Authors & Audiences
In Authors & Audiences, YA author and presentation coach Caroline Leech, chats to authors, illustrators, booksellers, librarians, publishers and other randomly fascinating guests, and invites them to share the secrets of their public speaking confidence and their media/social media strategies. Caroline will also share her own extensive knowledge of public speaking, storytelling, event planning and media strategy, so if you want to feel sure you can present yourself and your books with both confidence and professionalism, you’ve come to the right place.
#35 Dr. Paige Quiñones on poetry, submitting to journals and a literary life in Slovenia
I’m back with a new episode of Authors & Audiences, and I’m thrilled to be talking to Dr. Paige Quiñones, an award-winning American poet and author, currently living in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Paige discusses her journey from pre-med to a poetry PhD and tells me about the creation of her debut collection "The Best Prey," which won the 2020 Pleiades Press Lena Miles Weaver Todd Prize for Poetry. She shares insights into her writing practice, on how much she loves teaching creative writing, on her former role as managing editor at one of the US’s most...
#34 - Katherine Center on romance, roses and line-dancing librarians
Katherine Center is a New York Times-bestselling author, and a Romantic with a capital R. Her first novel, written in the sixth grade was a fan fiction about Duran Duran, has sadly not yet been published, but she has gone on to publish ten other novels, two of which have been turned into movies – The Lost Husband and Happiness for Beginners. Both immediately went to the top of the Netflix charts almost as soon as they started streaming.
Last week, Katherine’s 11th novel, The Rom-Commers, was published by St Martin’s Press, and we'd love you to buy...
#33 - Julie Duffy invites you to write a StoryADay in May!
July Duffy was a self-confessed frustrated creative writer-who-wasn’t-writing, when she challenged herself to write a story every day of May 2010. Other would-be writers heard what she was doing and asked to join in. And that was only the beginning.
And today - May 1st, 2024 - Julie is launching the 15th year of StoryADayMay.
Since then thousands of writers have joined Julie each May (and lately in September too), to prove to themselves that they can make creativity a priority in their lives. The focus is on wr...
#32 Independent Bookstore Day at Brazos Bookstore
[It turns out that I incorrectly posted this episode back in April as just a 42 seconds-long clip. Oops! - frustratingly, I have only just realized, but I have now replaced the short clip with the full episode - So sorry everyone!]
Yesterday - on Saturday, April 27th, 2024 I helped celebrate Independent Bookstores Day by becoming one of the Guest Booksellers at Brazos Bookstore, my amazing local indie here in Houston TX at the invitation of Randi Null, the general manager. I'm not sure how many books I helped sell, but I certainly had a great couple of hours t...
#31 - Norah Woodsey and Kealani Natane
Norah Woodsey, is an indie author, with three novels, THE CONTROL PROBLEM and LIFELESS, and the novella WHEN THE WAVE COLLAPSES. Her next book, THE STATES, will be out in April 2024. After short careers in finance and tech, Norah began writing novels featuring subjects of which she says she has “intense interest but not quite expertise”, such as history, physics, genetics, sociology and gender studies. She’s a fourth generation Brooklynite, though she’s now living over on the west coast.
You can pre-order THE STATES or buy any of her other books via the links on...
#30 - Emily Bain Murphy talks comp titles and overcoming nerves
Emily Bain Murphy is the author of two gorgeous magical fantasy books for young adults - THE DISAPPEARANCES and SPLINTERS OF SCARLET - and has this month published her first novel for adults, ENCHANTED HILL, with Union Square & Company, Emily has not only transitioned to writing for an adult audience, she's also turned to the world of a detective and a murder mystery. Having lived in the Far East as a youngster, and all over the US as an adult, Emily has finally settled in the St Louis area.
You can buy ENCHANTED HILL from Emily's favorite i...
