E. Lockhart's Blog, page 14

A friend of mine sent me this:

The company I work for is conducting an online survey for kids 13-18 to find out more about what they read, what interests them and what they think of some current advertising that's out there.  It shouldn't take long to complete and when they finish the survey, if they want, we will send the first 75 respondents with a US or Canadian address a new young adult novel. All answers are anonymous, but we'll need their address info to send them the book. 

Here's the survey!

Jane Russell died recently. For all you Dramarama readers, and really, for anyone else, too, here she is in her prime:

 

NYC Teen Author Festival

Over 70 YA authors will be participating in events across NYC for 7 days –  and here's the schedule.

I put in bold the events at which I'm appearing. See the NYC Teen Author Festival Facebook Page for more updates!  

Teachers and School Librarians: note all the weekday symposiums and readings. Also, the all-borough read, which might be near you!  Why not bring your writing students, your favorite readers, something like that? 

2011 NYC Teen Author Festival Schedule

Monday, March 14   (Chatham Square Branch of the NYPL, 33 E Broadway., 6-8):
Finding Voice, Giving Voice:  Speaking Up for Characters
Authors:
Cathleen Bell
Jen Calonita
Cecil Castellucci
Brent Crawford
Elizabeth Eulberg
Brian James
Kekla Magoon
Melina Marchetta
Marie Rutkoski
Moderator:  David Levithan

Tuesday, March 15  ( B&N Union Square , 7-8:30):
YA Reader's Theater
Authors:
Holly Black
Judy Blundell
Gayle Forman
Eliot Schrefer (aka E. Archer)
Host:  David Levithan

Wednesday. March 16 ( South Court , 6-8): 
YA Rocks, featuring Tiger Beat!
Tiger Beat:
Libba Bray
Daniel Ehrenhaft
Barnabas Miller
Natalie Standiford

With music-related readings from:
Philana Marie Boles
Libba Bray
Barnabas Miller
Jon Skovron
Jeri Smith-Ready
Rita Williams-Garcia
Host:  Jack Martin / Chris Shoemaker

Thursday, March 17 (Five Borough Read, 10-12):
Manhattan :
Seward Park Branch, 192 E Broadway, Manhattan , 10am
Alma Alexander
Philana Marie Boles
Leanna Renee Hieber
Lena Roy
Mark Shulman

96th Street Branch, 228 E 96th St , Manhattan , 10am
Violet Haberdasher
Kimberly Marcus
Micol Ostow
Eliot Schrefer
Natalie Standiford

Washington Irving H.S (in conjunction with Mulberry St Branch)  – 40 Irving Place , 10am.
Eireann Corrigan
Jocelyn Davies
Anne Heltzel
Matt de la Pena
Patrick Ryan
Leila Sales

Muhlenburg Branch, NYPL, 209 W 23rd St 
Alexandra Bullen
Helen Ellis
Sarah Mlynowski
Matthue Roth
Adrienne Maria Vrettos
Robin Wasserman

Brooklyn
Central Branch, Brooklyn Public Library, Dweck Auditorim, 10 Grand Army Plaza
Cathleen Bell
Gayle Forman
Christopher Grant
Melissa Kantor
Jeri Smith-Ready
Melissa Walker

Bronx :
Bronx Library Center , 310 E Kingsbridge Road , Bronx
Margie Gelbwasser
Sarah Darer Littman
Arlaina Tibensky
Maryrose Wood

Queens :
Library TK
Brent Crawford
Barry Lyga
Melina Marchetta
Neesha Meminger

Staten Island :
St George Branch, 5 Central Ave , Staten Island , 10am
Elizabeth Eulberg
David Levithan
Michael Northrup
Danette Vigliante

Friday March 18th, Symposium (South Court , 42nd Street , 2-6)
2:00  Introduction
2:10 – 3:00:  Telling the Truths – Hard Topics, Illuminating Fiction
Authors:
Eireann Corrigan
Donna Freitas
Sarah Darer Littman
Kimberly Marcus
Micol Ostow
Moderator:  DL

