63 episodes
Literaticast Jennifer Laughran
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- Arts
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4.9 • 221 Ratings
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A literary agent and her friends dish about writing and publishing books for children and young adults.
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64: Getting Inspired with Jami Attenberg
Is this the year you've promised yourself you'd finally finish that manuscript, or stop playing on your dang phone so much and get into a healthier writing routine? Author Jami Attenberg joins me to talk about her new book 1000 WORDS: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused and Productive All Year Round, as well as lots of other stuff: The differences between writing fiction and memoir, finding your writing compass, getting motivated when the creative well seems to have run dry, how to start writing again if you've been away from it for a while, the importance of building writerly community, plus the #1000wordsofsummer project, cult documentaries, and more!
Links to all the books we chatted about are in the shownotes on my website: https://www.jenniferlaughran.com/literaticast -
63: End-of-the-Year and Mid-Career, with Alex Gino
Happy Holidays! In this episode, I give a bit of an End-of-the-Year rundown -- what sold this year, what good stuff happened, and what's the mood? Then Middle Grade author Alex Gino joins me to chat about their new book, GREEN, out now from Scholastic, and what it is like being a "mid-career" full-time author. From evolving editorial relationships, to finding a writing process that works, to building an author brand; how have things changed for Alex since their shiny debut era?
Show notes, along with links to all the books we chatted about, are available at https://www.jenniferlaughran.com/literaticast -
62: The Great Big Holiday Gift Guide, 2023 Edition
It's the most wonderful time of the year -- BOOK GIFTING TIME! I'm joined by booksellers Nicole Brinkley from Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, NY, and Cathy Berner from Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, TX, and we give you 50+ great recommendations for all the readers in your life, or for your own To Be Read pile.
Love these bookseller recs? Support your local independent bookstore! Or, visit Blue Willow Bookshop or Oblong Books! Or, click the links in the show notes to purchase from Bookshop.org and a percentage of the sales goes straight to supporting indie bookstores! Thanks, and happy shopping. :-)
For the show notes and links to all the books we chat about in this episode, visit https://www.jenniferlaughran.com/literaticast -
61: The Dynamic Duo: Raúl the Third and Elaine Bay
Kid-lit power couple Raúl the Third and Elaine Bay are collaborators in both life and in books. They met in high school, grew into underground artists and zinesters, and in recent years, have become an award-winning and New York Times Bestselling creative powerhouse team. We talk about how they got started, how they work together, and the many (MANY) projects they have out and cooking!
Show notes, including links to all the books we talked about, can be found on my website:
https://www.jenniferlaughran.com/literaticast -
60: From Picture Books to YA, with Phoebe Wahl
The multi-talented Phoebe Wahl joins me to talk about how she got her start in publishing, as well as how she manages to run the cutest online shop in history, do brand collaborations, make films, thrive on social media, raise a toddler and more in addition to her busy career as an author-illustrator of picture books. And Phoebe will tell us all about her latest book - a debut YA novel called PHOEBE'S DIARY, based on her own teenage diaries and fully illustrated. We'll also discuss topics like Fat Representation, Shipwrecks, Taxes and Weird Shoes!
The show notes and links to all the books we chat about can be found at: https://www.jenniferlaughran.com/literaticast -
59: Predictions and prognostication with guest librarian Betsy Bird
Librarian, author, blogger, podcaster -- our guest Betsy Bird wears a lot of hats. She is not only a bona fide children's book expert but also has a great knack for predicting ALA Awards! As the awards are being given out at the end of this month, Betsy's going to take us behind the scenes and talk about the mysterious process of how the awards are even chosen, and what books MIGHT take home some hardware this year! (Will we be right? WHO KNOWS! But it will be fun to find out!) She also answers some listener questions about library etiquette, book banning, what she'd like to see more of in the picture book space, and more.
Check out the show notes for more information, links to all the books we talk about, as well as a link to the ALA award livestream so you can watch the awards in real time: https://www.literaticat.com/literaticast
Customer Reviews
Excellent in so many ways!
As a traditionally-published picture book author trying to catch up on the industry after a lengthy break, I’ve found Literaticast to be so very helpful a variety of ways. Jen’s interviews are chock full of great insights. I appreciate her down to Earth style and humor, which keeps me listening (ok, binging). I also enjoy the many helpful tidbits offered by the wide variety of publishing professionals and of course the inspiring stories of each guest author. I’ve been sharing this pod with my writing community, from the newbies to the veterans. Sure hope it continues! Thanks, Jen!
Thoroughly Informative & Entertaining
As an emerging kidlit author, I LOVE this podcast. I started with episode 1 and I’m working my way up to the latest show. Jen is genuine, helpful, funny, and smart. She has great guests and I’m learning so much! Thankful to have found this gem.
Helpful and hilarious!
Jennifer and her amazing line up of guests have been keeping me company this winter while I walk my dog and do the dishes. Such a great combo of warm, funny, interesting conversation and truly helpful nuggets of insight and information about the craft and business of children's literature, including elements of the industry that are less often talked about, like translation.