Join me and Ransom Riggs, New York Times best-selling author of MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN - which was recently released as a major motion picture - and the new selection of short stories, TALES OF THE PECULIAR, as we talk about living side by side with the past, making friends with the neighbor kids, and the freedom of having no expectations.

Join Tahereh Mafi, New York Times best-selling author of FURTHERMORE (out now!) and the SHATTER ME series, as we discuss childhoods full of new starts and goodbyes, the ways contemporary books can feel like fantasy, and writing 5,000 words every single day for two years (!).

Tahereh Mafi Show Notes

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Judy Blume

Absolute Write forums

Kami Garcia

Julie Strauss-Gabel

Join Tahereh Mafi, New York Times best-selling author of FURTHERMORE (out now!) and the SHATTER ME series, as we discuss childhoods full of new starts and goodbyes, the ways contemporary books can feel like fantasy, and writing 5,000 words every single day for two years (!).

Hear Zan Romanoff, whose brilliant debut novel A SONG TO TAKE THE WORLD APART is out now, talk about using her Yale diploma to ward off Hanson haters, generational trauma, the terrifying power of puberty, and her follow-up novel, GRACE AND THE FEVER (May 2017)!

Zan Romanoff show notes

Kate Hart (listen to her First Draft episode here)

The Iowa Review

The Babysitter's Club by Anne M. Martin

Anne McCaffrey

Frank McCourt

Winnie-the-Pooh

Hanson, "Mmmbop"

Dawson's Creek (TV series)

Brenna Yovanoff, PLACES NO ONE KNOWS

Don Delillo

"California Girls," Zan's piece in the Paris Review about Joan Didion

Girl Crush Zine, by Jenna Wortham & Thessaly La Force

Writing Workshop LA

Edan Lepucki

"There is No Such Thing as the Young Adult Novel," Zan's article on The Millions about what is YA

Logan Garrison Savits, Zan's agent

GIRLS ON FIRE by Robin Wasserman

One Direction

Zan's essay about Taylor Swift conspiracy theories in Broadly

Larry Stylinson

Hear Zan Romanoff, whose brilliant debut novel A SONG TO TAKE THE WORLD APART is out now, talk about using her Yale diploma to ward off Hanson haters, generational trauma, the terrifying power of puberty, and her follow-up novel, GRACE AND THE FEVER (May 2017)!

Leila Howland, author of NANTUCKET BLUE, THE FORGET-ME-NOT SUMMER, and its sequel THE BRIGHTEST STARS OF SUMMER (and the forthcoming HELLO, SUNSHINE, due out next summer!), talks writing hiatus, learning structure from screenwriting, and finding inspiration in well-intentioned missteps.

Leila Howland Show Notes

STUART LITTLE by E.B. White

A LITTLE PRINCESS and THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett

HEIDI by Johanna Spyri

THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien

THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS by Kenneth Grahame

Young Frankenstein (movie)

Sara Crowe (agent)

SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder

10 Cloverfield Lane (movie)

The Godfather (movie)

THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE LAUNDAU BANKS by E. Lockhart

Lost It by Kristin Tracy

Bridesmaids (movie)

Elin Hilderbrand (author)

Josephine Angelini (author)

Kiernan Shipka (Sally Draper on Mad Men, TV show)

HELLO SUNSHINE, forthcoming book from Leila

Barnsdall Art Park

Kayla Cagan (author)

SUMMER IN THE INVISIBLE CITY by Juliana Romano (Leila's review for her debut book, FIRST THERE WAS FOREVER)

Robert Hass: "Take the time to write. You can do your life's work in half an hour a day."

Leila Howland, author of NANTUCKET BLUE, THE FORGET-ME-NOT SUMMER, and its sequel THE BRIGHTEST STARS OF SUMMER (and the forthcoming HELLO, SUNSHINE, due out next summer!), talks writing hiatus, learning structure from screenwriting, and finding inspiration in well-intentioned missteps.

Join me and Jenny Han, New York Times best-selling author of the TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE series and the SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY series, among other things, about reading in the bathtub, how food is political, intense first love, and mixing friendship and money by co-writing with your best friend.

Jenny Han Show Notes

DEAR MR HENSHAW by Beverly Cleary

BEEZUS AND RAMONA by Beverly Cleary

HATCHET by Gary Paulsen

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA by C. S. Lewis

THE MIXED UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER by E. L. Konigsburg

Leigh Bardugo (listen to her First Draft interview here)

My So-Called Life (TV show)

Romeo + Juliet (movie)

Basketball Diaries (movie)

Titanic (movie)

Silence of the Lambs (movie)

X Files (TV show)

Law & Order (TV show)

John Grisham

Particia Cornwell

Mark Cuban

THE BABYSITTER'S CLUB by Ann M. Martin

SWEET VALLEY HIGH by Francine Pascal

SLEEPOVER FRIENDS by Susan Saunders

PEN PALS by Sharon Dennis Wyeth

SADDLE CLUB by Bonnie Bryant

Christopher Pike

Sarah Weeks (middle grade author)

When Harry Met Sally (movie)

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by David Leviathan and John Green

LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott

Join me and Jenny Han, New York Times best-selling author of the TO ALL THE BOYS I'VE LOVED BEFORE series and the SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY series, among other things, about reading in the bathtub, how food is political, intense first love, and mixing friendship and money by co-writing with your best friend.

Hang with me and Dhonielle Clayton, co-author of TINY PRETTY THINGS and its sequel, SHINY BROKEN PIECES (out now!), as well as author of forthcoming series THE BELLES (spring '17). She talks about weekly childhood trips to the bookstore, being a writing n00b, accidentally getting a boarding school job, and writing to arrested development.

And don't forget to take the First Draft Podcast listener survey!

Dhonielle Clayton Show Notes

X Men

THE PAHNTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster

Virginia Hamilton

Walter Dean Myers

I WANT MY HAT BACK by Jon Klassen

Hillary Homzie

The Hanging Garden (group of writers on Tumblr)

David Leviathan

Sarah Weeks

The Longstockings: Jenny Han, Coe Booth, Siobhan Vivian, Lisa Graff

Tin House

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Pretty Little Liars (TV show)

OF MICE AND MEN by John Steinbeck

CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger

THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mildred Taylor

Shonda Rimes

Grey's Anatomy (TV show)

Alloy Entertainment Books

Paper Lantern Lit

Full Fathom Five

The Story Foundation

Victoria Marini, literary agent at ICM

THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass

WITHER by Lauren DeStefano

The Princess Bride (movie)

We Need Diverse Books

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Peterson