3:00 – 3:50: Debut Author Showcase
Authors:
Jocelyn Davies
Margie Gelbwasser
Christopher Grant
Anne Heltzel
Kimberly Marcus
Arlaina Tibensky
Moderator:  Jack Martin / Chris Shoemaker

3:50 – 4:00:  Break

4:00 – 5:00:  I Think I Love You (But Maybe I Don't?) – Writing About Teens in Love
Authors:
E. Lockhart
Terra Elan McVoy
Sarah Mylnowski
Patrick Ryan
Moderator:  David Levithan

5:00 – 6:00:   Under the Influences:  Discussing Influences on YA Fiction
Authors:
Libba Bray
Alexandra Bullen
Susane Colasanti
Barry Lyga
Carolyn Mackler
Lena Roy
Adrienne Maria Vrettos
Maryrose Wood
Moderator:  Barry Lyga

Saturday. March 19th, Symposium ( South Court , 42nd Street , 1-5:30)

 1:00 – Introduction

1:10 – 2:00:  The Ties That Bind, Part One:  The Struggle Against Darkness
Kim Harrington
Lisa McMann
Maggie Stiefvater
Robin Wasserman
Moderator:  David Levithan

2:00 – 2:45:  The Ties That Bind, Part Two:  Family Bonds
Melissa Kantor
Melina Marchetta
Alyssa Sheinmel
Natalie Standiford
Danette Vigilante
Moderator:  Jack Martin / Chris Shoemaker

2:45 – 3:30:  The Ties That Bind, Part Three:  Friends and Community
Matt de la Pena
Torrey Maldonado
Michael Northrop
Leila Sales
Moderator:  Barry Lyga

3:30-3:40 – Break

3:40 – 4:20 – Tribute to Michael Cart
Host/Opening:  Jack Martin
Speakers/Readers:  David Levithan and Jacqueline Woodson
Acceptance:  Michael Cart

4:20-5:30:  LGBTYA:  Past, Present, and Future
Nick Burd
Michael Cart
David Levithan
Martin Wilson
Jacqueline Woodson
Moderator:  Jack Martin / Chris Shoemaker

Sunday afternoon: 
Books of Wonder Signing (1-4)

Authors:
1-1:45
Lizabeth Zindel  (A Girl, A Ghost, and the Hollywood Hills, Penguin)
Maryrose Wood  (The Hidden Gallery, Harper)
Suzanne Weyn  (Empty, Scholastic)
Danette Vigilante  (The Trouble with Half a Moon, Penguin)
Maggie Stiefvater   (Linger, Scholastic)
Natalie Standiford  (Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters, Scholastic)
Mark Shulman    (Scrawl, Roaring Brook)
Alyssa Sheinmel  (The Beautiful Between, RH)
Kieran Scott  (She's So Dead to Us, S&S)
Leila Sales  (Mostly Good Girls, S&S)
Patrick Ryan  (Gemini Bites, Scholastic)

1:45-2:30
Marie Rutkoski  (The Celestial Globe, FSG)
Lena Roy   (Edges, FSG)
Michael Northrup  (Trapped, Scholastic)
Sarah Mlynowski  (Gimme a Call, RH)
Neesha Meminger  (Jazz in Love, Ignite)
Terra Elan McVoy  (After the Kiss, S&S)
Lisa McMann   (Cryer's Cross, S&S)
Kimberly Marcus  (Exposed, RH)
Melina Marchetta (The Piper's Son, Candlewick)
Torrey Maldonado  (Secret Saturdays, Penguin)
Barry Lyga  (Archvillain, Scholastic)

2:30-3:15
E. Lockhart   (Real Live Boyfriends, RH)
Sarah Darer Littman     (Life After, Scholastic)
David Levithan  (Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, RH)
Melissa Kantor  (The Darlings Are Forever, Hyperion)
Carla Jablonksi  (Resistance, First Second)
Gwendolyn Heasley      (Where I Belong, Harper)
Kim Harrington  (Clarity, Scholastic)
Christopher Grant  (Teenie, RH)
Margie Gelbwasser  (Inconvenient, Flux)
Elizabeth Eulberg  (Prom & Prejudice, Scholastic)
Helen Ellis  (The Turning, Sourcebooks)

