Open Fire

It's been a tough summer. We lost a loved one after she fought a battle with cancer and there is a quiet sadness that brackets our days here in the Meminger home. But it also makes us grateful and deeply appreciative of the ones we love who are still here. By the way, can I just say how sick I am of cancer? Seriously. It has been popping up way too much lately.

In any case, I am glad to get back into a busy rhythm of school, writing, and reading again. Who'd have thunk I'd be relieved to get back to the mundane rituals of daily life? :) I am also working super hard on my next novel, which is set to release in March, 2012. I've had a quick peek at the first drafts of the cover and I am *loving* it.

One of the events I have coming up is the SAWCC literary festival. I'll be on a panel with Marina Budhos and Jyotsna Sreenivasan, talking about YA novels and politics. Can't wait. If you're in New York on the 24th, please stop by Revolution Books. Our panel is from 1-2pm, but there will be others throughout the day, followed by readings in the evening.

October is birthday month, so I'm hoping I haven't scheduled anything for then, but November is another busy month. I'll be in Chicago (where I get to meet Ari of Reading In Color, Edi Campbell of the Crazy Quilts blog, and Maggie Desmond O'Brien of Bibliophilia!) for the ALAN workshops on the 21st and 22nd.

Hope everyone had a great summer and is off to a smooth start for the fall.

Coming Up

Happy Asian-American Heritage Month! Happy Mother's Month! (Yes, I think we deserve a MONTH.)

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will be participating in a live-chat on Twitter with a few of the other authors involved in the Diversity in YA tour. The Tweetchat starts at 9pm EST, so join us if you're on Twitter!

And the book-signing-turned-into-panel at Books of Wonder takes place on Saturday, May 14th, at 1pm. I am keeping my fingers double-crossed that they will have copies of my books this time! The other panelists are Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams-Garcia, Matt de la Pena, Kekla Magoon, and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich. The panel will be moderated by Cheryl Klein. Please join us if you can!

At the end of May, I am off, once again, to Wiscon, the *echoing announcer voice* WORLD'S LEADING FEMINIST SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION. This conference is something I do for myself because I love the people I get to meet and I always have a great time engaging in the kind of discourse I enjoy having. If you're going, let me know! Would love to say hi :).

And this is not in May, but I'm going to plug it now, anyway, in case you're planning vacations and such. On June 9th, I will be sitting on a panel with two other Sikh women for SAWCC (South Asian Women's Creative Collective). We will be discussing faith and feminism within a Sikh context. Should be an interesting conversation and a lot of fun. More on that soon, though.

Have a great day!

Queens Reading & A Quote

Wanted to share this wonderful quote I saw in an email today from an amazing feminist teacher. I did not ask if I could mention her name, so you will just have to trust me when I say that she is fantastic beyond words :):

"I think the importance of doing activist work is precisely because it allows you to give back and to consider yourself not as a single individual who may have achieved whatever, but to be a part of an ongoing historical movement."  – Angela Davis 

What an absolutely lovely way to start off the day! That quote encompasses everything writing is for me. Personal achievement means little if everything around me stays the same. My kids still have to grow up in the mess and the beauty that is this world and if I can do something to elevate the beauty and reduce the mess . . . that is accomplishment enough for me.

In other news -- I have been very excited to read in Queens, NY, because it is home to one of the largest Asian/South Asian populations in the city. When I volunteered at SAYA! (South Asian Youth Action), I was lucky enough to work with some of those diverse Queens teens and it was always the highlight of my week. 

As part of the Teen Author Fest, I will be reading with Melina Marchetta, Barry Lyga and Brent Crawford on Thursday, March 17th from 10-12 at the Long Island City branch (37-44 21st Street, LIC, NY 11101), then signing books that Sunday (the 21st) at Books of Wonder in Manhattan. If you're in or around any of those locations, please come and say hi!

Upcoming Events & Signings

I'm in the revision cave, but here is a list of events where I'll be signing and/or reading for the next few months. This is a pretty solid schedule, but some things are still subject to change. More info will be posted closer to the events . . .

Thursday, March 17th, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., Teen Author Festival, NYC - Reading from Jazz in Love at a Queens library (location to be announced).

Sunday, March 20th, Books of Wonder, 1:45 p.m.

Thursday, April 14th, keynote speech at San Gabrielino High School, San Gabriel, CA

Thursday, April 21st, 6:30 p.m. Toronto Women's Bookstore - Discussion with authors Zetta Elliott and Vivek Shraya on publishing options for under-represented voices. This discussion will be live-streamed from the bookstore, so even if you cannot attend IRL (in real life), you can attend virtually!

Saturday, April 23rd, 1:00 p.m. Booksigning at Yorkdale's Chapters/Indigo bookstore with authors Helene Boudreau, Mahtab Narsimhan, and Cheryl Rainfield.

