’t based on you!”) but I needed to write this one and I hope people will check it out.

Where to pre-order

HarperCollins.com | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound | Apple Books |

YA Podcast Season

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YA Podcast Season

CHARMING being out means new opportunities to hear my delightful — delightful — voice that definitely does not sound like a foreign chipmunk with three accents wrestling for supremacy. Jewel and Brock are both amazing with huge catalogs of interviews out, so check them out.

So Booking Cool!

Also available on YouTube. Woohoo — cross-platform, baby!

What Book Hooked You?

I stand by that author photo.

Norris Kaplan is a MORRIS AWARD Finalist!

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Norris Kaplan is a MORRIS AWARD Finalist!

Pumped to announce that pubescent grump, Norris Kaplan, has been named one of the finalists of this year’s William C. Morris Award alongside these four AMAZING books:
⁣
THE CANDLE AND THE FLAME by Nafiza Azad⁣

GENESIS BEGINS AGAIN by Alicia D. Williams

FRANKLY IN LOVE by David Yoon

THERE WILL COME A DARKNESS by Katy Rose Pool

The William C. Morris YA Debut Award, first given in 2009, honors a book published by a first-time author writing for teens and celebrating impressive new voices in young adult literature.  The winner is announced annually at the ALA Youth Media Awards.

The award’s namesake is William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. Bill Morris left an impressive mark on the field of children’s and young adult literature. He was beloved in the publishing field and the library profession for his generosity and marvelous enthusiasm for promoting literature for children and teens.

NYC Book Launch Event! (Thursday 1/10)

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NYC Book Launch Event! (Thursday 1/10)

I’m incredibly pumped for obvious reasons. There is no bigger boss than Ibi (AMERICAN STREET, PRIDE, BLACK ENOUGH: STORIES OF BEING YOUNG & BLACK IN AMERICA) and we both like our sleep, so I promise you it won’t go until the wee hours.

DO I RSVP?

…Not necessary! But if you want to, yes, it can be done right here. 

WHERE IS IT?

WORD Brooklyn Bookstore
126 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

I hope to see you there!

…And, yes, I’ll try to post more here, as opposed to just tweeting nonsense all day and occasionally mentioning book stuff.

(That’s my new 2019 resolution as someone who has had sugar 5 out of past 6 days, the other resolution has already gloriously flamed out. God, I love sugar.)

I Wrote A Thing That Won A Thing

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I Wrote A Thing That Won A Thing

I’m happy to share that an hour-long pilot I wrote won this year’s Bluecat screenwriting competition… Fun!

The best philosophy for contests I’ve found is to occasionally throw a script into the mayhem and put it out of your mind. Once you make it to the finalists, it’s a lot more ‘lottery of sensibilities’ than ‘career strategy,’ honestly.

Bluecat is a great contest, run by very involved people and their readers give thoughtful feedback, so that alone was worth the entry fee here. The other winners and finalists are also crazy strong writers from what I’ve read.

…And no, they didn’t ask me to write this. My 56 clicks per month according to WordPress couldn’t sell the lint off a Casper mattress.

Anywho, here’s the Pitch Deck of the project since people have emailed me to ask the premise. (What? I like putting together PowerPoints. Don’t shame me for it… It’s better than being really into Crossfit or something.)