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This is how it happens: I write an adult book that Laura Geringer discovers and reads; she gets in touch. For a year Laura and I talk about how ill-equipped I feel I am to write books for young adults. A conversation in a Philadelphia restaurant changes everything; I am persuaded to try. I write what will become several books for Laura, and in the midst of story development, copy editing, cover design, and publicity, I meet Jill Santopolo—utterly adorable, fashion savvy, super smart, wildly well-organized, and Laura's second in command at Laura Geringer Books/HarperTeen, where I will write four books, one of them (The Heart is Not a Size) being Jill's very own. Then one day Jill calls to say that she is headed to Philomel to join a children's book empire carved out by a man named Michael Green. I'd really like Michael, Jill says. She hopes I'll eventually meet him.
(She is right. And I do. Facts made true in reverse order.)
A few years later, I see Jill again, this time at an ALA event, where she slips me a copy of Between Shades of Gray and whispers two words in my ear: Tamra Tuller. Jill and Tamra are, by now, colleagues at Philomel, and Tamra edits the kind of books I like to write. Jill, looking trademark gorgeous, encourages me to read Ruta Sepetys' international bestseller of a debut novel as proof. I do. Again, I am persuaded. Not long afterwards, I have the great privilege of joining the Philomel family when Tamra reads a book I've been working on for ten years and believes that it has merit. Jill has opened her new home to me, and I am grateful.
What happens next is that Tamra moves to Chronicle and I, with a book dedicated to her because I do love her that much, move to Chronicle, too. What happens next is Jill and I remain friends (Jill and I and Michael and Jessica, too (not to mention Laura)). Which is all a very long way of saying how happy I was to receive two of Jill's newest creations just a few weeks ago. Last night and early this morning I read the first of them. It's called Invisibility, it's due out in May, and it is co-authored by Jill's fabulously successful Philomel author, Andrea Cremer (The Nightshade Series) and the big-hearted author/editor/sensation/Lover's Dictionary Guru David Levithan.
I hear David Levithan—his soulfulness, his tenderness, his yearning, his love—when I read this book. I hear Andrea Cremer—her careful and credible world building, her necessary specificity, her other-worldly imagination. It's a potent combination in a story about a Manhattan boy whom no one in the world can see. No one, that is, except for the girl who has moved in down the hall—a girl who has escaped Minnesota with a brother she deeply loves and a mother who cares for them both, but must work long hours to keep her transplanted family afloat. Cremer and Levithan's Manhattan is tactile, navigable, stewing with smells and scenes. Their fantasy world—spellcraft, curses, witches, magic—is equally cinematic and engaging. The love between the invisible boy and the seeing (and, as it turns out, magically gifted) girl feels enduring, and then there's that other kind of love—between Elizabeth and her brother—that gives this story even greater depth and meaning. The parents aren't nearly bad either (not at all).
What it is to be invisible. What it is to see and be seen. What it is to know there is evil in the world and that any strike against it will scar and (indeed) age those who take a stand. Invisibility is a fantasy story, but it is more than that, too. It's a growing-up story in which courage, truth-telling, sacrifice, and vulnerability figure large, and in which love of every kind makes a difference.
1 Comments on Invisibility: Andrea Creamer and David Levithan/Reflections, last added: 12/26/2012
Not long ago, I wrote a piece for Shelf Awareness, that fantastic e-newsletter for the publishing trade, about the future of young adult books—underscoring trends, suggesting new possibilities. Publishing the essay was, of course, a privilege. But the greater privilege was all that went on behind the scenes, as I worked with Jennifer Brown, the SA children's editor. It wasn't just a back-and-forth about a story's shape and timing. It was a conversation—wide-ranging, funny, thoughtful, perpetually kind. I frankly couldn't get enough of Jenny, and when I asked Ed Nawotka of Publishing Perspectives if I might interview her for a profile, he said (thank you, Ed) yes.
Here, then, is Jennifer Brown—editor, reviewer, advocate, enthusiast—whose impact on children's books is the stuff of which legacies are made. She could, I've often thought, write the definitive book on the history of books written for the young. For now, though, she's focused on brightening the future.
A brief side note. Yesterday, Laura Geringer, who asked me to write for teens in the first place and edited five of my YA titles, mentioned in a note that an animated short with which she had been involved had been nominated for an Oscar. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (which is glorious, and can be watched here) is dedicated to Bill Morris, a man who mentored Jenny for many years. Paths cross and tangle in publishing. I am grateful to be knotted in.
