Author Interview: Victoria Schwab

Author Interview: Victoria Schwab

Victoria Schwab is the product of a British mother and a Beverly Hills father. She grew up on the west coast but went to high school in the South at a girls' prep school, complete with plaid skirts that she used to doodle on during math. Talk about contrasts!

Today, she loves fairy tales, folklore and books that make her wonder if the world is really as it seems. Which might be why her debut novel, The Near Witch, is so creepily beautiful. It's about Lexi, a girl who lives on an enchanted moor and gets stuck solving a big mystery when, the day after an intriguing boy appears in town, children start disappearing. Ooohhh!

Read our interview with Victoria below before meeting her at YALLFest!



We’re all excited that you’ll be at YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

How could I resist? I’m a transplant in the South (originally from California), but I’ve lived here long enough for it to feel like home. Also, being a new author, I’m still adjusting to the idea that I get to see some of my favorite writers, not only as a fan, but as a colleague! That blows my mind.

New Books, Get Them First

We're Bursting With New Teen Titles!


Here at CCPL, we've just received a slew of fantastic new teen books from bestselling authors, including Elizabeth Scott and Susan Beth Pfeffer, along with some great debut writers. Click on titles to get your hands on them first!


As I Wake
By Elizabeth Scott

Ava wakes up in a house she doesn't know, into a life she doesn't recognize. Recently released from the hospital, she's welcomed home by family and friends. But Ava can't remember any of them -- and she can't shake the strange feeling that she's not who they say she is.

Author Interview: Sarah Rees Brennan

Author Interview: Sarah Rees Brennan

Sarah Rees Brennan grew up in Ireland by the sea where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish. She chose to read books under her desk instead -- mostly Jane Austen, Margaret Mahy, Anthony Trollope, Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones. (She still loves them all!).

Sarah began work on The Demon’s Lexicon while doing a creative writing master's and library work in England. She has returned to Ireland to write but is traveling all the way to Charleston for YALLFest! Read our interview with this hilarious writer:


We’re all excited that you're coming to Charleston for YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

I'm excited too! I love to travel, and I've never been to Charleston before...so I was like, 'Cool, people who like books? Rhett Butler's hometown (I know, I know, such a book nerd)? I'M IN!' I was honored to be invited.

Author Interview: Diana Peterfreund

Author Interview: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund has been a costume designer, cover model, and food critic. She's traveled from the cloud forests of Costa Rica to the caverns of New Zealand (and she’s just getting started!).

She graduated from Yale University with degrees in literature and geology, which her family claimed would only come in handy if she wrote books about rocks. Instead, she writes books that rock!

Her first teen novels, Rampant and sequel Ascendant, are adventure fantasies about killer unicorns and the virgin descendants of Alexander the Great who hunt them. Check them out before meeting her at YALLFest! First read our interview here:


We’re all excited that you're coming to Charleston for YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

I was promised pie. ;-)

Seriously, though, I'm so excited to be a part of this festival. It's the first one I've been to away from home since my baby was born, and I can't think of a better way to start meeting up with readers again. A lot of my writer friends are going to be there, and I'm looking forward to meeting some of my favorite writers who I only know online (like Saundra Mitchell).

Author Interview: Andrea Cremer

Author Interview: Andrea Cremer

Andrea Cremer has always loved writing. But she only recently plunged into the deep end of the pool that is professional novel writing. And how well she's done!

When she’s not writing, Andrea is a professor of history at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. We want to know if she's as awesomely strong-willed as her main character, the werewolf leader Calla.

Check out her new release, Wolfsbane, and read our interview below before meeting her at YALLFest!


What inspired you to write Nightshade, your debut novel?

Nightshade was inspired by Calla's character -- who I knew was a girl and a wolf, but I don't like traditional werewolf mythology because I find wolves to be beautiful, graceful, and intelligent. Most werewolf stories feature lycanthropy as a disease or curse. I wanted to create a new mythology where shifting was a gift and something the characters reveled in, not wanted to be rid of. I also drew on my interest in the history of witchcraft -- an area that I teach in my work as a historian.

Author Interview: Ellen Hopkins!!!!!

Author Interview: Ellen Hopkins

Imagine that you're adopted, love your adoptive parents, and then meet your birth mother -- only to find that she's written poetry her whole life. Just like you! That really happened to Ellen Hopkins, an amazingly gifted poet writing for teens (and adults) today.

Ellen has written five New York Times bestsellers, all in verse. Her poetry, written as full-length novels, tackles such real-life struggles as addiction and abuse. Suffice it say that here at CCPL, her books are HUGELY popular. Check out a few (click on the titles) and meet this amazing writer at YALLFest! But first, read our interview with her:


We’re all so excited that you're coming to Charleston for YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

I love Charleston! Was just there a couple of weeks ago, in fact, so am looking forward to a return visit. Your food rocks! And so do my Charleston readers.

