Morris Award Celebrations and Interviews

Three weeks from tomorrow I'm boarding a plane and flying to Philadelphia, PA, so I can attend the January 27 Youth Media Awards and speak at YALSA’s Morris & Nonfiction Award Program & Presentation. I'll also be signing copies of In the Shadow of Blackbirds. I'll post the exact times for everything once the author autographing schedule has gone live on the ALA Midwinter Meeting website.

Prior to that trip, some pre-awards celebrations are occurring online. Librarians at YALSA's The Hub are interviewing all five of us 2014 Morris Award finalists, and my interview was published two days ago. I discussed everything from Mary Shelley Black's name to the In the Shadow of Blackbirds scenes involving the broken young war veterans, plus I offered more details about my 2014 release, The Cure for Dreaming (hint: you can now find out how the horrors of Victorian dentistry play a role in the novel). Read the full interview here.

Elizabeth Bunce, the first-ever Morris Award winner, along with other past winners and finalists, is also graciously interviewing the five 2014 finalists. My interview is scheduled to go live Monday, January 13, at Elizabeth's blog, Mirth & Matter.

Finally, YALSA is hosting a 2014 Morris/Nonfiction Reading Challenge. I'm not officially participating, but I'm striving to read all four books by my fellow Morris Award nominees before the awards ceremony. So far, I've completed Elizabeth Ross's Belle Epoque and Carrie Mesrobian's Sex & Violence, both of which are phenomenal.