My previous Publishing Perspectives stories can be found here:
I just read this conversation...Wonderful advocate for Children's books. Thanks for sharing this and I love the short animated piece "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
I really enjoyed that profile. She has such valuable insight- that's really exciting. And I can't believe you referenced the flying books animation (though I guess it's not that surprising) because I spent most of yesterday afternoon fooling around with the enhanced e-book based on that film. You should check it out on your i-pad.
Today’s guest blogger is Laura Geringer, beloved children’s book author and one of First Book’s favorite people.
First Book goes to Broadway! It’s gratifying to announce the highly successful completion of the first stage of First Book’s partnership with the Kaufman Center. The collaboration gave rise this summer to a pilot program of seven colorful and comical musicals for children, all based on children’s books available from First Book’s online Marketplace store.
In the lineup were “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” by Jon Scieszka, “Chrysanthemum” by Kevin Henkes, “Kenny and the Dragon” by Tony DiTerlizzi, and my own “A Three Hat Day“.
The show was called “Cover to Cover”, and was a tribute to the power of storytelling in our lives. It was tremendously moving to me as over a hundred children sang the lyrics to the closing song:
There will always be a new book to discover
And the books I love
will always be
A part of me …
Through this new partnership with The Kaufman Center, First Book makes its theatrical debut on stage, bringing books into the lives of children in need through story and song.
Today’s guest blogger is Laura Geringer, beloved children’s book author and one of First Book’s favorite people.
Last night First Book’s Chandler Arnold and I attended the final exciting performance of Cover to Cover, a lively collection of seven brief musicals all based on children’s books available on the First Book Marketplace, including my own book, A Three Hat Day.
My hope is that the many children who receive and read this special twenty-fifth anniversary edition of my book through First Book will learn to love reading as much as I do and that books will become a very important part of their lives.
The show was created and produced by the Kaufman Center’s Summer Theater Workshop, directed by Sean Hartley, and performed in Merkin Hall, here in New York City. For twenty years, the Kaufman Center has been commissioning new playwrights and songwriters to create short child-friendly plays and songs. Like First Book, this non-profit organization is dedicated to enriching the lives of children from all walks of life through the magic of storytelling.
To quote one of the beautiful songs in last night’s new stage adaptation of A Three Hat Day, a reading a book can be like “Opening a door / where there never was a door before.”
We hope this first collaboration of First Book and the Kaufman Center will pave the way for future programs that offer music, art and story to more and more children throughout the nation, and that bring families together with authors, artists, educators and community members in a celebration of the joy of reading.
I have been so grateful to those of you who have written to me about YOU ARE MY ONLY. You do this author's heart a whole lot of good.
It occurred to me that it might be helpful to answer some questions in a broader format, and so I have prepared this new permanent page for the blog, featuring a Q and A, a list of upcoming appearances, a glimpse of an early review, and contact information.
You know how it is: You write a book because it is furied up inside you—molten and untouchable but ineluctable, too. You are the huntress. You're after something you don't quite understand, and you're going to win; you're going to conquer; in the process, you're going to get burned. You're going to make up words and fury nouns and add commas where you shouldn't. You're going to mix metaphors.
(It's like writing a blog, sort of, without the back-up support.)
Thankfully, then, there are agents like Amy Rennert who calm you down, and editors like Laura Geringer who ask questions, and a team like Egmont USA, which stands behind you, relieves you of you. One of the great gifts, in this process, is the gift of copyediting, which Egmont's Greg Ferguson and Nico Medina handle so well. This time, additionally, Egmont engaged a certain Hannah to read the pages of YOU ARE MY ONLY (due out next fall), and Hannah made sure, among other things, that I didn't have a certain character deciding to take the day off on the day that was already her day off, and that I didn't have the moon wane too quickly.
I've just now finished reading the book through, and can I say (would it be boasting?) how excited I am? I can't wait for this one to be on the shelves. I am so grateful to all of those who are helping it come to pass.
9 Comments on You Are My Only: in the afterglow of the copyedits, last added: 1/15/2011
It sounds like it is going to be the most beautiful of so many beautiful books of yours. I'm excited for you as the author--and excited for us as the readers.
BTW I don't think I got to say here that I love the title: the feel and tone of it. It is attracting--the title alone would make me want to pick it up. So I'm thinking others will feel the same.
