About Us

We LOVE 2014!

We are 14 YA authors debuting in 2014 (different from OneFour Kid Lit, who do MG and YA and all things Children's for 2014. They're pretty awesome too). Modeled after the epic brilliance that is Friday the Thirteeners for the 2013 debuts, we wanted to do a smaller, more intimate gathering for YA-focused discussion and shenanigans for the 2014 debuts. We look forward to sharing our journeys with you all the way up to our release dates and beyond!

And now the fun part...introductions!

Jump directly to:

Anne Blankman / Jaye Robin Brown / Bethany Crandell / Lindsay Cummings / Bethany Hagen / Kristi Helvig / Sara B. Larson / Kristen Lippert-Martin / Lynne Matson / Jen McConnel / Sara Raasch / A. Lynden Rolland / Philip Siegel / Paula Stokes

Anne Blankman

Anne Blankman may have been meant to be a writer because her parents named her for Anne of Green Gables. She grew up in an old house with gables (gray, unfortunately) in upstate New York. When she wasn't writing or reading, she was rowing on the crew team, taking ballet lessons, fencing and swimming. She graduated from Union College with degrees in English and history, which comes in handy when she writes historical fiction. After earning a master's degree in information science, Anne began working as a youth services librarian. Currently, she lives in southeastern Virginia with her family. When she's not writing young adult fiction, she's playing with her daughter, training for races with her husband, working at her amazing library branch, learning to knit (badly), and reading. Anne Blankman is the author of NIGHT'S EDGE, the first in a duology slated for publication in spring 2014 from Balzer + Bray | HarperCollins. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

Twitter / Blog

Jaye Robin Brown

Jaye Robin Brown, or JRo to most everyone but her mama, lives and writes in the Appalachian mountains north of Asheville, NC. Sheís fond of dogs, horses, laughter, the absurd and the ironic. When not crafting stories she hangs out with teenagers in the high school art room where she teaches. Her debut novel, NO PLACE TO FALL (Harper Teen, Fall í14), is a love song to small town girls and mountain music.

Twitter / Blog


Bethany Crandell

Bethany and her husband Terry live in San Diego with their two daughters and a chocolate Labrador who has no consideration for personal space. She writes Young Adult novels because the feelings that come with life’s ‘first’ times are too good not to relive again and again. Bethany eats too much guacamole, thrives on tear-inducing laughter, and is still waiting for Jake Ryan to show up at her door.

Twitter / Blog


Lindsay Cummings

Lindsay Cummings is a 21-year-old author of THE MURDER COMPLEX series coming Summer 2014 from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins, as well as the MG trilogy, THE BALANCE KEEPERS, coming Fall 2014 from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins. She loves dystopians, loves scifi, and can't get enough of Supernatural right now. Lindsay deals with chronic fatigue, owns two german sheperds, one wolf cub, and a real live Budweiser draft horse named Dan the Man! Lindsay collects weapons, loves to shoot guns and bows, and can't wait stop dying her hair crazy colors. She's still waiting on her letter from Hogwarts--it was probably just lost in the mail. She loves Jesus and believes all of her success is His doing! 

I have a basement full of books and a computer full of writing. I love drinking coffee and doing karate with my husband (usually not at the same time.)  I've been a model for a painter, stung by a sting-ray, stuck in a coma, and I used to dress up as a 1904 schoolmarm, but I got paid for it, so it's not weird. Currently the day job is in a library, so every once in a while I throw a temper tantrum about the Dewey Decimal system.

My debut novel Landry Park will be out from Dial/Penguin in Winter of 2014. I am represented by Mollie Glick of Foundry Media.

Twitter / Blog



Clinical psychologist and life coach turned YA writer. I write about the strange and fantastical, and have a slight obsession with space monkeys. BURN OUT (Egmont 2014) is my debut YA sci-fi novel. I am represented by the amazing Jessica Regel from the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency.




