Today’s guest is Lamar Giles, a two-time Edgar Award finalist for his YA thrillers FAKE ID and ENDANGERED His third YA thriller, OVERTURNED received a glowing New York Times review. Lamar is a contributor to the YA anthology THREE SIDES OF A HEART and the editor of the forthcoming We Need Diverse Books YA short story anthology FRESH INK.

Lamar joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about the over confidence he had as a young writer, and how he took the time to reflect on 8 years worth of rejection before landed his agent in 2010 with his sixth novel. Also covered: diversity in publishing and how genre writing can be looked down upon, and the complexities of writing a book set in a city you are unfamiliar with, and how research can help you get… most things… right. 

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Nothing But Sky by Amy Trueblood

 In A Flash by Melanie Faith 

Today’s guest is Bethany C. Morrow author of MEM releasing in May from Unnamed Press. Bethany graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a BA in Sociology (but took notable detours in the Film and Theatre departments). Following undergrad, she studied Clinical Psychological Research at the University of Wales, in Great Britain before returning to North America to focus on her literary work. Bethany joins host Mindy McGinnis to talk about her query process, as well as writing in a post-election world as a black woman, and the concern that minority authors need to be looking for agents that want to represent them for a long-term career, not just as a response to a trend and whether or not white writers should attempt to write main characters of color, and the difference between that and being inclusive in your writing.

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Freya’s Daughter by Rachel Pudelek 

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