Yay for good copyeditors! I just finished one where a woman took a shower, then took a call (on which she made a date for later that night), then was happy she had time to take a bath.
Ugh, I am supposed to receive my copy edits any time. This is all new to me. You've given me a peek into what I can expect. I can only hope for an experience like yours.
I was standing right here, on the edge of an old cemetery, watching the sun light up the earth, when Laura Geringer's final notes on YOU ARE MY ONLY buzzed in on my phone. I read them through. I looked back up. The sun had rearranged itself, and yet the day was bright.
I began this book three years ago, inspired by the legends of urban explorers and by the haunting stories I had heard about a Philadelphia asylum known as Byberry. I was encouraged to keep writing by the magnificent Lauren Wein, of Black Cat/Grove, and by my sustaining agent, Amy Rennert. I was helped to think harder by memorable conversations with Marjorie Braman of Holt. And after Laura Geringer (Egmont USA) read the book, I reimagined characters into their younger selves and watched to see what might happen.
What happened, in the end, was light.
4 Comments on A book takes a journey; a book is framed by light, last added: 11/14/2010
It is the children, always the children, who give me hope. The ones I've met in gardens, who shared their poems with me. The ones who read Kipling out loud, so loud, that the story became a song. The ones who extended my own vocabulary by giving me elements of theirs.
And so it is a tremendous honor to be asked to join Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter; Lehigh Valley County Executive Don Cunningham; First Book President and CEO Kyle Zimmer; KIPP Philadelphia Charter School CEO Marc Mannella; and Host Committee Chair Heather A. Steinmiller, among others, for a celebration of the good that books can do in children's lives.
First Book, which was mentioned in this recent New York Times Magazine story, was founded nearly twenty years ago by a corporate lawyer who tutored children at a soup kitchen by night—a lawyer who came to believe that books were critical to the health of families, and of nations, and who has, in the intervening years, overseen an organization that has delivered more than 70 million books to programs serving children in need. KIPP Philadelphia Schools is a network of charter schools born of a nationwide system known as Knowledge is Power Program. The event, which will take place at 1209 Vine Street this coming Wednesday, October 27, at 12:30 p.m., at the location of the KIPP Philadelphia Elementary Academy/KIPP Dubois Collegiate Academy, will kick off the Third Annual Book Bash, which will be held in New York on December 10, during the Pennsylvania Society Weekend.
I've been invited to talk a little bit about Dangerous Neighbors, a book that all 108 ninth graders will be given during the event. You can't imagine how happy that makes me—to be part of a day in the life of a brand new school, talking about a city I love, talking about once and talking about tomorrow. I thank Laura Geringer, Egmont USA, and the good people at First Book for all the convergence that has made this possible.
3 Comments on Joining the Mayor of my City, on behalf of First Book, last added: 10/25/2010
I am very happy, on this day, to be able to announce that I have sold my thirteenth book and my sixth YA novel to Laura Geringer Books/Egmont USA. I've posted fragments from this book on this blog over the past few years. I've written the story—about the irrevocable ways that an unthinkable kidnapping affects the lives of two young women—until it was alive and right, until it became a story pierced through with light. I am entirely grateful to my agent, Amy Rennert; my editor, Laura Geringer; and Egmont USA's own Elizabeth Law for giving me this opportunity. I cannot wait to share this novel with you.
26 Comments on My little bit of news (a new book deal), last added: 9/30/2010
BETH!! That is so fabulous! I just told my girls and they are so excited to read it. We are really enjoying Dangerous Neighbors and know this will be wonderful as well. Cannot wait! They say congratulations!
It was here, at Pretty Freaky, a provocative site developed by the writer, teacher, and artist (among other things) Elizabeth Collins that I discovered words that stopped me in my virtual tracks. Collins was writing about Dangerous Neighbors, among other summer reads. More to the point, however, she was writing about what gets published today:
The author is a past finalist for the National Book Award but I actually felt irritated, reading the galley of this novel (sent to me for review), that such beautiful prose would probably not see the light of day if not for this author's past awards and a publisher willing to take a risk, as so few seem to be nowadays (which is sad and horrible for all of us, actually).
I am not sure that Kephart's scintillating words will be properly appreciated or speak to a huge audience of contemporary readers, though I sincerely hope they will, and if there is adequate or skilled marketing/PR, it will happen. But 'Dangerous Neighbors' should be read and hand-sold by booksellers, and sold by word of mouth promotion.