#29 - Kathryn Casey - from true crime to historical fiction
Kathryn Casey is an award-winning journalist and the author of eleven true crime books and seven crime fiction novels. As a journalist, Casey has written more than a hundred national magazine articles and pieces for The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Houston Chronicle. Her true crime story, DEADLY LITTLE SECRETS was made into a movie, SINS OF THE PREACHER, and based on her work for her book DELIVER US, she was featured in all three episodes of the Netflix series "Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields." In 2022
Her latest book - her 19th - is...
#28 - NaNoWriMo 2023 - Five great tips for your social media
Today is November 1st, the opening day of National Novel Writing Month – or NaNoWriMo which takes place every November, as writers from all over the world come together, in person and online, to write 50,000 words in just 30 days.
I'm a big fan of NaNoWriMo, because the book I drafted during NaNoWriMo 2010 ended up being published as WAIT FOR ME, my debut YA novel for Harper Collins in 2017. And I’m not the only NaNoWriMo participant who then got a Big Five publishing deal with that same project. So on my blog yesterday, at carolineleechwrites.com<...
#27 - Dhonielle Clayton & P. Djèlí Clark - MG authors
Welcome to the new season of Author and Audiences, and we're starting off with my recent in-person conversation with two incredible middle-grade authors - Dhonielle Clayton and P. Djèlí Clark- during Banned Books Week 2023
Dhonielle Clayton is an NYT bestselling YA and middle grade author. She is COO of the hugely influential non-profit We Need Diverse Books, and also the President and founder of Cake Creative and Electric Postcard Entertainment. Her new middle grade book, The Memory Thieves, is the second in the Conjureverse quartet, and follows on from the first book, The Marvellers.
<...The best advice from Season 1
I’m so delighted to be back here with you on your favorite podcast app, and I'm absolutely thrilled to kick off my second season, which I hope you will listen to, love and learn from along with me.
This season, I’ll still be bringing you fantastic authors, ready to share with you their stories, their experiences and their advice to help you build your confidence in front of all your audiences – in person and virtually, and also help you develop your career as a professional author even further – whether you’re a pro author already, or working...
The countdown is on - Season 2 is almost here
Season 2 of Authors & Audiences begins this week, so to make sure you don't miss any of the coming episodes, please subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast provider.
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Music by Oleg Kirilkov - #We StandWithUkraine
#25 - Joy Preble & Melissa Buron discuss school visits
PART THREE – THE SCHOOL VISITS SERIES – EXTENDED EPISODE
Joy Preble is both a successful YA author, and the Children’s Programming Director at Brazos Bookstore in Houston. Her first picture book, Lost and Found Hanukkah, will be published in 2025 by Chronicle Books.
Melissa Buron is one of Houston Independent School District’s Library Media Specialists. She is also an author and illustrator, and in 2016, created her own publishing company, Mab Media, a boutique publishing company specializing in fantasy, fairy tales, and folktales.
This is the third episode of my mini-seri...
#24 - Scott Reintgen and the science of School Visits
PART TWO – THE SCHOOL VISITS SERIES – EXTENDED EPISODE
Scott Reintgen is a young adult and middle grade author, who specializes in writing fantasy and science fiction. His tenth novel, A Door in the Dark, which came out this week from Simon & Schuster, is the first installment of his Waxwings series. His other series are the Nyxia Triad and Ashlords series, as well as the Talespinners series and the Celia Cleary series for middle graders.
A former English and creative writing teacher in North Carolina, Scott has done over 500 school visits since he debuted in 2017. With so much...
#23 - Performance poet Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton marks International Women's Day
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally-known writer, librettist, educator, activist and performer. She began as a slam poet, competing regularly in national poetry slams, and was even voted one of the top performance poets in the world. In 2017, she was the first African American to be appointed as Poet Laureate of Houston, In 2019 her poetry collection, Newsworthy, won huge acclaim, and her memoir, Black Chameleon, is out this week from Harold Holt. Deborah has also taken her poetry and artistry into other artforms – opera, ballet and most recently visual arts - using those new opportunities to li...
#22 - MG debut, Lisa Stringfellow talks Black History Month and School Visits
To mark Black History Month, I talk this week to Lisa Stringfellow, whose debut middle-grade fantasy novel, A Comb of Wishes, was published last February by HarperCollins/Quill Tree Books. The paperback came out this month, and it tells the story of a 12 year old Black girl as she deals with loss and longing.