Author Interview: Michelle Hodkin

Author Interview: Michelle Hodkin

At 16, Michelle Hodkin sadly lost the rights to her soul in a poker game with pirates just south of Natchez. Shortly thereafter, she joined an acting troupe and traveled the world performing feats of wonder and mischief. (She also grew up in Florida, went to college in New York, and studied law in Michigan.)

She just released her debut novel to the applause of YA author superstar Cassandra Clare, among others who loved the book. Read it yourself and then come meet Michelle at YALLFest!


What inspired you to write The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, your debut novel?

The short answer is that it was inspired by true events, and on May 15, 2009, I had the idea to turn them into a book. The long answer will be posted on http://www.maradyer.com/.

Author Interview: Adele Griffin

Author Interview: Adele Griffin

Adele Griffin, two-time National Book Award finalist, likes writing YA stories set during summer vacation, a time (as she recalls it) of bad jobs, new friends, and sometimes an intriguing stranger. But as a kid, nothing tempted her more than ghost stories and mysteries. She also loved books about new girls — probably because her own family moved around a lot. What's that advice about writing what you know?!?

These days, Adele only writes at a certain desk! Must be a pretty charmed place because she's written many great books for teens and younger children. Check out our interview with her below and then come meet her at YALLFest!


We’re all excited that you're coming to Charleston for YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

I'm really excited, too! I'm looking forward to seeing my Picture the Dead partner in collaboration crime, Lisa Brown. And there are so many cool authors there, people I know from Goodreads or twitter or joint-promotion stuff. I'm excited to for-real meet them.
                                                                  Picture The Dead

Okay, and I'm also excited for Southern desserts. Brown-sugar walnut ice-cream! Coconut cake! Pecan pie! Bring it!


What got you into writing books for teens?

I landed my first job out of college working as an editorial assistant for Macmillan Children's Books. It was two blocks away from my first NYC mouse-infested apartment. Which I loved. And I was deathly afraid of the subway — I wanted to walk to work. Luckily I loved the job. So that was how I came into it.

Author Interview: Beth Revis

Author Inverview: Beth Revis

Beth Revis' debut novel about a girl cryogenically frozen aboard a spaceship, Across the Universe has become a bestseller. Beth loves to blog about writing, grammar, and publishing at Writing it Out. She also founded the dystopian blog the League of Extraordinary Writers. And, yes, she does believe that space is the final frontier. Learn all about her before YALLFest!


We’re all excited that you’ll be at YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

I was invited! I LOVE Charleston, and I didn't have to think twice about coming. In fact, I took my honeymoon there, so I'm even more excited about coming back!

Meet Author Kimberly Derting!

Author Interview: Kimberly Derting

Kimberly Derting lives in the Pacific Northwest, an ideal place to be writing anything dark or creepy—just what you'll find aplenty in her books (hint: morbid abilities, dead people, haunting interpersonal connections, etc.).

Her writing gig started when she chose journalism as a 7th-grade elective. It was supposed to be an easy A. Instead, she fell in love with writing. The rest is...well, you know.

Get to know Kimberly through our interview with her below. Then, check out her books before meeting her at YALLFest on Nov. 11 and 12! (Click on any book title to place a library hold on it.)


We’re all excited that you’ll be at YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

I'm SO excited to be coming to YALLFest, it’s such an amazing opportunity to connect with readers! And to be perfectly honest, I may or may not have highlighted a few of my own favorite authors to stalk while I'm there. If you’re curious as to who they are, just be on the lookout for the authors giving me very awkward half-hugs. :)

Check Out These Hot New Books

New Books, New Books!!

From Brian Selznick to Ellen Hopkins, here at CCPL we've just received tons of new books from your favorite YA authors...and from some amazing debut writers. Be first to check them out! Click on any title to reserve it:

Wonderstruck
By Brian Selznick

Having lost his mother and his hearing in a short time, 12-year-old Ben leaves his Minnesota home in 1977 to seek the father he never knew in New York City. There, he meets Rose, who's also longing for something missing from her life. Ben's story is told in words; Rose's in pictures.

From the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret.

Author Interview: Saundra Mitchell

Author Interview: Saundra Mitchell

This Carolina neighbor writes haunting books and short stories. But did you know she's also a longtime screenwriter? For all you aspiring writers, Saundra is especially passionate about helping teens tap their own creative writing talents.

Check out her books: Shadowed Summer, The Vespertine, and The Springsweet (due out in 2012). Then, come meet Saundra at YALLFest in November! We have a sneak introduction because she kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us:


We’re all excited that you’ll be at YALLFest! What made you decide to come?

A book festival in an incredibly historic U.S. city, packed to the gills with my favorite YA writers and pie? When Kami and Margie (authors of Beautiful Creatures) invited me, I couldn't say no. And if they hadn't invited me, I can't say that I wouldn't have crashed the party. It's just too much awesome in one place!