I quote Elizabeth at length because I have a point to make—a point to reiterate, I should say, about the fact that Egmont USA—adequate and then some, skilled beyond measure—is the publisher (urged along by editor Laura Geringer) who took the risk and made Dangerous Neighbors happen, who believes that books like this one still have a right to exist in this world. Don't think that I took or take that for granted. Don't think that I ever lean back on past books or good fortune and say to myself, Well, if you had that, you will also have this. Don't think I see myself as having any edge up, because believe me, I do not. We are all fighting out here—our hearts on our pages, our doubts a thick mist, the unknowns obscuring the knowns—and when we find a house like Egmont USA that takes a risk on a book like Dangerous Neighbors, we count ourselves extremely lucky. When we find a blogger like Elizabeth Collins, who stands up other beauty-seeking books, other beauty-making authors, we know that we are in good company.
3 Comments on In Which Pretty Freaky Argues Toward Beauty, last added: 8/13/2010
...but I actually felt irritated, reading the galley of this novel (sent to me for review), that such beautiful prose would probably not see the light of day if not for this author's past awards and a publisher willing to take a risk, as so few seem to be nowadays (which is sad and horrible for all of us, actually).
Once again, how well I know this feeling, this frustration, when I discover a beautiful book and want to scream "why aren't people paying attention?" You know I have always felt that way about your books.
I'm so hoping that people pay attention to you this time and then go back and pay attention to your past books as well. And then the future ones.
The September issue of The Writer talks about how it is indeed the small presses who are the ones now taking a chance on the beautiful.
So hooray Egmont and Laura Geringer and Elizabeth Collins.
I could tell the story of this day, but I won't. I will only say that after a journey up the road and back, and up the road again and back, and then onto the train and into the city and back, I came home to two boxes of books. Those books. My books. My twelfth: Dangerous Neighbors.
You tire, perhaps, of me singing the praises of Egmont USA. Let me do it one more time, at least. Dangerous Neighbors is an unusual historical novel, with crossover possibilities and 1876 Philadelphia at its heart. It is a book—perhaps I should start here—that Laura Geringer and Egmont USA chose to believe in. They chose. Subsequently they delivered unto it (the book) and me (its maker) the most gorgeous cover a writer could ever hope for. They secured a copy editor who cared about Philadelphia and history and who asked me spot-on questions in an attempt to get the story right. They sent me on my way not just to the BEA, but to ALA (treating me like part of their family at each venue), and they have now secured for me a wonderful spot on an upcoming ALAN panel. They sent library copies of the book my way; in twelve books, I've never seen a library copy. People are talking about Dangerous Neighbors because of Egmont USA (and Winsome Media's Amy Riley and Nicole Bonia). Not only that, but Egmont's publicists talk to me: They pick up the phone and they talk to me.
A writer cannot know the next next. A writer dreams; some dreams are answered. The journey that Dangerous Neighbors has taken with Laura Geringer and Egmont USA represents a pressing, percolating dream, answered. No matter what happens from here on out, I am a lucky one.
Thank you, Doug Pocock, Elizabeth Law, Greg Ferguson, Mary Albi, Rob Guzman, Alison Weiss, Nico Medina, Katie Halata, Beth Garcia (by way of Goodman Media), Neil Swaab (cover designer), Kathryn Hinds (freelance copy editor) and, of course Laura Geringer, where this book's published life began. I remain in awe of all you have done. One hears so much about what is wrong with publishing. Egmont USA represents the right.
8 Comments on Dangerous Neighbors (the book) Arrives, last added: 7/30/2010
Congratulations, Beth. It's so wonderful to hear an author so happy with her publishing team. The book looks stunning and from what I heard at our mutual reading it is moving, suspenseful, and beautifully written. I can't wait to read it. Best wishes for your time in the world with this book.
Huge huge congratulations! I'm so glad you love the people you work with...that is truly special. :) Wishing you much more success with Dangerous Neighbors!
My friend, hipwritermama, just informed me, the un-twitterer (but I might get there, I might still) of this photo floating around, hot off the Elizabeth Law press. So. That's Elizabeth Law (queen of all things, but especially of Egmont USA) behind the camera; Laura Geringer, fantastic-fabulous editor to the left of the frame; Virgin Territory author James Lecesne, holding up his number 33 for the YALSA coffee klatch, and me, with my un-matching jewelry, being held up by James (in all ways).