3:15-4
Daniel Ehrenhaft  (Friend is Not a Verb, Harper)
Sarah Beth Durst  (Enchanted Ivy, S&S)
Matt De La Pena  (I Will Save You, RH)
Brent Crawford  (Carter Finally Gets It, Hyperion)
Eireann Corrigan  (Accomplice, Scholastic)
Susane Colasanti  (Something Like Fate, Penguin)
Marina Budhos  (Tell Us We're Home, S&S)
Kate Brian  (Book of Spells, S&S)
Philana Marie Boles  (Glitz, Penguin)
Judy Blundell    (Strings Attached, Scholastic)
Cathleen Bell    (Little Blog on the Prairie, Bloomsbury )

 

I'll be at Oblong Books in Rheinbeck on Feb 27 at 4pm for their Hudson Valley YA Society!  Reading, signing, chatting, etc. 
Here, Good Books & Good Wine blog tells you why you should go! You'll get home in time for the Oscar red carpet, I promise.  
Here are all the details on Oblong's facebook page for the event. You can RSVP there if you want. 

Happy Valentine's Day from me!
Here are two LOVE videos. One from the makers of Superbad, and the other from the makers of Sesame Street.

Come out and see me Wednesday night:

February 9 — Teen Author Reading Night (6-7:30, Jefferson Market Branch of NYPL, 425 6th Ave, at 10th St.)

Gwendolyn Heasley – Where I Belong
Melissa Kantor – The Darlings are Forever
E. Lockhart – Real Live Boyfriends
Michael Northrop – Trapped
Maryrose Wood – The Hidden Gallery

 

So it turns out that according to one torrent website, Real Live Boyfriends had been illegally downloaded over 6,500 times when it had been out only 4 weeks. People, if I was selling 1,625 copies a week, my publisher would be very happy. I would be very happy. The books would be selling well, and my publisher would be more likely to have me write more of them. 

If they don't sell, my publisher doesn't want more of them. Or any of them. The bookshops stop stocking them and they go out of print.

If you like my books enough to want to read the new one the month it comes out, please buy it. If you're short on money, get it from your library. The downloading is not only illegal, it is cheating the author, the publisher and the bookshop out of getting paid for something you want. Something that is cheaper than a movie! Something you can lend to your friends for free! Think about it: you and all your pals can read Real Live Boyfriends for less that $12. If you all went to a movie in 3D, it could rack up well over $50. 

Again, if you want a free book, there is a legal way to get it. Library. 

On another note: check out the unbelievable kerfuffle over Bitch Magazine's list of 100 YA books for the feminist reader.  The list is a useful list, still, for librarians and teachers -- and parents, too. It ranges from middle-grade to upper-YA, so there are books appropriate for 8 year olds on there, and books I am scared to read myself. 

But hey, that doesn't mean I think other people shouldn't. That's the whole point of the argument here. People don't need to be protected against literature. The flap copy tells them what the book is about. They can close books if they don't like them. Parents can say, "no, not till you're older."  

Anyway, my pal and the awesome author of Uglies and Midnighters and Peeps, Scott Westerfeld -- he wrote a very intelligent response to the whole Bitch Magazine comments throwdown. And here is Margo Lanagan's response to the removal of her Printz honor book, Tender Morsels, from the list.

Another interesting thing is to read Karen Healy's alternate list (which I am on six times!).

Now on the lighter side, youtube sensation Parry Gripp (of the nom nom nom hamster video etc.) wrote my friend the writer Maureen Johnson (Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, Girl at Sea, Suite Scarlett etc.)  a theme song -- and here's the video.  It was the nicest thing that happened to me yesterday, watching this. 

 

On my way to a Masquerade party, living out my Dramarama, Bob Fosse fantasies. 

Sometimes, a girl has to live a little fiction. 

Finalists for Figment's Ruby Oliver lists contest!

 

My definition of love, advice for sad people and other goodies at Robin Adelson's blog! 

I'll be in Princeton Friday night at B&N at 7pm!  Details here.