Looking Forward to Nightsun: An Interview
This summer (July 24-27) I'll be teaching a young adult fiction workshop at the 2014 Nightsun Writers Conference in Frostburg, Maryland. I n anticipation of that gathering, the Conference's blog will be posting interviews with the faculty members--Bruce Weigl (poetry), Marion Winik (nonfiction), Clint McCown (fiction), and Brenda Clough (science fiction, fantasy, and horror). The registration deadline is July 18, and there's still room to sign up and join us. In the meantime, I thought I'd share my interview here with you. How has working with young adults as a college professor affected your writing of young adult literature? One thing I love about my job is how it keeps me in touch with young adults. I teach a class on the Young Adult novel in which half of what we do is read books together. I learn a lot about the YA audience by seeing how my students react to books like Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak , David Levithan's Every Day , John Gr...