Debra Silva Rivera is our guest blogger today. In 2015 she was selected by the Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation/Voices Writing Workshop in Miami to work with novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright Chris Abani. Rivera lives in Ithaca and is working on a middle-grade novel. Cornell University’s Creative Writing Program invited Chris Abani to speak on campus November 3 as part of the… [Read More]
Last week here I shared a dirty little secret. Authors get the blues. Depression strikes when you least expect it: upon the successful publication of your book. I did not intend to discourage writers from pursuing the path to publication, though it may have had that effect on those who hadn’t realized how much hard work and personal sacrifice might be involved. Today I’d like… [Read More]
On the north side of Chicago, I discovered Women & Children First, one of the largest feminist bookstores in the country. With an inventory of more than 30,000 books written by and for women, this independent bookstore caters exclusively to women, children, and the LGBTQ community. If you’ve never visited a feminist bookstore, you may have seen one on TV. Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein… [Read More]
See what some of our authors tell us they are reading this summer. Cathryn Prince, author of American Daredevil: The Extraordinary Life of Richard Halliburton, the World’s First Celebrity Travel Writer (Chicago Review Press, June 1, 2016) Ulysses S. Grant: Memoirs and Selected Letters by Ulysses S. Grant End of Watch by Stephen King A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny Ira Rabois, author of the forthcoming Compassionate… [Read More]
August is reading month and if you’re looking for something to take to the beach or enjoy at the cabin, consider these current titles the team at Swenson Book Development LLC is reading now. Samantha Kolb: Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas Alanna Rieser: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway Mother… [Read More]
The world is coming to an end. At least, that’s what it feels like. In contemporary fiction, apocalyptic stories have captured the attention of young adult readers. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave, and Veronica Roth’s Divergent series—these novels found millions of fans and have become immortalized on the silver screen. But why? One answer that comes to mind involves the stories… [Read More]
1) Emma Donoghue, Frog Music: A Novel (Little, Brown and Company, April 2014) From the author of the bestselling novel, Room, Emma Donaghue penned this novel based in San Francisco during the summer of 1897 in which the city suffered a smallpox epidemic and a record-breaking heat wave. The story begins when a young woman named Jenny Bonnet is shot dead through the window of… [Read More]
When I mentor interns, I often spend time thinking about what advice might be helpful to those who pursue career goals in the world of publishing. This month I’ve had the good fortune to have two interns working with Swenson Book Development LLC. They’ve both seen many of their friends and classmates graduate this June but both of them completed their third not final year… [Read More]
Amidst the nervous titter of soon-to-be graduates, I could feel the excitement boiling under the clean, black robes at Lawrence University’s graduation ceremony. This year’s commencement speaker was Lan Samantha Chang. An Appleton WI native, Chang is the author of Hunger, All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost, and Inheritance. Hunger is a novella and collection of short stories, published in 1988. Chang’s prose follows the… [Read More]
Guest blog by Naomi Yaeger, Duluth MN A book award ceremony can refresh and energize you while you plug away at a manuscript. For more than three years I’ve worked on a manuscript. I’m a newspaper journalist, but that doesn’t make writing a book any easier for me. I’m used to weekly deadlines and writing short stories. I’ve been in a funk lately. A couple… [Read More]
