M.L. Little, Author

Welcome back to Friday interviews! Today I'm excited to introduce my interview with Gail Shepherd. Gail is the author of The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins, a 2019 Junior Library Guild Selection about a young girl whose veteran father is dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Friday Interview: Author Gail Shepherd  I love your book, The True History of Lyndie B. Hawkins. What inspired you to write it?  Lyndie actually started out as a very different kind of book. It was originally conceived as an adult book based on the childhood of a very close friend of mine, who grew up Filipino-American with a father who was a military man who’d been stationed in the Philippines and married a young woman there. Over time, as I revised, I moved the time period forward to 1985 to make it more relevant to my own experience, and made Lyndie a white Tennessee girl with a passion for history, which is also closer to my own life as a child of a southern family. What are...

Happy Friday! Today I'm sharing my conversation with Melissa Sarno, whose second novel. A Swirl of Ocean, released last week through Random House. Author Interview: Melissa Sarno  Hi! I'm happy to have you on the blog because I loved your book. A Swirl of Ocean. I'm yet to read your debut novel, Just Under the Clouds. Can you tell us about it?  Thank you so much for reading A Swirl of Ocean. Just Under the Clouds is about a twelve year old girl living in a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. When the shelter becomes unsafe, she and her mother and sister move in with an old friend and Cora discovers a tree, called Tree of Heaven, that her late father, who was a horticulturist, studied. It sets her on a path to try to understand the true meaning of home and where she and her family belong. Your website says you began writing at the age of seven. Do you remember some of the first stories you ever wrote?  Yes! As a reader, I was always drawn to realistic stories...

Happy Friday! Today I'm happy to share this space with Brittney Joy, who is not only an accomplished author but, if I do say so myself, an online friend of mine. During our conversation, I got to hear a preview of her next book as well as the funny way some of her characters got their names. Author Interview: Brittney Joy  Hi! Thanks for joining us today. Can you start by telling us when you wrote  your first story? Was it published or not?  In middle school I read a lot (mostly about horses) and I started journaling in high school—writing down all my thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The regular act of journaling taught me how to express myself and, ultimately, gave me the bug to write fiction. However, I didn’t start writing fiction until my late twenties and I was in my early thirties when I self-published my first young adult book, Lucy’s Chance . It took me some time to build up my confidence before I felt comfortable setting my story and words “free” ...

Happy Friday! Today I am thrilled to share the stage with the brilliant and kind K.A. Reynolds, author of The Land of Yesterday (HarperCollins 2018) as well as this month's upcoming release, The Spinner of Dreams. I had the opportunity to read an ARC of the latter (read my review of it here! ) and invited Ms. Reynolds on the blog to talk about it.    Author Interview: K.A. Reynolds  To start with, I have to compliment your world-building. I loved it. What was your favorite part  about constructing the world of The Spinner of Dreams? Oh my goodness, thank you for that amazing compliment! I *really* love this world, too—from the dark and cursed town of Carriwitchet, to the not-everything-is-as-it-seems Mazelands, to the colorful magic of Dreamland. But if I’m honest, it was the between sort of places that were the most exciting to create. Like the enchanted train of white crows that carries dreamers from Carriwitchet to the Mazelands via a crack in the ...