A Comb of Wishes won Kweli Journal’s inaugural Color of Children’s Literature Manuscript Award in 2019, has received starred reviews, and just this week, Lisa learned that she is a finalist in the Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel category of the B...
#21 Ghostwriter L.A. Mitchell pulls back the curtain on publishing's best kept secret
Bestselling author L.A. Mitchell published her first story—a time travel short called THE LOST HIGHWAY—in 2008. Since then, she has published over 33 works of fiction and non-fiction as a ghostwriter. Her works include memoir, business non-fiction, self-help, young adult, women’s fiction, and—most prevalently—romance.
Spotlights have been turned recently on the craft of a ghostwriter following the publication of Prince Harry's autobiography, SPARE, by Penguin Random House. The prince readily acknowledges the involvement of "superstar ghostwriter", J.R. Moehringer, and yet many people have accused him of cheating because he didn't write the book himse...
#20 - Louise Marburg, short story writer
Louise Marburg is the author of three short story collections – The Truth About Me, No Diving Allowed and her latest one, You have reached your Destination, which came out in November. Her stories have also been published in any number of highly respected literary journals and she’s won awards for them too. Louise’s new collection captures turning points in the lives of twelve women, and Louise invites us to face ourselves and our own life journeys with sympathy, humor, and courage.
Louise originally trained as a designer at the Kansas City Art Institute, but the...
#19 Amelia McHenry shares wisdom on setting goals for 2023
Amelia McHenry is a Technical Writer and Business Analyst, meaning she examines business processes and produces manuals and timelines for them. She’s also a certified money, marketing and soul coach, and founder of Dodona Coaching. She offers her clients the support and encouragement they need to follow their dreams to fruition, and she also helps them make life fun. But, she does so by sharing with them her wisdom about how understanding your process and setting yourself goals can help you achieve so much more than you think you can.
In this episode, Amelia talks ab...
#18 - The Holiday Survival Guide, and Caroline shares plans for A&A in 2023
Caroline shares her Holiday Survival Guide for authors and illustrators. Her five tips will help you as a writer or author so you can not just survive the holidays, but usefully make the most of them. That way you'll be ready to go into 2023 with a whole load of tools in your author tool box.
Before that, however, Caroline shares her plans for Authors & Audiences in 2023.
If you'd like to hear more of Caroline's news please sign up for her newsletter at www.carolineleechwrites.com.
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#17 Lizzy Dent faces the A&A Q&A . . .
Lizzy Dent is a bestselling women's fiction author. Her first novel for women – The Summer Job - came out in 2021 and her second , The Set Up, came out this year, in 2022. Before her move into adult fiction , Lizzy wrote a three Young Adult novels, under her real name, Rebecca Denton, all set in and around the music scene, called This Beats Perfect, A Secret Beat and The Punk Factor. Lizzy is a New Zealander, but she spent many years working in London, and these days lives in Austria with her family. Before she was an author, she worked in telev...
#16 Bestseller Lizzy Dent talks about her transition from writing as "an expensive hobby" to giving up her dayjob
Lizzy Dent is a bestselling women's fiction author. Her first novel for women – The Summer Job - came out in 2021 and her second , The Set Up, came out this year, in 2022. Before her move into adult fiction , Lizzy wrote a three Young Adult novels, under her real name, Rebecca Denton, all set in and around the music scene, called This Beats Perfect, A Secret Beat and The Punk Factor. Lizzy is a New Zealander, but she spent many years working in London, and these days lives in Austria with her family. Before she was an author, she worked in telev...
#15 The 2022 Debuts meet the 2023 Debuts - live webinar Part 2
Last weekend, I invited eight amazing authors who had all debuted in 2022 to join me in presenting a free webinar to a gathering of 2023 Debuts. As you may have heard in Part 1 of the webinar, I had helped the 22s with a webinar this time last year, and so we reconvened to share what had gone well in their debut year, and which of the strategies and tips they’d learned from me a year before were still things they’d recommend.
