Debut Author of the Month:
Libby Schmais
Je suis heureux de vous informer that starting today, I'm reviving le Debut Author du mois feature on mon blog. (Those of you who contacted me for First Books: You may be hearing from in months to come.)
January's DAotM is Libby Schmais, whose YA debut is The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein, released from Delacorte en Décembre. Says Kirkus: "readers of any age will savor Lotus’s panache...Chick lit par excellence." You can read a délicieuse excerpt here.
Describe your debut YA novel, The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein.
The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein is a diary book by a teenager living in Brooklyn who is obsessed with all things French. Lotus feels stifled by her life in Park Slope, Brooklyn and fancies herself an existentialist, although her real knowledge of that philosophy and actual French words is a little sketchy. She and her best friend Joni end up both liking the same guy, another Sartre aficionado, and things come to a head during a school trip to Montreal, challenging both her friendship and her freethinking ideas.
You’d published a couple of books for adults—what made you write for a YA audience?
I didn’t consciously set out to write a YA book. The character of Lotus appeared to me one day, and the voice was a teenage one, so I just kind of went with it. I think if I had decided to write a modern-day YA novel from the beginning, I would have been intimidated, because it was out of my comfort zone.
Why did you choose diary format? Have you kept journals at some point?
Well, Lotus is studying The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagan in school, a famous Japanese diary book so that’s part of the reason I chose the diary format. The other reason is that I’ve always wanted to write a diary book. So many of my favorite books are diary books, like I Capture the Castle,
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By: Alice Pope,
on 1/19/2010
Blog: Alice's CWIM blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Delacorte, debut author, Stephen Barbara, Debut Author of the Month, Libby Schmais, The Pillowbook of Lotus Lowenstein, Foundry Media, Add a tag
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By: Alice Pope,
on 1/19/2010
Blog: Alice's CWIM blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Delacorte, debut author, Stephen Barbara, Debut Author of the Month, Libby Schmais, The Pillowbook of Lotus Lowenstein, Foundry Media, Add a tag
6 Comments on , last added: 1/22/2010
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The excerpt left this existentialist grinning. I can think of a number of people, including myself, who need to read this book.
Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it...................................................
Quelle belle interview! C'est et une bonne suprise, et J'ai beaucoup appris.
(okay, but now I'm curious - how can an author use GoodReads to promote their book?)
Thanks and Namaste,
Lee
Thanks for posting this awesome interview. I love reading the many different pathways to publication.
Hi everyone,
thanks for your tres gentile comments and for lee, what I was talkinga bout was that goodreads has a great author program where you can post info about your book, linke your blog, do giveaways, etc. here's the link: http://www.goodreads.com/author/program
merci!
Libby
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