Heading to Williams: YA Panel, 10/2/14

I’ll be visiting Williams College tomorrow to join a panel of other alums who write YA—Kristin Cashore, Tui Sutherland and Dayna Lorentz.  Our disussion will be moderated by writer Mary Cotton and Prof. Jim Shepard, and it’s open to the public. The facts, Ma’am: Thursday, October 2, 8:00 p.m., Goodrich Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, MA.

Here’s why I’m excited to go:

1. I’ve devoured novels by Kristin (Graceling), Tui (The Menagerie), Dayna (No Safety in Numbers) and Jim (Project X), and I’m basically in awe of them.

2. I might well have read a novel by Mary Cotton but don’t know it because she writes YA bestsellers under a pseudonym.

3. Jim was my prof of creative writing when I was a student, and I have a sense of the circle coming around again with this chance to go back.

4. We panelists have had slews of silly emails  covering preening, corduroy pants, and “Sweater of Longness.”

5. I met Kristin and Tui last week in Cambridge, and though we headed to a noisy bar, it secretly felt like a pajama party of old friends.

6. I get to talk about writing with writers.

7. I get to talk to students who might be writers, too.

8. I’ll get to thank Dayna in person for lining this up. Look: it even has a poster. Woot!