rgz

readergirlz is a literacy and social media project for teens, awarded the National Book Foundation's Innovations in Reading Prize. The rgz blog serves as a depot for news and YA reviews from industry professionals and teens. As volunteers return full force to their own YA writing, the organization continues to hold one initiative a year to impact teen literacy. All are welcome to "like" us on Facebook!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Rgz HOST: David Levithan!

Hello, readergirlz! I hope everyone's having a great weekend.

Here's the highlight of mine: I went to see David Levithan at the Ballard Branch of the Seattle Public Library, in a reading/q&a put together by Secret Garden Books.

There's David reading in a moment I very artistically captured. I like to call it "David with Snow Hat."

He read from Love is the Higher Law and from his story in a new short story collection edited by Michael Cart (I highly recommend anything Michael Cart is involved with; he is probably the foremost expert in the history of YA literature, and a man who knows how to pick 'em!), How Beautiful the Ordinary. LOVE is David's new novel, and a favorite of rgz postergirl Jackie, which is saying a lot because Jackie reads a ton of books. A mountain, even. BEAUTIFUL is one of two collections that David has stories in this fall. The other is Geektastic. The title of BEAUTIFUL comes from David's amazing story in the collection. You readergirlz know that I love to listen to authors read, and it's always a fun time for me, and I always get something out of it, but I have to say: this was a truly above-and-beyond listening experience. Very powerful story.

The crowd was super-wonderful, too, and populated by a bunch of teens, yay! (Also there: rgz own Martha Brockenbrough. Double yay.) Thanks to thoughtful questions, we got to hear that LOVE is David's most autobiographical book to date (it deals with being in NYC on September 11), the story behind how he and Rachel Cohn worked together on Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and their other collaborations (including a forthcoming one with an irresistible premise!), how that was different from how he and John Green worked on the forthcoming Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Lesson: David Levithan is a very busy man, and everything he writes is worth reading.

Did you know that David is also an editor at Scholastic? Executive editorial director of Scholastic Press Fiction, multimedia publishing, and Push, actually. How's that for a title? Chances are, he's edited one of your favorite books.

And, with all of that going on, he still took the time to prefect the Liz-with-Author pose. Aww.

7 comments:

Erin said...

The first three chapters of LOVE made me cry so hard. Seriously, I was bawling.

Little Willow said...

Golly, I wish I were there! Such wonderful words, such great attendees.

Alyson Beecher said...

I got to see David recently in Pasadena. He was wonderful. I loved his book "Love is the Higher Law". And in Pasadena several local YA authors came out to hear him. They were just as big of fans as the rest of us were.

Melissa Walker said...

David's fantastic, and funny to boot!

Vivian Mahoney said...

I had a chance to see David when he was in Massachusetts with Libba Bray. He told great stories and was hysterical.

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