Today is the first day of the Morris Award Finalist interview series, and I am so excited to be able to share my interview with Isabel Quintero, author of the brilliant debut novel, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces. Gabi had already been on my radar, even before the Morris nomination, and I have to say that this book lived up to all my high expectations and more. Gabi, A Girl in Pieces chronicles the senior year of Gabi Hernandez, a seventeen-year-old Latina living in Southern California with her strict mother, drug-addicted father, and moody younger brother. Her … read the rest

This year is ending as others before it: Once again, I’m reading over pass pages of a new book, hoping I’ve gotten it right and fearing that I haven’t. Once again, I’m enjoying spending time with kids who, thank God, still enjoy spending time with me. Once again, I plan to ring in the New Year on a quiet night with the best of friends (along with some really good wine).

But the year to come is a year for more. And why not? I want to play more music. Take more pictures. Run more trails. I want to listen … read the rest

The cover for my new book, DELICATE MONSTERS, was revealed yesterday on the Barnes and Noble blog, along with some of my thoughts on the cover and its significance.

Bottom line: I love it.

This was also the first time I had the opportunity to put into words some of what this book means to me. What it’s about. That’s always an interesting exercise. My understanding of meaning tends to work in reverse and therefore gets gummed up by the result more than it represents the process. My process, however, is not a purposeful thing. It’s driven by … read the rest

Today is the day my second book, Complicit, is released into the world. It’s a book about secrets and tragedy, melody and dissonance, sibling love and sibling rivalry. It’s a book about adoption and loss and guilt and gain and the endless wondering if where one comes from even matters at all, Maybe now is all that means anything.

If you read it, I hope you like it. I hope you listen to a little Thelonious Monk along the way, too.

For anyone who is in the Bay Area, I am throwing a launch party on Thursday, June 26, … read the rest