Saturday, May 14th, 1 p.m. Diversity in YA tour with Malinda Lo, Cindy Pon, Jacqueline Woodson, Rita Williams Garcia, Matt De La Pena, and Kekla Magoon.

If you're in any of the above areas, please stop by and say hello!

Discussing Hybridity

Growing up bi-cultural and/or raising bi-cultural/multi-cultural kids. What is lost in the hybridization of cultures; what is gained? This Saturday, June 12th, from 2-4pm, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I'll be reading from my book and having a discussion on that very topic. If you're interested in joining us, please email me for details.

Have a wonderful week!

Time Keeps On Slipping...

This week is already shot. How does all that time just slip away like that? I'm working on my third book in the romance series - and by "working on," I actually mean "not writing". I did a school visit this morning (*totally* fun - one of the questions I got was, "Can you write a story for my sister?" So. Cute.), will be working on edits this week and next, and there are two conferences next week. I'm only going to one, but one of my closest friends EVER is coming in from San Francisco for BEA, so I will, obviously, need to gallivant around town with her before heading off to Wiscon at the end of the month.

And then we're into June! SHINE comes out in paperback June 15th (yay!), and I'll be in Brooklyn for a reading/discussion to celebrate. Don't know if this will be a public event, or geared for a private audience, but will post more details as soon as I have them.

How are we already half way through the year???

Insides, Outsides; Words, Pictures

The theme this weekend, and all of last week, even, seemed to be "images". The workshop at GWN was on graphic novels (another fantastic workshop), and then I went down to the Lower East Side with the fam to see InsideOut; OutsideIn, an installation by image artist, Shantell Martin. She's at the Colette Blanchard Gallery on Clinton Street for the rest of this week, so if you get a chance to go, do - it's definitely worth it. Shantell is warm and engaging, and her work is a fascinating reflection of an internal journey on an external landscape. She also draws on just about everything - including people, so be prepared to walk out as a piece of living art ;).

Having been a media studies/film major, I've always been intrigued by the merging of words and images. I was never an avid reader of comics, but I absolutely adored Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Alison Bechdel's Dykes To Watch Out For. I couldn't imagine those novels written in any other format. If I were a more skilled illustrator, graphic novels are something I would most definitely explore writing. As it is, words are enough for me to grapple with, ha. O_o

Hudson Recap

Hudson was a blast. Of course, how can you go wrong spending the day with a whole bunch of women (and a smattering of men) who write stories for young people? Here are some quick highlights:

1. Amanda Marrone's giant, LIVE hissing cockroach
2. the "author handlers" who asked us at regular intervals if we needed anything. Thinking of ways I can something like this at home
3. lunch delivered to the table. Ditto above comment
4. sitting next to Siobhan Vivian who has to be kin somewhere down the line
5. seeing Ellen Jensen Abbott again (who, by the way, is a far wilder lady than you might guess)
6. seeing familiar Debs, Michelle Zink and Danielle Cohen Joseph, and meeting new ones - always a treat. I was speaking with Megan Frazer for a good half hour with my "author face" on before I realized I'd been interacting with her for, like, two years online
7. seeing Olugbemisola's beautiful posse come out in full support of Superstar Author Mom
8. meeting an Italian teacher who grew up with similar cultural/traditional restrictions as I did as a Punjabi, Sikh girl (!! - who knew?)
9. having Sarah Darer Littman yell, "ARE YOU SERIOUS????" in my ear
10. cozy panel discussion on Writing About Social/Political issues with Lyn Miller-Lachmann, Zetta Elliott and Sarah Darer Littman. Audience members asked some great questions and we touched on some very important points

Bonus:
11. meeting amazing, committed, and dedicated teachers, librarians, parents, and young people

There were so many more, but I need an iced latte. NYC is a steam bath today. Have a great rest-of-the-weekend, all!

Happenings

This Saturday, May 1st, I will be on a panel called Writing About Social/Political Issues at the Hudson Children's Book Festival in, er, Hudson. If you're in or around the area, please come by - it's a huge festival with tons of great workshops and books and authors and FUN. The festival is from 10-4 and our panel is at 1:30. Hope to see you there!

What's Coming Up

This weekend I'll be on a panel with YA authors Rita Williams-Garcia and Marina Budhos, then two school visits next week including one with Kavitha Rajagopalan, a class trip with my six-year-old, and supporting my mentee's reading performance at the Chapters' Reading Series for Girls Write Now. After that, writing to a deadline. Writing, writing, writing. Then the Hudson Children's Book Fest and we're on to May!

Gosh. These months are passing like wisps of smoke. <-- See that? Writerly stuff. Real proof that I can right. :D

April Happenings

Book club tonight, Girl Write Now tomorrow, then a panel on Sunday. April is jam-packed, y'all. Not to mention my alter-ego's romance novel releases today and I have a fluttery stomach about that :P.