Part 1 was posted as episode #14 , and now here is Part 2. In this episode the following auth...
#14 The 2022 Debuts meet the 2023 Debuts - live webinar Part 1
This weekend, I invited eight amazing authors who had all debuted in 2022 to join me in presenting a free webinar to a gathering of 2023 Debuts. As you’ll hear, I had helped the 22s with a webinar this time last year, and so we reconvened to share what had gone well in their debut year, and which of the strategies and tips they’d learned from me a year before were still things they’d recommend.
This is Part 1 - and Part 2 will be posted on Friday. In this episode the following authors shared their debut year experi...
#12 Cathy Berner from Blue Willow Bookshop shares the lowdown on book launches
Cathy Berner qualified as a school librarian up in the frozen north, but very quickly found her way to Texas, where she's been a bookseller at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston for the last 18 years. She's Children/Teen Coordinator and the Event Coordinator, and is the curator of three book festivals in Texas: the Bookworm Festival for picture book readers, TweensRead for middle grade readers, and Teen Book Con for YA readers.
In this episode, Cathy talks with Caroline about book launches from a bookseller's perspective, about what to do to help a bookseller (and as importantly...
#11 - Laurel Goodluck, picture book author, faces the A&A Q&A
Laurel Goodluck is a debut author who writes picture books with modern Native American themes that reflect Native children’s cultural experiences and everyday life, showing Native children that they have a perspective that is unique and powerful.
To find out more about Laurel, visit her website, or follow her on Instagram.
To buy Laurel's debut picture book, FOREVER COUSINS, please consider buying it from her favorite indie bookstore, Red Planet Books & Comics in Albuquerque. Or, please buy it from any independent bookstore near you.
Laurel also mentioned:
Esther Averill's early reader, Th...
#10 - Laurel Goodluck, debut picture book author talks about celebrating her Native American heritage, and about only doing the social media she enjoys
Laurel Goodluck writes picture books with modern Native American themes that reflect Native children’s cultural experiences and everyday life, showing Native children that they have a perspective that is unique and powerful. Laurel comes from an intertribal background of Mandan and Hidatsa from the prairies of North Dakota, and Tsimshian from a rainforest in Alaska and now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In October, Laurel’s first picture book, Forever Cousins, which was illustrated by Jonathan Nelson, was published by Charlesbridge. Her second picture book, Rock Your Mocs, which is illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight, will...
#9 - Newbery Medal winner, Tae Keller, faces the A&A Q&A
In this episode, Tae Keller faces the A&A Q&A, with host, Caroline Leech.
Tae Keller's first book – THE SCIENCE OF BREAKABLE THINGS - was published in 2018, and she then won the 100th Newbery Medal in 2021 for her second book, WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER. This year, Tae has had three books out - JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE came out in April, and in May came Tae’s contribution to Chelsea Clinton’s chapter book series, SHE PERSISTED. Tae wrote the true story of Patsy Mink who in 1964 became the first woman of color and the fi...
#8 - Tae Keller, the Newbery Medal-winning middle-grade author, talks about the Newbery, stories behind stories, and setting boundaries
Tae Keller's first book – THE SCIENCE OF BREAKABLE THINGS - was published in 2018, and she then won the 100th Newbery Medal in 2021 for her second book, WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER. This year, Tae has had three books out - JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE came out in April, and in May came Tae’s contribution to Chelsea Clinton’s chapter book series, SHE PERSISTED. Tae wrote the true story of Patsy Mink who in 1964 became the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to Congress. And this week - on November 8th, 2022, her latest book...
#7 - What could you do if you weren't afraid?
In today's episode, Caroline digs deeper into what we might do to answer the question, "What could I do if I weren't afraid?" following the three basic questions she asked in episode 1, and her conversation last week with author, Chris Cander.
