Name: Krista Ashe
Location: Burbs of Atlanta, GA
Bio: By day, I educate the youth of America as a high school English teacher. I have a BA in English, BS in Secondary English Education, and a Masters in Adolescent English Education.
Books: My YA Contemporary Don’t Hate the Player…Hate the Game is currently on submission. I’m working on revisions for my YA UF Urban Fantasy, The Guardians. I’m sort of a writing machine, lol. I’m currently working on two YA Contemporaries.
Favorite Authors: My list of favorite authors could go on and on, but I’d have to say Harper Lee, JK Rowling, Jane Austen, & LM Montgomery.
Why do you write YA? Because YA incorporates everything that adult novels do, however, there’s a honesty and a vulnerability that perhaps you don’t find in adult novels. I also love that it keeps me feeling young and alive!
Links: Website Blog
Name: Jamie Blair
Location: North Canton, Ohio
Bio: I get paid for being a Command Center Strategist for a telemarketing company, and I work with the coolest people ever. I’m married with two crazy little kids and write in the wee hours of the morning when normal people sleep.
Books: FAKE MY LIFE- Contemp YA, THE GIRL WHO TURNED TO STONE - Contemp YA work in progress written in verse
Favorite Authors: From J.K. Rowling to Charlotte Bronte, there are too many to list!
Why do you write YA? I’m drawn in by the fast pace and emotion.
Links: BLOG | Published Flash Fiction | Twitter
Name: Leah Clement
Location: Living at the edge of Yosemite, CA
Bio: I’m an almost-22-year-old college student majoring in English. I drink ungodly amounts of coffee and tea, lose myself in video games, spoil my cat, and cause general shenanigans at work.
Books: I’m currently working on two novels. Concealed, which is urban fantasy/dystopian, and Feral, just dystopian. I have several other ideas bouncing around my head from paranormal to contemporary. I’ll get to them…someday.
Favorite Authors: Suzanne Collins, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Scott Westerfeld, and Kristin Cashore.
Why do you write YA? I write YA because life plus hormones equals infinite and hilarious possibilities.
Links: Blog, Twitter
Location: Southern California
Bio: I’m a physical therapist turned stay-at-home mom/ kid wrangler and freelance/YA writer. I'm represented by the *awesome* Taylor Martindale of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. My two little rugrats (and my large one, otherwise known as “hubby”) and three dogs (all of them naughty) keep me busy, but luckily I still find time to write.
Books: I'm getting my UF The Demon Guard ready for sub as we speak--SUQEE! And--MEEP! I also have a trunked, tongue-in-cheek paranormal that needs some TLC, plus two gritty contemporary WIPs.
Favorite Authors: Oh man, how long do we have? YA writers: Suzanne Collins, Courtney Summers, Richelle Mead Adult Writers: Robert Crais, Harlan Coben, Pat Conroy.
Why do you write YA? I’m young at heart. I love the drama and emotion inherent in being a teen, how everything feels so epic and crucial. I love teen lingo. Plus, hello, my favorite TV shows ever are Buffy and Veronica Mars.
Links: Blog
Name: Sarah Harian
Location: Yosemite, CA
Bio: I’m a student at Cal State Fresno and will finish my B.A. in English Spring of 2010. I have an unhealthy obsession with epic blockbuster movies, classical music composers, computer games, sushi, and the color blue.
Books: Luminous is my urban (yet slightly epic) fantasy WIP.
Favorite Authors: Suzanne Collins, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Ray Bradbury, Carolyn Keene, C.S. Lewis, Kristin Cashore, and Scott Westerfeld.
Why do you write YA? Because a broader imagination is always more accepted in the world of YA. Also, I would love to make a career out of encouraging teens to read more often through fiction.
Links: Website
Name:Annie McElfresh
Location: Circleville, Ohio
BIO: I’m a nurse by trade, but writing is my creative release. I’m married to one of those crazy car guys like you see on the SPEED channel, have the orniest little boy around, and have two dogs that mind better than my kid.