Wherever Elizabeth goes, we interesting people follow.....
2 Comments on In which Elizabeth Law snaps a photo, last added: 6/30/2010
I knew that BEA was extraordinary for many reasons; I felt something tremble in the air. I didn't, however, expect to see Dangerous Neighbors listed in this PW article noting the show's "biggest" children's books by category. Thanks to all of you who contributed to that buzz, who stood in line for that end-of-day signing, and who made me feel at home.
9 Comments on Dangerous Neighbors receives a sweet PW citation, last added: 6/8/2010
Yay! :-) I read the ARC on the train to and from Washington DC this weekend. Such a beautiful, wonderful story. Made all the more exciting by the fact that I passed through Philedelphia while reading. Perfect. How I wish I was at that fair...
You deserve it! I'm still sad that they moved your signing to a time I couldn't be there. DN was one of my most 5 anticipated books of the fair, and the only one I didn't manage to get. I've preordered!
I was out of the house by 4:30 AM, and the day unfurled at lightening speed (save for the trains, which were both on the rather too late and slow side). In the first photo: The Egmont lunch for authors, booksellers, and librarians, held on the upper floor of a garment-district art gallery. In the second: Egmont Publisher Elizabeth Law, the remarkable James Lecesne (about whom I will soon be writing far more), Laura Geringer (who edits both James and me), and yours truly (in pink, because who else would wear pink on an 18 hour day spent among crowds and on trains?).
A huge thank you to all of you who stood in that line for the end-of-day, end-of-convention signing— I looked up, and there you were, and I won't forget the gift of your patience and enthusiasm. Thank you to all of those who found me and stopped to say hello. Thank you to the impeccable and beautiful Mandy King (I will always be grateful for our time together, and for all that led up to it). Thank you to Amy Rennert and Louise (you know why). A lasting thank you to the Egmont team—Elizabeth Law, Doug Pocock, Mary Albi, Rub Guzman, Regina Griffin, Greg Ferguson, Nico Medina, and Alison Weiss—who put together such a show, and who have welcomed me to the family in ways that I have never been welcomed before. (Nico, please note that I am thanking you despite your refusal to wear 19th century garb in support of my 19th century book.) Thank you, Laura, for being there throughout.
I came home to see my boys (a midnight rendezvous) and to attend to corporate work. I'm back on that train in a few hours, to join book bloggers at a convention and to speak about author/blogger relationships.
The horses are down the street; I'll sneak into their world early Saturday.
7 Comments on Scenes from the BEA, last added: 5/31/2010
It's such an affirmation to spend time in the company like-minded souls and supporters of your work. I'm so happy you're able to do this...and you look very pretty in pink :)
What a blast! I loved hearing Elizabeth Law speak last year, but to be one of her authors -- you are so lucky!! Looks like you had a lovely time. And you are pretty in pink :)
I'm headed into the Big Apple today (though not by way of clydesdales, sadly) to talk about the power of the Kelly Writers House program at Penn, to read with Kimberly Eisler, one of my truly talented students, and to witness the indomitable Al Filreis teach a poem (that should be something; hope he doesn't call on me). Two days later, I'll head back down into Philadelphia to see my first Penn student, Moira Moody, say I do to the man she loves. I'm banking on Dr. Filreis showing off some highly ecclesiastical moves at Moira's wedding. I'll take hip hop, too. Or even the cha cha.
By mid-week next week, I'll be spending the day at Chanticleer (the site of Ghosts in the Garden and Nothing but Ghosts)—teaching memoir to the aspiring writers of Agnes Irwin, thanks to the invitation of Julie Diana, who is not just the head librarian at Agnes Irwin, but the wife of the fabulous writer, Jay Kirk. Thursday and Friday, back in New York, I'll spend some time with editor Laura Geringer and the glorious Egmont team; the book bloggers I have come to love; Amanda King, Gussie Lewis, and Jennifer Laughran, booksellers extraordinaires; and maybe even grab a few moments with Amy Rennert, my west-coast based agent with whom I often speak but whom I rarely see.
