A Conversation with Neesha Meminger

Way back in November, Deirdre and I got the opportunity to speak with 2009 debut author Neesha Meminger about her book Shine, Coconut Moon.  Some of the topics we talked about were autobiographical writing and fiction, the inspiration for Shine, Coconut Moon and how Neesh invents her characters.  Neesha was a lot of fun to speak with.  The chat was very informative and fun.  She had some great advice about writing and being creative in general.

Shine, Coconut Moon is a thoughtful, well-written book about identity and self-discovery as well as cultural identity.  It does a great job of subtly encouraging the reader to examine and/or rethink their preconceived notions about difference. 

This is the summary from the book cover: Seventeen-year-old Samar -- a.k.a. Sam -- has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It's never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend.

But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam's house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn't sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut -- brown on the outside, white on the inside. That decides it: Why shouldn't Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, "Go back home, Osama!" and Sam realizes she could be in danger -- and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.


Shine, Coconut Moon is such a great book.  I read it for the interview, but really enjoyed the story and the characters.  Sam is such a universal, teen character.  She goes through a lot of self-discovery and personal growth, as well as bonding with her family and learning about her culture.  At the same time, she goes through the usual teen stuff: school, fighting with friends, and dealing with her boyfriend.  Neesha does a great job of combining both sides of Sam's life into a great story.  I wish that more people knew about it. 

If you would like to listen to the interview, it can be found at the Mount Kisco Library Podcast on Podomatic.com. 

A Conversation with Carrie Ryan

Did you know that The Forest of Hands and Teeth is going to be made into a movie? 

Learn about the movie and more in the lastest episode of the Mt. Kisco Library Podcast.

In this 35 minute episode of the Mt. Kisco Library Podcast, Deirdre and I talk to Carrie about her book, her inspirations, and her writing process.  We discuss how readers feels sbout her heroine, Mary, and the other characters in The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  Carrie also talks about giving up her career as a lawyer in order to become a full time writer.  The conversations ends with Carrie expressing the hope that she can inspire young people to read, write and be creative.

You can find the podcast at Podomatic.com or by following this link:

A Conversation with Carrie Ryan:

You can learn more about Carrie Ryan and her books at:

http://carrieryan.com/

An Interview With Megan Whalen Turner: Part 2

Here is the second part of the interview Deirdre, Mary and I did with Megan Whalen Turner.  In this part of the interview Megan talks to us about animals and pets, the political and religious structures of her book world, and whether she bases any of her characters on real-life people.  Megan talks about geography and maps a bit.  We also talk about how people go about choosing their careers and how Megan became a writer.

The interview can be found at the Mt. Kisco Library Podcast

Information about Megan Whalen Turner and her Queen's Thief series can be found here.

Enjoy!

Have a happy and safe New Year!

An Interview with Megan Whalen Turner

Megan Whalen Turner's "Queen's Thief" books are some of my favorite books.  Megan creates such fascinating characters and intricate plots that it is very easy to get lost each book.  All the twists and turns make rereading interesting and worthwhile, with each reading I find another piece of information I missed the previous time. Without giving too much away. . .I can tell you that the series is mainly about Eugenides, the thief, and his adventures in the countries of Eddis, Attolia and Sounis.
 
 Why am I waxing poetic about The Queen's Thief?  Because, at the Mount Kisco Library (where I work) we podcast and get to interview authors.  And earlier this week we had the chance to interview Megan Whalen Turner.  She was kind enough to speak with us for an hour, so long that the interview had to be split into two podcasts.  In Part 1 of the interview Megan talks about her creative process, naming characters, plot construction, and why she will not answer questions about her books.  Follow the link below to the Mount Kisco Library Podcast.

**This interview does contain spoilers from the first three books of The Queen's Thief Series (The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, The King of Attolia).**
 

 Part 1 of the interview can be found at the Mount Kisco Library Podcast

The "Sounis" community referred to in the podcast is located at http://community.livejournal.com/sounis/

You can find out more about Megan and her books at her website, http://home.att.net/~mwturner/

 
 A HUGE thank you to Deirdre for editing the entire interview :-D

Please let me know what you think.

Happy Listening!