For the last several episodes, we've been doing a highlight series on the podcast, interviewing our speakers for the 805 Writers Conference. Today Kathleen highlights award-winning author Mark H. Parsons. He's a multi-talented major house-signed non-fiction and YA writer and musician.

Kathleen and Mark discuss his latest YA work, The 9:09 Project, releasing in November 2022, from Delacorte/Random House. The story follows a young man dealing with grief. He starts taking photographs every day at 9:09. Inspiring him to use this project to put his grief to work for him. They touch briefly on the process Mark takes while developing his stories, but more so on the why of them. Writing YA allows an author to explore significant subject matters and how to deal with life-altering moments. Join the discussion and get inspired by yet another one of our very talented conference speakers. 

We’d like to hear from you. If you have topics or speakers you’d like us to interview, please email us at [email protected] and join the conversation in the comments on our Instagram @writerspubsnet.