BOOKS: The Dying Curse (YA paranormal romance), Teenage Hillbilly Hell (YA Contemporary Novel), I Love You, No Matter What (YA Contemporary)
Favorite Authors: Rachel Hawthorne, Sarah Dessen, Elizabeth Scott, Claudia Gray, Charlene Harris and Stephanie Myers
Why do you write YA: Well, I really, really liked playing barbies when I was little. So I guess in a way it’s a grown up way to still live in a pretend story. Plus I don’t think I’ll ever really grow up.
Links:Blog Website
Name: Susanne Winnacker
Location: Germany
Bio: I studied law and I'm currently preparing for my second legal state exam. I'm married. I love coffee, animals and travelling. I'm represented by Julia Churchill of Greenhouse Literary Agency.
Books: My debut THE OTHER LIFE, a YA post-apocalyptic thriller, will be published in Spring 2012 by Usborne UK. It will also be published by Marshall Cavendish in the US. I'm currently working on a YA sci-fi.
Favorite authors: J.K. Rowling, Patricia Briggs, Suzanne Collins
Why do you write YA?: What's better than writing about the thrill of falling in love for the first time, the drama of growing up and the challenge of figuring out who you want to be? I simply love how hopeful YA is.
Name: Jennifer Wood
Location: North East Georgia
Bio: Director of Education and Transportation, Hospitality Manager, Data and Archives Coordinator, Financial Planner, Chief Laundress, Misc. Juggler, and Personal Chef – in other words a housewife.
Books: MOUNTAIN ESCAPE, a YA Contemp.
Favorite Authors: Honestly they are my friends in AW.
Why do you write YA? I want to write books for my children and love the genre, plus I secretly want to return to highschool – not.
Links: Blog and Twitter
TEEN BLOGGERS
Name: Vahini Naidoo Location: Sydney, Australia
Bio: I’m a seventeen-year-old soon-to-finish-high-schooler who eats instant noodles like she’s already in college. Once upon a time I worked as a quasi check-out chick who was actually a bakery assistant. I’m a queen of procrastination and have managed to put off learning to play guitar (despite the fact that I was, briefly, in a band -- we wrote songs about the correlation of Wingdings to the meaning of life). I’m represented by the wonderful Ammi-Joan Paquette at Erin Murphy Literary Agency.
Books: My dark contemporary YA novel THE GNOME IS WATCHING is on sub to editors at the moment. I’m also revising my literary YA THE COLORS OF SKY for sub, while working on a second contemporary YA project. I’ve got a couple of trunked projects, too.
Favourite Authors: John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, Stephen Chbosky, Courtney Summers, Melina Marchetta, J.K Rowling, Chuck Palahniuk, Jonathan Safran Foer, Patrick Rothfuss – I could go on forever, really.
Why do you write YA?: Well, I’m still a teenager so I feel it’s what I’m most qualified to write in a way. But also because I think the teen years are a time of such huge emotional growth – there’s something seductive about the emotion in YA books that I love. Links: Blog
Name: Amna M.Location: London, England
Bio: 18 year old girl. Studying Biological sciences because I'm a nerd. Literature Freak. Web Enthusiast. I like making people smile, the smell of fresh rain, horror films, late nights and mugs of tea. I also like giving free hugs because free hugs are awesome.
Favorite Authors: Markus Zusak, Melina Marchetta, John Green and Jonathan Safran Foer.Why do you write YA? I love YA because I love the coming-of-age theme. I love YA because I love writing about first love, heart ache, angst, discovering ‘who you are’, and trying to be independent.
Name: Rachael Kirkendall Location: Southern Michigan
Bio: I'm an aspiring author and senior in high school who's obsessed with books, horses, and Doctor Who.
Books: My WIP tends to change with my mood, but right now I am firmly locked into writing Burning Bridges and I can't wait to start revisions. (That wasn't sarcasm.)
Favorite Authors: Keeping the list as short as possible...J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins, Lisa McMann, Markus Zusak, Cassandra Clare, Tamora Pierce, Walter Farley, and Sarah Dessen.
Why do you write YA? Because my attempt to write adult fiction was an epic fail. Really, though, it's because YA is so much fun to write. High school is a life-changing time in a lot of ways and it's fun to go back and explore those, even though I'm still not out of high school myself. YA is so close to my heart as well because of that.
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