INTERVIEW WITH MAGGIE TOKUDA-HALL & JAMIE TAN

Katie interviews award-winning author Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Candlewick Senior Publicist Jamie Tan about Maggie's latest book THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND THE SEA.

We talk about:

• Gender fluidity in characters
• Shondaland interest
• Maggie’s lyrical writing
• How Jamie did the publicity for this particular book
• How Maggie is brutal to her characters!
• Not shying away from being mean to your characters

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

Voice can be a tough thing to define and a tougher thing to master, but when I ran across this article about active voice and passive voice from my old friend Mary Rosenblum I knew I had to share it with my listeners. See how you can improve your active voice with these tips and take your work to the next level and beyond.

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INTERVIEW WITH TALIA BENAMY

Talia Benamy is an associate editor at Philomel Books (an imprint of Penguin Young Readers), where she focuses on everything from picture books to middle grade and young adult novels. She has worked on books by Chelsea Clinton, Sonia Sotomayor, Temple Grandin, Jane Yolen, Abigail Harrison, Lisa Graff, Ruta Sepetys, Dev Petty, Sarah Brannen, and Terry Border. She sees books as having the amazing power to shape kids’ worldviews, and looks for manuscripts that have the potential to do just that. In this rebroadcast, we talk about:

• What exactly does an associate editor do?
• How does the process of using a reader help you go through the slush pile?
• How do you determine if a piece of writing is good?
• What are common mistakes you see in submissions?
• What makes you reject a manuscript almost immediately?