On today's episode, we're joined by the writer Rick Riordan, known by thousands of readers around the globe for his blockbuster series including Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase. Riordan takes his fans on thrill rides through fantasy worlds that draw up on Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythos, mixing anachronistic humor and page-turning thrills to make figures from Poseidon to Loki come alive as friends or foes — and in the process he's left an enduring stamp on fantasy and adventure for young adults. In his latest series The Trials of Apollo, he's taken a fresh twist, following the travails of a god trapped in a human body. Riordan dropped by our studio to talk with Melissa Albert, bestselling author of The Hazel Wood and our regular YA podcast host. We were especially excited not only to talk about his new book The Tyrant's Tomb, but also to hear about his groundbreaking new imprint Rick Riordan presents, which has tapped up-and-coming writers from diverse backgrounds to tell stories from myth traditions around the world. 

Nic Stone entered the YA canon with her blistering debut, Dear Martin, in which a contemporary Black teen writes letters to Martin Luther King, Jr, following a galvanizing incident of racial profiling. Her next book was the cliche-cracking love triangle tale Odd One Out, and her latest, Jackpot, is a story of income inequality, teens growing up too soon, and the irresistible allure of a lottery win. I talked to Stone about destabilizing her characters, driving plot through dialogue, and writing the books that become a teen reader’s landscape.

Today special guest is the internationally bestselling author Ruta Sepetys. In novels like Between Shades of Gray and Salt to the Sea, Sepetys has given readers glimpses into turning points of 20th century history through the experiences of characters set right in the midst of these gripping real-world dramas. She's told the stories of Lithuanians sent to Siberian camps by the Soviet regime and refugees fleeing the devastation of the second world war — all via intricately constructed tales of individuals who have everything at stake. Her new novel The Fountains of Silence takes readers to 1950s Spain under the rule of Franco's authoritarian regime; when 18 year old American Daniel Matheson arrives in Madrid, his hope is to capture its beauty with his camera — but his growing connection to a young woman named Ana reveals the struggles that her family faces under the dictatorship, and forces Daniel to make some very hard choices. It's our B&N YA Book Club selection for November and so we were thrilled to get a chance to talk with the author about her obsessions, how she finds her ideas — and the extras she's included inside the B&N Exclusive Edition of The Fountains of Silence.

Laura Ruby is the author of books including the fairy-tale inflected award-winner Bone Gap, the York trilogy, a steampunk series for younger readers, and her latest Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All, a ranging, layered historical tale told by a ghost who can't stop tangling with the living.  She watches over Frankie, a girl consigned to an orphanage in World War II era Chicago in a story of heartache and survival that mixes worlds both haunted and achingly real. We talked to Ruby about what shaped her as a writer and her new book — recently named as a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.

On today's episode we've got a conversation we've been waiting for since... well, since we heard that author Rainbow Rowell was going to give readers a sequel to her captivating contemporary fantasy Carry On. In Carry On, we meet Simon Snow, the most unlikely Chosen One ever, in his last year at the Watford School of Magicks and having a distinctly un-magical time. But Rowell steers her creation through it via adventure, laugh out loud humor, a wonderfully inventive magical system, and an extremely appealing vampire named Baz. Her fans did everything short of their own magical rituals in the hope that Simon and Baz's story would continue, and now the award winning author of Eleanor and Park and Fangirl has brought this couple back in Wayward Son — and this time she's brought them to America. B&N YA Podcast host Melissa Albert called up Rainbow Rowell on the phone just before Wayward Son hit bookshelves, for a talk about fantasy and fandom, Baz's unique charms, and the special magic of a road trip.

Today on the YA Podcast, our special guest is the celebrated graphic novel writer Mariko Tamaki, in to talk about her razor-sharp and groundbreaking new take on a DC comics character who has crossed over from villainous sidekick to fan-favorite antihero. Mariko Tamaki is the Eisner Award and Caldecott Honor-winning author of celebrated graphic novels including Skim, This One Summer and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me. With Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, Tamaki offers a story of teen angst, fierce loyalty, and finding your voice. Bestselling author of The Hazel Wood and regular YA Podcast host Melissa Albert spoke with Tamaki on the phone to talk about the quest to give readers a Harley they've never seen before.

David Yoon is the debut author of Frankly in Love, a tale of fake dating, first love, and life as a first-generation Korean American that deepens as it goes, from a wickedly incisive comedy to a painfully beautiful exploration of how identity is determined by and in spite of our families. We talked to Yoon about his high school years; how fatherhood has changed his craft; collaborating with his wife, the novelist Nicola Yoon; and writing his first novel.

On today's episode we spoke with novelist Shelby Mahurin about her darkly enchanting debut Serpent and Dove. It's a story of deception, betrayal, love and magic set in a world divided between an authoritarian religious government and a mysterious society of powerful witches. Louise le Blanc is a witch hiding among townsfolk who would consider her a monster, and she finds herself in an uncomfortable alliance with righteous witch-hunter Reid Diggory. Mahurin sets their story in an atmospheric world drawn uniquely from French culture and folklore. A short while before Serpent and Dove hit bookshelves, Shelby Mahurin dropped in to out studios to talk about her inspirations and plans for the world of Serpent and Dove, which has also been chosen as a Barnes & Noble YA Book club selection. 

Our guest on today's episode of the B&N YA Podcast is the writer Katharine McGee talking about her new novel American Royals, which hits bookshelves this week. McGee first dazzled readers with her Thousandth Floor trilogy, a glamorously imagined story of wealth, power and intrigue set in the dizzying atmosphere of a future Manhattan in which the word "skyscraper" takes on a whole new meaning. With American Royals, the inventive author places a modern romantic comedy in an alternate reality in which the American Revolution ended with George Washington accepting the crown from a grateful nation — and 200 years later, his descendants still hold the throne. Katharine McGee joined Melissa Albert in the studio to talk about her fascination with history, her love of a great TV cliffhanger, and the sources of her unique, addictive stories.

We are resharing one of our favorite conversations that we originally posted earlier this year, in case you missed it!

Leigh Bardugo is the keeper of the Grishaverse, a sprawling fantasy landscape that includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, gorgeous fairy tale collection The Language of Thorns, and now King of Scars, the opening title of a duology about Nikolai, the charming, haunted Ravkan king. On the eve of its publication we talked to Bardugo about her path to publication, finding solace in books, what it means to write a zero draft, and the upcoming Netflix adaptation.