Storytellers & Friends! We have Newbery Honor award winner RITA WILLIAMS-GARCIA with us today on Episode 2 of Season 2!

Rita is a #1 New York Times Bestselling author, Coretta Scott King Author Award winner, and a National Book Award Finalist.  I’m constantly in awe of Rita’s expertise of weaving social awareness into her books, adding even more depth to her stories and characters.

Storyteller Tribe,  you guys are in for a treat today. If you’re working on young adult novels or middle grade books, you’ll want to pay special attention to Rita’s incredibly actionable tips and advice!

“Let the story belong to the character.”

“I told my first lie and a star was born.”

“Once that book goes out in the world, it belongs to the world.”

“Here is the beautiful thing: A book will find her reader and it will open that reader up in ways that she had not been open.”

How to weave social awareness into your writing and still have your story connect with readers

The road blocks Rita faced throughout the publishing process and how her experiences can help you navigate the publishing world successfully

How important it is to work with publishers and agents that support youand your writing

How to make your story come alive 

How to magnify the world you created in your story

Rita’s advice and tips on reaching out to exceptional agents

Rita Williams-Garcia is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels for young adults and middle grade readers, and two picture books.  Her most recent novel, Gone Crazy in Alabama ends the saga of the Gaither Sisters, who appear in One Crazy Summer and PS Be Eleven.  All three novels in the series have won the Coretta Scott King Author Award.  Her  numerous awards and citations include having been named a National Book Award Finalist twice, a Newbery Honor Book, a Parents’ Choice Award, a Junior Library Guild, and the Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction.  She is on faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Writing for Children MFA Program and she resides in Queens, New York.