I wrote my first book in second grade about a woman who had a premature baby, complete with a "to scale" drawing of the baby's size--while my mom was pregnant. To say I was a bit precocious is putting it lightly. Now that I'm an adult, I write books for teens that have magic and romance and kick-butt girls (and very few premature babies). I live in Utah with my husband, two young sons and baby girl. I write during naptime and the hours when most people are sleeping. My husband claims I should have a degree in "the art of multitasking." On occasion you will find me hiding in a bubble bath with a book and some Swedish Fish. I am represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary.




I'm a mom of four, an MFA grad, and a liker of all things nerdtastic. I'm not entirely sure my involvement with the The Valentines isn't a violation of the terms of my parole, so please don't tell anyone you saw me here. I'm represented by Molly Jaffa at Folio Jr./Folio Literary Management. My debut YA contemporary-thriller, TABULA RASA (EgmontUSA), is due out in Fall 2014.




Lynne Matson grew up in Georgia in a house full of books and a backyard full of gnarly pines. Back then, Lynne would stay up late, reading Nancy Drew books under the covers (with a flashlight . . . a weak attempt at ninja stealth). Now she still stays up late reading books and writing them. When she doesn't have a book in her hand, you'll find her listening to music, messing around with paint, or hanging out with her husband and their four boys . . . or all of the above. Her debut novel, NIL, is coming Winter 2014 from Macmillan/Henry Holt. Her agent is the awesome Jennifer Unter.



 
Jen McConnel first began writing poetry as a child. Since then, her words have appeared in a variety of magazines and journals, including Sagewoman, PanGaia, and The Storyteller (where she won the peopleís choice 3rd place award for her poem, ìLunaî). She is also an active reviewer for Voices of Youth Advocates (VOYA), and proud member of SCBWI, NCWN, and SCWW. A Michigander by birth, she now lives and writes in the beautiful state of North Carolina. When she isn't crafting worlds of fiction, she teaches writing composition at a community college. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time. Her debut YA novel, DAUGHTER OF CHAOS, will be out Spring 2014 from Month9Books.

Twitter / Blog



Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then -- her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. Her debut YA fantasy, SNOW LIKE ASHES, is coming out Fall 2014 from Balzer + Bray. It does not feature her hand-drawn pictures. She is represented by Charlotte Sheedy Literary.   

Twitter / Blog


A. Lynden Rolland

A. Lynden Rolland was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland, a picturesque town obsessed with boats and blue crabs. As a child she spent much of her free time compiling dramatic stories of tragic characters in a weathered notebook which she still keeps. She is a sports fanatic, a coffee addict, and a lover of Sauvignon Blanc, thunderstorms and autumn leaves. She is a former high school English teacher and a mother of two who moonlights as a writing tutor and gymnastics instructor. When she isn't chasing her two vivacious boys or arguing about football with her husband, she can be found hiding behind a laptop at her local bookstore. She is represented by Rachael Dugas of Talcott Notch Literary Services. Of Breakable Things, her debut novel, will be released by Month9Books in the spring of 2014.

Twitter / Blog


  Philip Siegel

Philip Siegel grew up in New Jersey, which he insists is much nicer than certain TV shows would have you believe. He graduated from Northwestern University and promptly moved out to Los Angeles, where he became an NBC page. He likes to think that the character of Kenneth on 30 Rock is loosely based on his life rights. Currently, he works in downtown Chicago by day while he writes novels at night and during his commute sandwiched in between colorful characters on the El. His debut novel, THE BREAK-UP ARTIST (Harlequin Teen), about a girl who runs a business breaking up couples, hits bookstores May 2014.

Twitter / Blog / Facebook



Paula Stokes is a writer, RN, world traveler, and an unapologetic fan of the 1990s. She got her start in publishing doing work-for-hire for a book packaging company and she is super-excited to be launching her own stories in 2014. Paula has degrees in psychology and nursing. Her future goals include learning Krav Maga, shark diving, and writing a whole boatload of books.

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