DEAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The Center of the World by Jacqueline Sheehan

I am so thrilled to announce a new deal for New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Sheehan.   Jacqueline is one of my oldest and dearest clients--we've worked together since 2001, when I started representing her for a novel we sold to the Free Press then called TRUTH, about the life of Sojourner Truth (it's since been retitled THE COMET'S TALE).  

Three more novels followed (including the massive bestseller LOST AND FOUND) and now I am so pleased to have sold her fifth novel, THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, to Michaela Hamilton at Kensington Books, in a two book deal.   

The announcement follows.  You can find Jacqueline on Facebook here if you'd like to send congratulations or find out more about her wonderful books.  

June 2, 2014 - CENTER OF THE WORLD by Jacqueline Sheehan

Fiction: General/Other

NYT bestselling author Jacqueline Sheehan's CENTER OF THE WORLD, in which a letter from a dead man reveals a long-buried secret about a woman's adopted daughter in a book with two parallel narratives -- one in the past showing the girl's dramatic rescue and one in the present day as the mother faces losing her daughter once more as they struggle to mend the damage done by her lie, to Michaela Hamilton at Kensington, in a very nice deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency (World English).

Fun at the Hay Literary Festival—a post by Gemma

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, an annual festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, that runs for ten days — in a usually muddy field!  

This was my first time visiting Hay-on-Wye, and I’ve heard that it’s famous for being a bookish town, but I wasn’t expecting to see so many bookshops in such a small place. The thought that thousands of rabid book fans descend on this small town just to talk about books and listen to other people talk about books was really inspiring. 

I was there to support wonderful TBA author Katy Cannon. Katy was doing two events – one for her 6+ series POOCH PARLOUR and one for her YA romance LOVE, LIES AND LEMON PIES. 

Katy was fantastic – for her POOCH PARLOUR event, the kids all sat on the floor in front of her and kept shuffling forward as she spoke. If she’d had more than 45 minutes to talk, a few of them would have been on her lap! They were also very keen on the ‘design you own dog masks,’ leaving us helpers (including lovely Ruth and Laura from Katy's publishers, Stripes) covered in glitter glue. It was such a fun event! 

Katy’s YA talk, ‘How To Bake A Book,’ inspired lots of budding writers  - the crowd certainly asked some great questions about where Katy got her ideas from and where she wrote. She signed a lot of books after both her events! 

Watching her, I was impressed by the amount of preparation Katy had put into her talks. She had all her tech set up, and had been in contact with the festival beforehand to check that everything would work. She had her props – a cuddly toy dog for her POOCH PARLOUR talk and her baking apron for her LOVE, LIES AND LEMON PIES talk. She’d planned which sections of the books she was going to read from and when, and also asked some questions of the audience to keep them engaged. You could tell she had rehearsed, and although she had notes just in case, she rarely needed them.  Basically, she was awesome! 

It’s nerve-wracking having to stand in a room, holding a microphone and knowing all eyes are on you. But if you are prepared – tech sorted, presentation rehearsed, book marked up, props – then you can just focus on taking a few deep breaths and then enjoying the experience. 

Katy also blogged about the festival from her perspective – check it out here

Deal Announcement: EDWARD GETS MESSY by Rita Meade

I am so proud of my client, children's librarian and Book Riot contributor Rita Meade, whose debut picture book Edward Gets Messy just sold to Simon & Schuster Children's Books! Rita is one of the funniest people I know, and her library work has given her invaluable perspective on what children want from a reading experience. For the curious, here are the deal details:

Please join me in congratulating Rita on her good news! You can find her on Twitter, or visit her popular blog Screwy Decimal: Tales from an Urban Librarian.

Kids Author Carnival

This past Saturday, May 31, at the Jefferson Market Library in the West Village of Manhattan, I attended the inaugural Kids Author Carnival, a "celebration of middle grade books, authors, and readers." Taking its inspiration from the popular Teen Author Carnival that has been running for a few years now, the stated goal of the Kids Author Carnival is "to provide an opportunity for young readers to interact with authors up close and personal in a fun, party-like atmosphere." And let me tell you, did it ever succeed!

The Kids Author Carnival was a collaboration between authors, book bloggers, librarians, parents, and (of course) middle-grade readers.

Left to right: Heidi Schulz, Claire Legrand, Lauren Magaziner

The event was organized by children's book authors Claire Legrand, Lauren Magaziner, and (TBA client) Heidi Schulz, and featured a wide range of middle-grade fiction writers, from established greats like Bruce Coville (whose My Teacher Is an Alien series I grew up reading), to more recent stars like Tim Federle (author of Better Nate Than Ever, a 2013 NYT Notable Book of the Year and PW Best Book of the Year), and debut talents like Laura Marx Fitzgerald (whose Under the Egg has already received rave reviews and is an Indie Next List Pick).

Photo credit: www.alexalovesbooks.com

All ages were welcome at the Carnival, which ran from 6-8:30 p.m., but the emphasis was on giving kids the opportunity to meet real, live authors in person. Activities included: short, interactive writing exercises; lively rounds of Charades and Pictionary focusing on children's book titles; and Q&A's with authors. There must have been over 200 people in attendance, and booksellers from indie children's bookstore Books of Wonder were stationed at the library's entrance to sell copies and pre-orders of the partipating authors' books.

It was inspiring to see children and parents so excited about books and writers. With such an overwhelmingly positive response, Jefferson Market librarians and the Kids Author Carnival organizers are already looking to next year, potentially to make this event an annual occurrence! Published and aspiring authors of middle-grade fiction would do well to take note of this organization, and to keep an eye out for future events!