Will post on the upcoming public events soon so folks can attend if they want to.

Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather!

Links and Upcoming Events

An online friend and reviewer recently posted this link on one of the listservs I'm on. Talk about re-writing history. Worth a read, if you're interested in what's being taught in classrooms and how that impacts the stories our children grow up hearing about themselves and the world around them.

Events This Week

Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 17th, at 9:30 pm, catch a half hour interview with me on Jus Punjabi's AMERICAN VISIONS program on these networks -
DISH, channel 809
Time Warner NY/NJ, channel 373
Verizon FIOS, channel 1757
Cablevision-io NY/NJ/CT, channel 248

Thursday, March 18th, I will be reading from my book at the Bronx Library Center, 310 East Kingsbridge Rd (in the Bronx, obviously), from 10-11:30 am. This event is part of the giant, second annual Teen Author Festival.

Sunday, March 21st, I'll be signing copies of SHINE, COCONUT MOON at Books of Wonder in Manhattan, from 3:15-4pm. Fellow authors (and friends) Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Coe Booth, Sarah MacLean, Jon Skovron and many others will be signing as well. This is one of the author finales for the aforementioned Teen Author Festival.

More events in April; stay tuned...

Have a great day!

2010 NYC Teen Author Festival

The 2010 New York City Teen Author Festival runs March 15th through the 21st. If you missed it last year, definitely try to check it out this year.

I will be reading and signing books in the Bronx with Coe Booth, Sarah Darer Littman, and Maryrose Wood on the 18th from 10-11:30am at the Bronx Library Center, 310 East Kingsbridge Road. Then, on Sunday the 21st, there will be a huge bunch of authors signing their books at Books of Wonder in Manhattan. The mega-event will go from 2-6pm and authors will sign in shifts as before. It was a lot of fun (and jam-packed!) last year, so you won't want to miss it!

Here is the list of authors and their time slots for Sunday's mega-booksigning. I'm in the 3:30-4:15 slot, and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich is in the slot right after mine, along with Debs Jon Skovron and Shani Petroff...

2:00-2:45
Alma Alexander Nora Baskin Cathleen Davitt Bell Judy Blundell Libba Bray Coe Booth Elise Broach Alexandra Bullen Nick Burd Sarah Burningham Susane Colasanti Matt De La Pena Violet Haberdasher Maggie Stiefvater

2:45-3:30
Tom Dolby Heather Duffy-Stone Sarah Beth Durst Elizabeth Eulberg Gayle Forman Aimee Friedman Jenny Han Alice Hoffman Carla Jablonksi Melissa Kantor Kristen Kemp Michelle Knudsen Peter Lerangis David Levithan

3:30-4:15
Sarah Darer Littman Barry Lyga Robin MacCready Carolyn Mackler Sarah Maclean Marianne Mancusi Amanda Marrone Wendy Mass Lauren McLaughlin Neesha Meminger Sarah Mlynowski Michael Northrup Robin Palmer

4:15-5:00
Diana Peterfreund Shani Petroff O.Rhuday-Perkovich Matthue Roth Marie Rutkoski Lisa Ann Sandell Samantha Schutz Elizabeth Scott Kieran ScottCourtney Sheinmel Sara Shepard Abby Sher Jon Skovron

5:00-5:45
Jennifer Smith Natalie Standiford Rachel Vail David Van Etten Siobhan Vivian Adrienne Maria Vrettos Melissa Walker Robin Wasserman Suzanne Weyn Lynn Weingarten Martin Wilson Jake Wizner Maryrose Wood Michelle Zink

Women in Publishing Event

On Tuesday, February 23, SAWLF (South Asian Women's Leadership Forum) will bring together leading women writers, journalists and industry professionals for a dynamic conversation on the Who, What, Where, Why, When and How of writing for print and publication.

6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Tuesday, February 23, 2010

This special SAWLF event will take place at the downtown Manhattan offices of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP*

One New York Plaza, NY, NY 10004
(Broad St between Water and South Streets)
*Photo ID is required for event admittance.

Registration: On-line registration will open on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 on a first-come, first-serve basis. All participants are welcome. Limited seating available.

Special Guest Panelists
Sarita Varma, Director of Publicity, Farrar Straus and Giroux

Sarah Ellison, Journalist and Author

Richa Gulati, Freelance Writer, Dancer, and Lawyer

Literary Agent, Kirsten Neuhaus

Megan Deem, Fashion Features Editor, InStyle

The moderator is author Saira Rao

For additional event details, contact Kaumudi Goda, Esq. at kaumudigoda [at] gmail [dot] com.