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Music by Oleg Kirilkov - #We StandWithUkraine
#6 - Bestselling author, Chris Cander, faces the A&A Q&A
Chris Cander is the USA Today bestselling author of THE WEIGHT OF A PIANO, which was named an Indie Next Great Read in both hardcover and paperback and which the New York Times called, “immense, intense and imaginative,” WHISPER HOLLOW, also named an Indie Next Great Read, and 11 STORIES, named by Kirkus as one of the best books of 2013 and winner of the Independent Publisher Book Awards for fiction. She also wrote the children’s picture book THE WORD BURGLAR, and the Audible Originals “Eddies” and “Grieving Conversations.” Her new novel, A GRACIOUS NEIGHBOR, arrives fall 2022. Cander’s fiction has been publish...
#5 - Chris Cander, bestselling novelist talks about her neighborhood and combatting stage fright
Chris Cander's latest novel, A GRACIOUS NEIGHBOR, was released in July 2022. She is the USA Today bestselling author of THE WEIGHT OF A PIANO, which was named an Indie Next Great Read in both hardcover and paperback and which the New York Times called, "immense, intense and imaginative,” WHISPER HOLLOW, also named an Indie Next Great Read, and 11 STORIES, named by Kirkus as one of the best books of 2013 and winner of the Independent Publisher Book Awards for fiction. She also wrote the children’s picture book THE WORD BURGLAR, and the Audible Originals “Eddies” and “Grieving Conversations.” Cander’s fiction has b...
#4 - Community - what that is and where to find it
In today's episode, Caroline digs deeper into what community means to writers, following her conversation last week with fellow 2017 Debut, Tiffany D Jackson.
In it, she talks about the importance of her own writing communities as a way of helping you identify where you can find your own. These include:
Eleri Grace - author of the WW2 Romance Clubmobile Girls series, and Caroline's writing buddy
Nikki Loftin - middle grade author who showed Caroline what writing conferences are really about
Writing workshops in Houston:
Membership...
#3 - YA bestseller, Tiffany D Jackson faces the A&A Q&A
Tiffany D. Jackson is the NYT Bestselling, award-winning author of YA novels Monday’s Not Coming, Allegedly, Let Me Hear A Rhyme, Grown, White Smoke, Santa in The City, The Weight of Blood, and co-author of Blackout. A Coretta Scott King — John Steptoe New Talent Award-winner and the NAACP Image Award-nominee, she received her bachelor of arts in film from Howard University and has over a decade in TV/Film experience. The Brooklyn native is currently splitting her time between the borough she loves and the south, most likely multitasking.
In this Bonus episode featuring the A&A Q...
#2 - Tiffany D Jackson, YA bestseller, talks about community and confidence
Tiffany D. Jackson is the NYT Bestselling, award-winning author of YA novels Monday’s Not Coming, Allegedly, Let Me Hear A Rhyme, Grown, White Smoke, Santa in The City, The Weight of Blood, and co-author of Blackout. A Coretta Scott King — John Steptoe New Talent Award-winner and the NAACP Image Award-nominee, she received her bachelor of arts in film from Howard University and has over a decade in TV/Film experience. The Brooklyn native is currently splitting her time between the borough she loves and the south, most likely multitasking.
In this episode she talks to host, Caro...
#1 - EPISODE 1 OF AUTHORS & AUDIENCES - INTRODUCTIONS
In this opening episode of Authors & Audiences, Caroline Leech, introduces her plans for the podcast over the coming week, and takes listeners back to basics by asking three simple but important questions.
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Music by Oleg Kirilkov - #We StandWithUkraine
Authors & Audiences: the trailer
This is the trailer for the new podcast, Authors & Audiences. Podcaster, YA author and presentation coach, Caroline Leech, introduces her plans for the podcast, which will include interviews with authors and other publishing and media professionals, as well as deep-digging into the sort of topics which help authors present themselves in public without fear.
The first episode will go live in October, but in the meantime, make sure you don't miss any episode by following on social media:
Instagram - www.instagram.com/authorsandaudiences
Facebook - www.facebook.com/AuthorsAndAudiences
Twitter - @AuthsAndAudsPod<...