I am not, by nature, a sustainably social person, and so, when I return home next Friday evening, I'll be grateful that one of my very favorite events of the entire year—the Devon Horse Show—will have rolled into town. We moved here in large part because the fairgrounds are just down the road, because these horses do trot by just after dawn, because I like few things more than walking through the shadows of stables, fitting my hand to a sweet mare's nose. I like the sound of clop and whinny, the tinny music that accompanies balloon dart games and Ferris wheels.
4 Comments on The week ahead, last added: 5/21/2010
I wrote the first draft of The Heart is Not a Size several years ago, and then it sat, waiting for my imagination, which was teased into fuller life by both Laura Geringer and Jill Santopolo. Between now and then, I've waited for this story to be released to the world—tremulously, as I tend to do, but also with hope that I might shed some light on a part of the world, Juarez, that I came to love.
I'm so ecstatic you linked to my review! I absolutely fell in love with your latest novel and can't wait to see what you have in store for us readers next. You truly write an extraordinary story Beth!
How can I thank all of you who have stopped by this blog these past few days, turning my own private party into an actual, peopled party? Those of you participating in the House of Dance paperback contest. Those of you who share my joy regarding the designation of The Heart is Not a Size on the Indiebound list. Those of you who were there with me, when Dangerous Neighbors entered this house as ARCs. I have often pictured us together in a room, and that is one of the many, many reasons I'm looking forward to the upcoming Book Blogger Convention. At long last, I'll get to meet so many of you. I'll get to say thank you in person.
Books, too, give us a chance to leave a permanent record of our gratitude. I love the look of the interior pages of Dangerous Neighbors because they are just so classy and era appropriate. But I especially love the dedication page, which is illustrated above. I dedicated Dangerous Neighbors to Laura Geringer, the editor who first invited me to write for the young adult audience. Who talked with me for a year before I had the courage to try. Who read my YA books, in succession, not just once or twice or even three times, but until they were as right as I knew how to make them. And who opened the door for me with Dangerous Neighbors by taking it as her first book to Egmont USA.
For Laura Geringer. Because.
Because I would not be writing young adult novels without her. Because I would not be taking my characters as far as I have without her. Because she has so radically changed my writing life.
Because she has, in all those ways, introduced me to all of you.
8 Comments on Dangerous Neighbors: Some Words of Thanks to You and to Laura Geringer, last added: 2/23/2010
Your books don't even need this extra beauty, yet they call for the kind of class this cover and print give. Perfect fit, Beth. Laura appears to be one wise, skilled editor. Glad you found each other.
I just clicked on the first page to enlarge it -- I cannot even start to explain how much I love the first few lines. (And the rest of the page, of course.)
I was on the phone with a client. I was working. I was on the computer and the phone with a client. I was working. I noticed that there was sun outside, but I noticed nothing else, and so the UPS man surprised me today. He doesn't often, but today he did. Only now, opening the front door to gauge the weather do I discover this:
Dangerous Neighbors has arrived, in immaculate Advanced Reading Copy form.
Have I mentioned how much I love this Neil Swaab cover? And you should see the interior pages. The packaging like an object lesson in book art.
Thank you, Egmont USA!
20 Comments on Dangerous Neighbors ARCs arrive, last added: 2/22/2010
I am looking forward to reading this. I would want to read it even if the cover were wretched (which I'm glad it's not), but it does help that it looks so inviting.
To say that I am honored by this profoundly (to me, and I hope to you) gorgeous cover for Dangerous Neighbors would be a supreme understatement. Laura Geringer, who bought this book for Egmont USA and edited it with a whole, sustaining heart, invited art director Neil Swaab to develop themes and possibilities. Within a few days this fabulously talented artist had created a half dozen jackets of such extraordinary quality that I longed to hang them here on my office walls. The very good people of Egmont USA chose this as the final and now officially approved jacket art.
I couldn't wait to share it with you.
Nor could I wait to share this description of the book, which was written not by me but by someone else who read with great care the novel I'd worked on for five years. It's startling, as I mentioned a few days ago, to see your work through another's eyes. It teaches you.
Could any two sisters be more tightly bound together than the twins, Katherine and Anna? Yet love and fate intervene to tear them apart. Katherine's guilt and sense of betrayal leaves her longing for death, until a surprise encounter and another near catastrophe rescue her from a tragic end. Set against the magical kaleidoscope of the Philadelphia Centennial fair of 1876, National Book Award nominee Beth Kephart conjures the sweep and scope of a moment in history in which the glowing future of a nation is on display to the disillusioned gaze of a girl who has determined that she no longer has a future. The tale is a pulse by pulse portrait of a young heroine's crisis of faith and salvation in the face of unbearable loss.
