July’s writing show welcomes the participation of the JRW Youth Advisory Board in discussing the limits or parameters of Young Adult literature.
Are there any topics in YA books that are taboo? Any lines in the sand that a YA author shouldn’t cross? If YA can tackle all manner of adult themes, then what differentiates it as young adult? Explore these topics and more with a panel of YA authors and members of JRW’s Youth Advisory Board.
Kristen-Paige Madonia is the author of Invisible Fault Lines, forthcoming in 2016, and Fingerprints of You, published in 2012 by Simon & Schuster. In addition to these young adult novels, her stories have been published in The Greensboro Review, Five Chapters, and the New Orleans Review. She was the 2012 D.H. Lawrence Fellow and now teaches creative writing at the University of Virginia, James Madison University, the UNM Taos Creative Writers’ Conference, and WriterHouse.
Kat Spears is a novelist, bartender, mother of three freeloading kids, non-profit management guru, and, apparently, the only person on the planet who reads in the shower. She claims not to be a role model. Her debut YA novel, SWAY, will be released in September 2014 by St. Martin’s Press.
Chairperson and longtime volunteer of James River Writers, Kristi Tuck Austin waded New York City sewers, ran from trains, and slid through a water pipe to the Harlem River, all in the service of researching her YA manuscript. She celebrated Thanksgiving 2013 in the Paris catacombs, hiking, crawling, wading (again), and dining by candlelight. She’s written for websites and international nonprofits, and has published short stories.
Madison Hoffman is a rising junior at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, where they study Literary Arts. They love to read and write any kind of speculative fiction and are extremely skilled in the fine arts of procrastination and internet surfing.
Regan Anne Blume was born into a literary family, so writing isn’t all that strange to her. She started writing when she was in fourth grade and finished her first book in eighth grade. She’s 14-years-old and transitioning to Monacan High School. She’s been a regular attendee of JRW’s weekly Writers Farmhouse at the Midlothian Urban Farmhouse since it started this past spring. She loves to write fantasy and dystopian. She believes writing is the best hobby ever and that being on the JRW Youth Advisory Board will give her a chance to meet other teens who shareher passion.
Read Brown, a ninth grader at St. Christopher’s, is aptly named given that he would rather read than do pretty much anything else in the world. His favorite genres are fantasy and history. He volunteers on the school newspaper and has helped judge the James River Writers Best Unpublished Novel Contest and the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Children’s Literature. He is a boy scout and also wrestles and runs cross-country.
Maeve Oliver is a sophomore at Saint Gertrude High School. She is proud to be serving as the Class of 2017 Secretary/Treasurer this year. When she can, Maeve takes classes at Richmond Young Writers with Valley and Bird and loves to write stories on her typewriter.
Tickets: $10 in Advance; $12 at the Door; $5 for Students at the Door
Thursday, July 31, 6:30 – 8:30
At The Broadberry, 2729 West Broad Street
