Reclaiming Authenticity With Varian Johnson

Varian Johnson, award-winning author of The Parker Inheritance, Twins, The Great Greene Heist, joins us to talk about his most recent middle-grade, Playing the Cards You’re Dealt.

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Links to Topics Mentioned In This Episode:

• Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

• Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Then Again Maybe I Won’t, and Iggie’s House by Judy Blume

• Motown and Didi by Walter Dean Myers

• Virginia Hamilton, author of The People Could Fly: Black American Folktales, Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, and more

• Sara Crowe, Varian’s literary agent at Pippin Properties

• Andrew Karre, Executive editor at Dutton Books for Young Readers

• Cheryl Klein, editorial director at Lee & Low and formerly at Scholastic, and author of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults

• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

• Holes by Louis Sachar

• Ally Carter, New York Times bestselling author of the Gallagher Girls series, the Heist Society series, the Embassy Row series, Not If I Save You First, Dear Ally: How Do You Write a Book?, and a new middle grade series that kicks off with Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor. (Hear her First Draft interview here)

• Kate Messner, author of Over and Under the Snow, All the Answers, Capture the Flag, and many (MANY) more

• The Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program

• Sharon Darrow, author of Trash, The Painters of Lexieville and more

• Rita Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer, Clayton Byrd Goes Underground, Like Sisters on the Homefront, and more

• Tim Wynne-Jones, author of Blink & Caution, The Uninvited, and more

• Nick Thomas, Varian’s editor at Scholastic, currently senior editor at Levine Querido

• Shannon Wright, illustrator of Twins

• Jenne Abramowitz, executive editor at Scholastic

• What Were the Negro Leagues? by Varian Johnson

• Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

• One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

🎙️ Enjoy this episode? Check out…

• Kate DiCamillo, one of six people to win two Newbery Medals, for her novels The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses, and author of Newbery Honor book Because of Winn-Dixie, National Book Award finalist The Tiger Rising, as well as New York Times bestselling novels The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Magician’s Elephant, the Mercy Watson series, and more. DiCamillo was the U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2014 and 2015. Her most recent novel, Beverly, Right Here completes the trilogy of Raymie Nightingale and Louisiana’s Way Home. Listen to her First Draft episode here.

• Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hate U Give and On the Come Up talks about her latest book, Concrete Rose, as well as the upcoming Blackout. Hear her First Draft interview here.

• Chris Grabenstein, New York Times bestselling author of the Lemoncello series, the Wonderland series, the Haunted Mystery series, and The Island of Dr. Libris. He is also the co-author, with James Patterson, of the #1 Bestsellers I Funny, House of Robots, Max Einstein and many others. He joins to talk about his newest middle grade series, Dog Squad. Listen to his episode of First Draft here.

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