28 Comments on Dangerous Neighbors: The Cover Reveal, last added: 1/18/2010
That cover is gorgeous! And, I love that it has 'National Book Award Nominee' written across the top! I'm thrilled for you! And, the description makes me want to scoop it up pronto!!! Congrats. I can't wait to someday experience the joy of seeing the cover of a book I've written. What a thrill!!!
It is absolutely beautiful. I'm so happy for you and I can't wait to have a copy in hand, a steaming mug of tea by my side, and a long lonely day to read...
There's a spark in the children's lit air and her name is Elizabeth Law (her title, by the way, is VP and Publisher, Egmont USA). She's being talked about and interviewed in many places and, from what I'm hearing from friends like Sherrie, Elizabeth's keynote address at SCBWI-LA was exquisite—empowering and enlightening. This is the same Elizabeth Law who stopped by, unexpectedly, to a book chat sponsored by My Friend Amy, on behalf of Nothing but Ghosts. Amy is a book blogger Elizabeth follows on Twitter. Nothing but Ghosts is a Harper title. I was typing away, trying to keep up with the chatter, when it occured to me that the Elizabeth Law whose name kept burbling up among the chat-room many was THE Elizabeth Law, of Egmont.
Imagine that.
Every single time I hear an Elizabeth Law story, I stop and remind myself how entirely lucky I am that my historical novel, Dangerous Neighbors, will be released by Egmont next fall. I don't just get to work with a phenomonal, brilliant editor—Laura Geringer—on this book. I get to work with a publisher who is out there on Twitter and Facebook and Blogs and Chatrooms, talking about books she loves, trends she sees, things she hopes for. Elizabeth Law is a galvanizer. It is peace-yielding to look ahead to this collaboration. I wish that I could have been in LA, at her keynote talk. More than that, though, I hope and believe that the daring and caring that Elizabeth brings to books will become a surge wave that works its way across an industry that desperately needs her kind of energy and faith.
13 Comments on In the Company of Stars, last added: 8/15/2009
I agree Elizabeth is pretty remarkable to not only take time out of her own schedule but to connect with readers and authors and do what we ALL love most.. talk books!
How would you paint regret? I asked, most recently, and I have been moved beyond words by the responses, not just on this blog proper, but also on Facebook, and also late two nights ago, while talking with my son, who said: "Regret is a path directed by a one-way sign; just beyond the sign is a storm."
This morning I embrace the collective wisdom and generosity of all of you. Why blog? This is why blog. Because you get so much more than you give.
Speaking of giving: Several weeks ago, I sold an historical novel, Dangerous Neighbors, to Laura Geringer, now collaborating with the extraordinarily exciting new USA presence, Egmont. Those who have known me for a long time know just what that sale meant to me: that I would live to see a very different kind of Kephart novel in the world, that I had been buoyed by the faith of an editor whose mind I wholly value, that perhaps I, more literary, always, than commercial, would still have a future with books in a world in which commercial is the gauge by which authors are most measured.
It meant, in other words, everything, and Jane Satterfield, whose brilliant memoir, Daughters of Empire, launched a few weeks ago, celebrated the news with me by sending along a book of which she had lately been speaking: The Importance of Music to Girls, by Lavinia Greenlaw.
A few days ago, in the midst of frustration over the novel for adults that I'm now writing, I took Jane's gift outside and started to read. Utter endorphin release. Near immediate calm. The sensation that passes through me when I am confident that I am reading a good book. Over the course of fifty-six taut, quirky, magical-because-they-are-quirky essays The Importance of Music traces Greenlaw's awareness of/fascination with/life-bending relationship to music. From dancing, Roethke like, on her father's shoes, to learning to dance, to studying Bowie's attitude on the Ziggy Stardust LAp cover, to playing the piano too fast or too slow, these exquisite star bursts tremble with the true stuff of life.
Or, at least, with a life I understand. For, like Greenlaw, music has always been the charge within. I, too, was a girl dancing in the basement to music turned up loud. I was the girl singing, untamed, in the car. I was the girl dancing on ice and on a stage. I was a girl because of music. Here is Greenlaw:
If we sung out of trepidation or the need for release, the experience was nonetheless one of joy, as was dancing. I danced in line with my friends and alone in front of the mirror, as a rehearsal of love. It was preparation for saying "Look at me" and "Yes, I will" and "I know how."
