Kate Hannigan and I discuss her newest novel CAPE and the 2016 Golden Kite award winner, THE DETECTIVE'S ASSISTANT. We do a deep dive on writing and researching historical fiction. Kate gives some outstanding advice for authors doing school visits and a lot of tips for being a more productive writer. She also shares a real-life object lesson on the importance of being nice in an industry as small as publishing. We chat about superheroes and women in history and just generally have a blast talking about writing.

Chicago author Kate Hannigan writes fiction and non-fiction for young readers. A former newspaper journalist, she loves listening to people's stories and digging deep into research. Her middle-grade historical fiction "The Detective's Assistant" (Little, Brown) received the 2016 Golden Kite Award for best middle-grade novel and was a California Young Reader Medal nominee. Inspired by the exploits of America's first female detective, Kate Warne, it features nail-biting suspense and exhilarating thrills - along with history around Abraham Lincoln and pre-Civil War America.

Kate is also the author of the picture book biography "A Lady Has the Floor: Belva Lockwood Speaks Out for Women's Rights" (Boyds Mills Press), which received four starred reviews, named a Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" selection, Bank Street College pick for July, A Mighty Girl Best of 2018 Book, Amelia Bloomer Project pick, and a Junior Library Guild Selection. And her three-book cooking caper series "Cupcake Cousins" (Disney/Hyperion) for early middle-grade readers was named to the Illinois READS state list and Chicago Public Library's "Best of the Best" lists.