The Quill Track opens on Thursday afternoon with a reception hosted by our tote bag sponsor, Wattpad. Through the afternoon, many fine authors will be hosting displays of their own books til about to 5pm as part of the Book Faire. Be sure to also say hello to Omnific (a publishing company that grew out of fandom), and the following authors who’ll be joining Lindsay Ribar, Aimee Carter, Michelle Hodkin and Lev Grossman. Read More…
Just when you thought you couldn’t get more excited for The Quill Track… amazing YA author and Printz award winner Libba Bray will be joining us at Ascendio! Libba is the brilliant mind behind Beauty Queens, Going Bovine and the Gemma Doyle series (witches at boarding school – you can’t go wrong!). If you haven’t read her books (any or all of them!), the Ascendio staff are huge fans and highly recommend them all.
Libba will be speaking about girls in YA, the power of friendship and LGBTQ and diversity in YA fiction on the following panels:
12:30-2 p.m., Tuscan IV
Katniss, Bella, and Hermione: Finding the Balance Between Asskicking Prowess and Emotional Realism in the Girls of YA Fiction
5-6 p.m., Venetian III
Friendship is Magic: Relationships Beyond Romance in Harry Potter & YA
11-12:30 p.m., Tuscan IV
Say Yes To Gay YA:LGBTQ and Diversity in YA Fiction
Additionally, Libba will be doing a reading/signing — details TBD!
The Quill Track is exclusively available to Ascendio attendees and is a unique opportunity to hear all your favorite authors — and new authors you’ll be thrilled to discover — speak on Harry Potter, young adult lit and the publishing industry. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to meet them, get your books signed and ask your burning questions!
Can’t wait to read the thrilling sequel to Veronica Roth’s Divergent? Neither can we! In celebration of Insurgent‘s May 1 release, we’re giving away TWO copies, signed by Veronica!
Not only that, but we’ve got TWO SIGNED COPIES of Divergent, and some nifty Faction tattoos, as well! So whether you’re already a Divergent devotee clamoring for Insurgent or new to Veronica Roth’s dystopian series and want to catch up pre-Ascendio — we’ve got an awesome giveaway for you!
How do you enter? It’s easy! Fill out the Rafflecopter form below, with a variety of ways to enter — the more ways you do, the more entries you get!
The giveaway is open from April 20-April 30, 2012. Winners will be chosen at random on May 1st!
And if you’re unfamiliar with Ascendio? We’re a Harry Potter fan conference taking place July 12-15 in Orlando, Florida, at which Veronica Roth will be present as a special guest! Veronica will not only do a reading/signing for Insurgent & Divergent, but she will be speaking on several panels about YA and books, along with a bunch of other amazing YA authors! Plus, Veronica’s agent, Joanna Volpe, and her editor, Molly O’Neill, are also attending as special guests, and will be doing an entire programming session on the Divergent series!
For more information about our Quill Track and the programming Veronica will be participating in, click here! If you’re interested in attending, day registrations start at $75. You can read more about registration here.
Ascendio is pleased to announce a roster of fans-turned-erotica professionals who will be joining our Quill Track!
Now fans of romance and erotica, especially m/m erotica, will have an opportunity to learn more about this end of the industry, exciting changes it’s seeing, and how several Harry Potter fanfiction writers made the jump from fanfic to pro! The following guests are confirmed:
http://saritzahernandez.blogspot.com
E-Pub Agent extraordinaire and avid coffee-drinker, Saritza is as short and simple as this paragraph. Give her a good paranormal or fantasy romance, a giant mug of steaming Cuban coffee and a corner to put her feet up to read, and she’s one happy camper!
Saritza represents both new and established authors and is currently looking for strong erotic romance in the following sub-genres:
Paranormal, sci-fi, steampunk, cyberpunk, fantasy, BDSM, historical (emphasis on Ancient Egypt, Caribbean/MesoAmerican), intercultural and all GLBT-themed erotica for the digital marketplace. Find her submission guidelines and status on her blog: saritzahernandez.blogspot.com and follow her twitter @epubagent.
In fandom, Saritza is known as Madame Minnie, and is one of the founding members of The Quidditch Pitch.
Do you want a brand new book, by an awesome Ascendio author, all fancy and signed? We’re doing a new book giveaway! Aimee Carter is a bona fide HP fan-turned published author, who will be at Ascendio as part of The Quill Track.
Sequel to Aimee’s debut YA, The Goddess Test, Goddess Interrupted is yet another fun play on Greek mythology, with a YA spin. In honor of today, Aimee’s Book Release Day, we’re giving away TWO SIGNED COPIES! Enter starting today, March 27 until midnight on Sunday, April 1st (EST).
Entering is easy! Just use the Rafflecopter entry below — you can comment on this post, like us on Facebook, tweet about the contest, follow HPEF, Aimee & Harlequin Teen on Twitter — the more entry methods you do, the more chances you have to win! The winners will be chosen at random by Rafflecopter next week.
Want to know more about the book? Check out the awesome book trailer!
Ascendio is proud and pleased to host pitch sessions with literary agents Carlie Webber, Lindsay Ribar and Joanna Volpe (more may be added)! Take this unique opportunity to do literary agent “speed dating,” pitching your completed novel to three agents at once! If an agent is interested in your novel, they will request sample pages or the whole manuscript — you never know what could happen!
How do pitch sessions work? Agent pitch sessions are like speed dating — you’ll get five minutes to sit down with an agent, give them an elevator pitch for your book, and if they are interested, they will request sample pages/your full manuscript. After five minutes, your time is up and the next person sits down, and you can move on to the next agent.
Two pitch sessions are scheduled: Friday from 4-5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9-11 a.m. This means the agents will get to hear approximately 40 pitches each; more sessions may be added later due to demand.
We will be allowing online sign-ups for approximately 25% of the session slots (using the below form), in order to accommodate those who won’t be able to sign-up in person, on a first-come, first-served basis. The remainder of the session slots must be signed-up for at Ascendio, either at our Thursday afternoon Book Fair or at the Meet & Greet table on Friday/Saturday.
The Ascendio Quill track is growing leaps and bounds — Harper Collins editor Molly O’Neill will be joining us for discussions of publishing, YA and more! Molly is the editor who discovered Veronica Roth‘s Divergent, and she’s a HUGE Harry Potter fan.
Not only will Molly be joining a panel on Dystopia in YA, Molly, Veronica Roth and Veronica’s agent Joanna Volpe will be doing a “behind the scenes” talk giving insight about how the author-agent-editor relationship works, and how a book goes from draft in an author’s computer to published book.
We are thrilled to have Molly join us!
Molly O’Neill started falling in love with the children’s/young adult book industry while she was a college student—which was right around the time that the world started falling in love with books about a boy wizard named Harry Potter—and the legacy of The Boy Who Lived has shaped the near-decade she’s worked in the children’s publishing industry in countless ways.
She started her career on the Marketing/Publicity side of the business, but is now thrilled to have her dream job at the Katherine Tegen Books imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she edits, acquires, and champions picture books, middle grade books, and young adult novels. In addition to being the editor of Veronica Roth’s DIVERGENT series, she is also the editor of the forthcoming YA sci-fi INSIGNIA trilogy by S. J. Kincaid, which prominent booksellers have said is perfect “for those missing Hogwarts.” You can learn more about Molly and the books she edits on her publishing blog http://10blockwalk.blogspot.com or by following her on Twitter.
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