9 Comments on The Importance of Music to Girls, and other notes on redemption, last added: 6/19/2009
If you all have not read The Longest Distance, a Beth Kephart short story in No Such Thing as the Real World, you are missing out. I read that first and am reading Chris Lynch's Arrangements in the same book. A treat.
Several years ago, Laura Geringer wrote a most extraordinary note, inviting me to consider writing for young adults. Despite years spent teaching children and a stint as the chair of the 2001 National Book Awards Young People's Literature jury, this was not something that I felt I knew how to do. Nonetheless, I loved Laura's mind from the first, I loved our conversations, and we kept talking. We talked for almost a year until we finally met in person—Laura asking me questions on a rainy Sunday morning to which some combination of my personal history and imagination responded. Undercover emerged under Laura's great care. House of Dance was next. Nothing but Ghosts and a short story for the just-released HarperTeen anthology No Such Thing as the Real World were subsequent. Finally, Laura bought the early pages of The Heart of Not a Size, the Juarez novel due out from HarperTeen next March (and carried so ably forward by the delightful Jill Santopolo).
Laura left HarperTeen in August of last year, but our friendship continued. Today I am so utterly happy to announce that I'll be working with Laura again on an historical novel that is currently titled Dangerous Neighbors. It's a book that I conceived of several years ago, when writing Flow, my autobiography of the Schuylkill River. It's a book that Amy Rennert, my agent, wholly believed in. It's a book that went through several iterations and will, no doubt, again, for Laura asks exquisite questions, she pushes authors far, she sees, and—more than anything—she believes in literature and complex stories, in fiction that pushes boundaries.
I have the chance to work with Laura again because she has formed an alliance with a genuinely interesting publishing house called Egmont USA, an outgrowth of a publishing house with a long European pedigree. In making her announcement about Laura today, Egmont USA publisher Elizabeth Law noted that "her excellent taste, creative ideas and deep relationships in the field will be a perfect complement to our fast growing children's list."
Yes. Yes. And Yes.
A brief description of Dangerous Neighbors:
It is the Centennial year in Philadelphia, and Katherine has lost her twin sister to an inconceivable accident. One wickedly hot September day at the height of exhibition madness, Katherine sets out to cut short the lonesome life she is no longer willing to live. This is the story of what happens.
23 Comments on Dangerous Neighbors, my historical novel, has found its right home, last added: 6/15/2009
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful news, Beth! I'm so happy for you, and thankful to Laura for drawing you into the world of YA lit! My friend Janet Lee Carey has a novel coming out with Egmont USA in the fall (Stealing Death), and has had such a wonderful experience there.
I am distracted by happiness. And so glad that I can finally share the news. I'm not sure I'll be coherent tomorrow. But do know how much I appreciate your words.
What? There was a time you did not know if you knew how to write for young adults? Wow, amazing. You are so eloquent, I imagine many ages of readers enjoy your style.
I am constantly amazed at the number of different ideas you have for your books. Realistic fiction. Historical fiction. Adult. Young Adult. You never cease to amaze. And then to add your photography to the mix. Jealous? You bet.
Yay! I can't wait to read it! It's so funny, because I was looking over Egmont's debut line-up of YA books and made a point of stopping by their booth at BEA to let them know I really want to work with them. I was really impressed by what I saw. Thankfully, they were very receptive to the idea. ;)
Little by little, it happens. An image floats in, a voice makes itself heard, a story evolves and devolves and is thwarted and is found, and an agent says, Keep writing, then an editor steps in, and then questions are raised, and some brilliant someone designs a cover, and, finally (it seems impossible at times, it seems like it won't happen) a book gets made.
But none of it seems real to me until the galleys are in hand—advance readers copies. Today ARCS for Nothing but Ghosts were dropped (I heard the sound, I went running) onto my front porch. Ten of them. Two of which I mailed at once, one of which I drove to the local library, seven of which now sit nearby. Vivian (hipwritermama) said, "Take a photograph, Beth." She said, in other words, Take a moment. Celebrate.
Why am I always afraid to celebrate?
This time I won't be.
A glass of chianti at the ready.
16 Comments on Nothing but Ghosts ARCS, last added: 11/12/2008
Last night First Book’s 
Thank you so much, Beth!