Mark Kurlansky is a New York Times bestselling American journalist and author who has written 36 books, mostly on history and science, including seven for children and young adults. His young-adult nonfiction book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997), was an international bestseller, translated into more than 15 languages and winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award for Editor’s Choice in 1998. World Without Fish won gold at the 2011 National Parenting Publications Awards and was chosen by many school districts for their curriculum. Kurlansky’s latest, Big Lies: From Socrates to Social Media (2022) is […]

Andrew Varga is a historian and author who writes middle-grade/young-adult novels set across various historical periods. He has written seven fantasy-historical books that make up the Jump in Time series, including the forthcoming The Celtic Deception and The Last Saxon King (Imbrifex, 2023). His passion for history led him to earn a BA from the University of Toronto in Canada, where he specialized in history and majored in English. Andrew has traveled extensively across Europe, where he has visited many historical sites and museums. His love of medieval history is reflected in his collection of swords, shields and other weapons […]

Q: Your background as a screenwriter has helped make your works accessible to a wide audience. How has your experience in this field influenced your writing and storytelling style?   A: I didn’t start screenwriting until I already had a career in novels. And the main thing screenwriting taught me was: Stick to novels. I have an unlimited special-effects budget; my novels don’t have an outside director whose main interest is in removing any trace of my novel from the movie, and as a novelist I can’t be fired. My real background was as a playwright. I started by doctoring […]

Heather Camlot is an award-winning author, journalist, editor and translator. Her nonfiction books for children include Secret Schools, I Can’t Do What?, What If Soldiers Fought with Pillows? and The Prisoner and the Writer, which was named a Globe and Mail Top 10 Kids’ Book for 2022. She has also written two middle-grade novels, The Other Side and Clutch, a Kirkus Best Middle-Grade Historical Fiction of 2017. Born and raised in Montreal, she now lives in Toronto with her husband, teenagers and rescue dog.   Q: Fiction and nonfiction, picture books/middle grade/young adult and all manner of topics (social justice […]

Isaac Blum (he/him) is a writer and educator. He has taught English at several colleges and universities, and at Orthodox Jewish and public schools. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers-Camden in New Jersey, and his stories and essays have appeared in The Iowa Review, The New York Times and One Teen Story, among other places. Isaac lives with his wife in Philadelphia where he watches sports and reads books that make him laugh while showing him something true about the world. He also loves birdwatching. The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen is his debut novel. Reviews […]