South Asian Women's Leadership Forum (SAWLF) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of South Asian women and girls in the marketplace. www.southasianwomen.org.

Save The Dates

The organization that I mentor for, Girls Write Now, is having a series of readings* throughout the spring. You are NOT going to want to miss them, I promise. Besides the amazing teens who will be reading (including my awesome mentee who is working an a kickbutt poem right this MINUTE), check out this stunning array of guests who will join us:

Friday (each reading is on a Friday), Feb. 26th: Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of WENCH
March 26th: Nami Mun, author of MILES FROM NOWHERE
April 23rd: Lizzie Skurnick, author of SHELF DISCOVERY
May 21st: Ru Freeman, author of A DISOBEDIENT GIRL
June 18th: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of THE THING AROUND YOUR NECK

All events are at The Center for Fiction, 17 East 47th Street (between Fifth and Madison), NYC, 6-8pm.

Please join us on any or all of the above dates, and help support a really special organization.

*Curated by Maud Newton

Pic!

I have been camera-challenged lately, so I've been relying on the kindness of other camera-wielding folks to get images of events I've been to. So, with the help of Deva Fagan, here is a group shot from last Sunday's book signing at Books of Wonder...

L-R: Me, Jon Skovron, Michelle Zink, Deva Fagan, Sarah Cross, Kate Messner, Shani Petroff, and Megan Crewe.

The signing was great, the audience had some probing, interesting questions during the Q&A period, and it was wonderful to hear bits from each book as the authors read from their work.

Next stop is Toronto! January 7th, 7pm at Yorkdale Chapters/Indigo; and January 9th, 2pm at Eaton Center Chapters/Indigo. I'll be signing with Megan Crewe, R.J. Anderson, Rhonda Stapleton, Sarah Ockler, and Lara Zielin. If you're in Toronto or the GTA, I hope to see you!

Signings Coming Up; Updates

Popping in quickly with a few updates:

This Sunday, December 6th (besides celebrating The Hubs's birthday), I will be signing books at Books of Wonder in NYC, from 1-3pm. Please stop by if you're in the area!

The weekend after that we are hosting a kickoff holiday party, where I will cook for many, many people and their kids. (!!)

The agent search looks like it is winding down, and I couldn't be happier about that. It is an exhausting (though exciting!) process, and I will be glad to have some time and energy back for doing what I do much better: writing.

After that, I shop for the kiddies, get ready for our family holiday celebrations . . . and then, I collapse.

After which . . . the Toronto readings are set. Two of them, both at Indigo/Chapters stores. Thursday, January 7th, at 7pm, Yorkdale Shopping Center; and Saturday, January 9th, 2pm at the Eaton Center. If you're in Toronto, please come by, get your book signed, and introduce yourself!

After that, we go into the "dead zone" of deep winter where we hibernate as much as possible, sow seeds for the spring, sleep, eat hot, steaming bowls of food and drink hot, steaming mugs of drink.

I will continue to pop in every now and then with updates and interesting links (unless something comes up that I absolutely *must* blog about), but the long posts are on hold until . . . THE DEAD ZONE.

Just checking in to say that I am in the thick of writing and revising. But the New England Association of Teachers of English (NEATE) conference was awesome. They passed a fantastic resolution on the No Child Left Behind act--you should all read it and forward to any teachers and/or educators you know. It's here, just scroll down to the pdf link.

In less than two weeks, I'm off to North Carolina for the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference. Very excited to meet those school librarians. It was school librarians who introduced me to the amazing novels of S.E. Hinton, Natalie Babbitt, Judy Blume, and the African tale of Tiki Tiki Tembo (which resonated with me on a most profound level--still can't really make sense of why except that it was a "fairy tale" I could relate to).

And in December, I will be signing at Books of Wonder in New York City. If you're in town, please come by and say hello! I'll bring candy, or something yummy--I promise.

Have a great week!

N~

The little one is out of school. This means that my time is no longer my own until summer camp starts (on which day I shall whoop with delight and dance on our furniture to celebrate being in possession of said Time once again!).

I will update when I can, but it is summer and that means a s-l-o-w hush all across the Publishosphere.

However, I have some reading/signing/discussion events on the horizon and I will be updating with those, so stay tuned! And, of course, the Debs Blog Tour, like the Titanic (or is it my heart?), will go on . . .

WONDERful Book Signing!!

Books of Wonder is one amazing store. There were a zillion authors and at least three zillion fans, teachers, customers, book-buyers milling about in the store yesterday at the World's Biggest Teen Author Signing EVAR. It was mucho, big, gigantus fun.

In these pics are Heather Duffy Stone, Coe Booth, Sarah MacLean, Lisa Ann Sandell, Carolyn Mackler, and Maureen Johnson. If you want to see more pics, you'll have to visit me on Facebook!