Since the release of her bestselling debut, When Dimple Met Rishi, Sandhya Menon has been writing funny, heart-tugging romcoms centering Indian American characters, exploring modern arranged marriage, first love and first heartbreak, memorable meet-cutes, and self-acceptance. To celebrate her third book, There's Something About Sweetie, we talked with Menon about body positivity, finding the time to write, and her own teen love story.

Since 2010 author and designer Hafsah Faisal has been writing about books on her blog Icy Books, and now she's celebrating the launch of her own Arabian culture inspired fantasy debut. We Hunt the Flame is about a girl who braves an enchanted darkness to keep her people alive, a prince who kills on behalf of his father, and their unexpectedly shared quest to bring magic back to their world. Faisal joined Melissa Albert for a chat about inspired design, great fantasy maps and the spark that became We Hunt the Flame.

Days after they got engaged in front of a joyous bookstore audience, I sat down with Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy to talk about their inclusive fantasy/sci-fi series starter Once & Future, pitched as queer King Arthur in space. The authors talked about their cowriting adventures, falling in love, and taking creative and personal leaps of faith.

Jennifer Donnelly is the author of historical fiction including Printz honoree A Northern Light, and fantasy novels that travel under the sea, into the Beast's magical library, and now into the small country village of Stepsister. Her latest follows Cinderella's so-called ugly stepsister, whose life becomes a battlefield between Fate and Chance: one of whom wants her to march quietly to her predetermined end, the other determined to help her defy it. We talked to Donnelly about fractured fairy tales, her life as a storyteller, and weird historical research.

Every week, Christine Riccio tells hundreds of thousands of people what to read next on her booktube channel PolandBananasBooks—and now, she's promoting her own bestselling debut novel. Again, But Better tells a story of study abroad, second chances, and decisions that change your life with a magical twist, and it's Barnes & Noble's very first pick for the newly launched YA Book Club. We talked to Riccio about her fandoms, debut noveling, and being a book crusader.

Maurene Goo writes warm, funny romantic comedies with irresistible hooks and fabulous supporting casts, about type-A K-Drama obsessives, K-pop stars, LA prankster girls, and heart-lifting love stories. We talked to her about going to K-Pop school, owning your guilty pleasures, and new book Somewhere Only We Know.

Today on the B&N YA Podcast, Elizabeth Acevedo joins us to talk about her forthcoming novel With the Fire on High, the story of a high-school girl balancing motherhood, her care for her beloved grandmother, and her ambitions to take her culinary talents to new heights. It's a marvel of a follow-up to The Poet X, her National Book Award-winning novel in verse.  She talks with Melissa Albert about food, identity, memory, reading and much more.

Emily A. Duncan is a youth services librarian and YA author whose Russian-inspired fantasy debut, Wicked Saints, centers on a cruel prince, a boy turned monster, and a girl with a pantheon of gods whispering in her head.

This buzzy first novel inspired fan art before it even released, and has since hit the bestseller list. We talked to Duncan about fanfic, fairy tales, and pantsing her way through two books and counting.

Danielle Paige has revisited the story of Dorothy Gale, gone dark retelling the Snow Queen, and now, with Mera: Tidebreaker, tells the tale of Aquaman's partner in crime as a teen girl fighting for what's right and falling in love for the first time.  We talked to Paige about writing her first graphic novel, playing with canon, and what she learned in soap opera school.