Mid-week round-up

A few things...

First, thank you to everyone who entered the Wentworth Hall giveaway I hosted!

The winners are... Carrie K. and Maggie H. 

Congratulations, ladies! I've emailed you. Big thanks again to Simon & Schuster for providing the prizes for this giveaway!

Second, I'm very pleased to say that I'm going to be blogging for The Hub, the teen literature blog published by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Please check out my first posts-- I blogged about celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month: here's Part 1 (an interview with author Cindy Pon) and Part 2 (a list of some really good reads that include elements of Asian or Asian-American culture). Stop by and tell me about your favorite books featuring Asian or Asian-American culture!

And finally, you know I co-host a YA lit podcast called Authors are ROCKSTARS!, right? Well, my co-host, Michelle, and I had the privilege of moderating the YA or Bust! panel at the Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble last week, featuring Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman, and Nina LaCour.

The event was so much fun! We had so much fun chatting with these fabulous authors. And, as always, part of the fun of attending a book signing is meeting other readers. This time, we met a book vlogger! And he put us on his video coverage of the event. I don't know about Michelle, but I am not used to being on camera, so I was super nervous! But it was really fun. Watch The Booktubenator's coverage of the YA or Bust event right here:

 (Authors are ROCKSTARS! appears towards the end of the video).
And be sure to check out The Booktubenator'sYouTube channel-- it's awesome.

That's all for today!

SoCal Book Events + An Awesome Giveaway

Have you checked out the latest over at Authors are ROCKSTARS!, the podcast I co-host with Michelle of Never Gonna Grow Up Reviews?

2012 is off to an awesome start. We kicked off January by featuring interviews with Shatter Me author Tahereh Mafi, Nightshade series author Andrea Cremer, and Gene Yang, author of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novel, The Promise.

Next month is going to be amazing, too! Michelle and I are super excited about a couple of upcoming events for Southern California book lovers. We'll be covering the first-ever Passion & Prose conference with a special Road Trip edition of the podcast.

 And you should join us there!

Presented by Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, together with Adventures by the Book, the conference takes place Saturday, February 25, 2012, from 9:00am to 3:30pm at the Westin Long Beach, 333 East Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, CA  90802. Attendance is limited to the first 450 readers who register.

Passion & Prose is a ticketed event that includes speed dating  (an interactive author activity) and lunch with one author at each table. The day also features a Young Adult author panel, three keynote speakers, multiple book buying and signing opportunities, free goodie bags to all participants, and an opportunity drawing to benefit WriteGirl, a non-profit organization that promotes creativity and self-expression through writing to empower girls.

Does that sound amazing, or what?

Michelle and I are pleased to offer something special for Authors are ROCKSTARS! listeners. We are giving away one FREE PASS to Passion & Prose! That's a $125 value and an awesome experience you'll never forget. So if you're in the Southern California area, make sure you head over to our blog for your chance to win. And even if you don't win the free pass, we still have something for you-- when you register for Passion & Prose, simply enter referral code ROCKSTAR at checkout to receive $25 off the price of admission!


Also, from January 1-February 14, Passion & Prose is offering a special discounted Mother-Daughter registration promotion ($200 per couple). Edit 2/9/12: Due to changes to the Passion & Prose event structure, they are no longer able to offer any discounts on admission.

Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot is one of the keynote speakers, and you definitely don't want to miss her-- I helped host a library visit with her a couple years ago, and she's just as fabulous and funny as you would imagine. Love her!

Me (pregnant with baby #2 at the time) with Meg Cabot (tall and gorgeous!)

The YA panel at Passion & Prose will feature Andrea Cremer, Sarah Wilson Etienne, Marie Lu, Beth Revis, and Jessica Spotswood, and is sponsored by Penguin Young Adult as part of the Breathless Reads tour.

Check the full tour schedule to see if there's a stop in your area:

• February 15^th Anderson’s Bookshop Naperville, IL
• February 16^th Politics and Prose Bethesda, MD
• February 17^th Books of Wonder New York, NY
• February 18^th Towne Center Book and Café Collegeville, PA
• February 19^th The Doylestown Bookshop Doylestown, PA
• February 21^st Little Shop of Stories Decatur, GA
• February 22^nd Blue Willow Bookshop Houston, TX
• February 23^rd Barnes & Noble Frisco Frisco, TX
• February 24^th Once Upon A Time Montrose, CA
• February 25^th Passion and Prose Conference Long Beach, CA

We hope to see you in Montrose or Long Beach next month! As always, if you have questions for any of these fabulous authors, comment here or on the Authors are ROCKSTARS! blog, and we'll be happy to ask on your behalf. 

What I've been up to

Oof, I think I almost fell off the face of the blogosphere there for a minute. But with good reason-- the May edition of the Authors are ROCKSTARS! podcast is up, and we've got an amazing interview with Starcrossed author, Josephine Angelini. She rules. Check it out!

Other things keeping me busy?

Well, I helped host an author visit with Candace Bushnell at my library to celebrate her fabulous new book, Summer and the City, which tells the story of Carrie Bradshaw as a teen. She was very glamorous in Kate Spade, and was kind enough to call me a "chic librarian" even though I was only wearing... H&M. *cough* I didn't mention that at the time.


Also, School Library Journal keeps sending me the most amazing books to review, so I've got my nose buried in those.

And my youngest child has learned to crawl!

So, yeah, kinda busy these days. More to come soon!

ALERT! ALERT! SOMETHING AWESOME!

Do you like YA lit?

Do you like interviews with amazing YA authors?

Do you like listening to charming and adorable readers JUST LIKE YOU chat about super fun YA books?

OF COURSE YOU DO.

That's why you should check out Authors are ROCKSTARS!

This brand-new podcast is a collaboration between Michelle from Never Gonna Grow Up Reviews and myself. I am so privileged to be working with Michelle on this project- she and I have been friends for years, she's a super awesome voiceover artist, and she's the one behind the audio mixing for the podcast. She rocks!

In our debut episode, we interview the fabulous and amazing Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. [pause for a moment of giddiness: eeeeeeeee!] I loved having the chance to meet them and talk about their writing and characters.

We hope you'll enjoy this month's podcast. Please listen, let us know what you think, and follow the Authors are ROCKSTARS! blog so you'll be sure to catch future episodes!