Posts Tagged Author Interview

Author Spotlight: Landra Jennings + a GIVEAWAY

By on September 11, 2023   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways  

 

In today’s Author Spotlight, Jo Hackl chats with author Landra Jennings about her new middle-grade novel, Wand (Clarion Books, October 31). She’ll share her inspiration behind writing it, the works of literature that influenced it, and the surprising muse for the bird characters! Plus, there’s a chance to win a finished/signed copy of Wand if you enter the giveaway. Scroll down for details.

 


Book Summary:

A dazzling story of grief and found family wrapped in a spellbinding fairy tale, perfect for fans of Anne Ursu and Jodi Lynn Anderson.

Eleven-year-old Mira wishes everything could go back to the way it was. Before she changed schools and had to quit gymnastics. Especially before Papa died. Now she spends her days cooking and cleaning for her stepsisters and Val—who she still won’t call mom and still won’t forgive for the terrible thing she did.

When a mysterious girl named Lyndame appears out of the woods wielding a powerful wand, she makes Mira an offer she can’t refuse: she will grant Mira three wishes.

What if magic isn’t just pretend after all? What if these wishes could fix everything? But in the quiet town of Between, Georgia, where secrets lurk and rumors swirl of strange creatures, nothing is as it seems, and everything comes at a price.

Rising talent Landra Jennings weaves together an enchanting, modern fairy tale with eloquence and compassion about finding hope after loss—and finding belonging in the places we least expect.

 

Interview with Landra Jennings

JH: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Landra! Thanks for joining us today.

LJ: Thank you so much for having me.

JH:  First I have to tell you how much I loved Wand. The story felt gothic and suspenseful, like your first book, and I loved the adventure. I enjoyed  the fairy tale elements. Can you please tell us about your inspiration to write it?

LJ: Thanks so much! You’re right about the fairy tale elements. I’d say I had three areas of inspiration. Firstly, this is my take on Cinderella for middle grade. I wanted to figure out what a happy ending looked like for eleven-year-old Mira, whose story starts in in modern-day Georgia. Her father has passed away, leaving her with a stepmother and two step sisters, and she’s still grieving. Similar to other modern interpretations of Cinderella, I wanted Mira to figure out her happy ending for herself versus finding a literal ‘prince.’ Secondly, I’ve also realized in the process of writing that I start stories with some big emotion and build from there. My first book was focused on the difficulty in detaching from that one friend (or sibling) that you’ve become too dependent on and learning how to become an independent person. Wand is about grief; how once we’ve experienced the pain of losing someone, whether it be through death or some other way, we can build those walls around ourselves to protect from future pain, and how that can isolate us from the world. We might really want something magical to fix everything and take our pain away versus facing the pain head-on. I wanted to explore the process of breaking down those walls from the perspective of a child. Finally, while I was editing Wand, I read The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, an amazing YA portal fantasy and that book started me on a binge of reading and re-reading portal fantasies, mostly middle grade works. So those other fantasies were also influential as I developed the plot.

Portal Fantasy Influences

JH: Why a portal fantasy? Please tell us more about that.

LJ: Portal fantasy is a very broad category, really. A character travels from one world to another through a “portal,” a passageway of some sort, whether it be a tornado as in L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, or a mysterious wooden door, as in Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

Sometimes the characters stumble onto the portal as in C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Sometimes they deliberately seek it out, as in the Hogwarts Express train in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Or sometimes (and this is really fun) they create the portal themselves as in Philip Pullman’s The Subtle Knife or in Kwame Mbalia’s Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky.

I’ve mostly been reading about portals where characters travel from our ordinary world to the fantasy world. Sometimes they’re escaping a bad situation or boredom, and other times they’re searching for something specific. As readers, a book can be an escape to begin with and I love the function of a portal in taking the reader that much further away from their reality. It’s a very different world readers enter and they can work out their big emotions in a place far removed from their own problems. In Wand, the portal to the other world is a pond. My main character, Mira, is searching for her true family and a place she can belong. Mira has built up those emotional walls, protecting herself. Leaving the modern world and going to a new one by jumping into the pond is a way of avoiding confronting her powerful emotions.

The Role of the Wand and Magic

JH: Let’s talk about the wand. It’s in the title obviously, and I noticed its significance in the story. What is the role of the magic wand in the book?

LJ: The wand in my book represents the wish to “magic away” your problems. And the use of the wand in the narrative tracks along with Mira’s journey of processing her grief. In many versions of Cinderella, like Disney’s version, the heroine does not have the ability to use the magic wand herself. She is dependent on powerful others, such as a fairy godmother, who can wield it. The fairy godmother character in Wand is a teen named Lyndame who offers to grant Mira wishes, misrepresenting the power of the wand and her purpose in offering the wishes. Once Mira figures that out, she does get the wand for herself and she can wield it. Even though Mira’s intuition tells her that she shouldn’t use it, she does use it, to disastrous effect.

Favorite Character

JH: Who was your favorite character to write?

LJ: Lyndame, the antagonist. She’s so independent, yet so angry. She is processing her grief very differently than Mira, becoming a cautionary tale and demonstrating the emotional wreckage that can happen if an individual can’t work through grief and move on.

Favorite Scene

JH: What was your favorite scene to write?

LJ: I think one of my favorites is the girls together, upstairs in Mira’s bedroom. Mira’s been sent to her room without dinner and her stepsisters bring up a board game and some mushy microwave pizza. There’s not a whole lot of dialogue and it’s not a complicated scene, but there’s a lot of sub-text about demonstrating care for someone else.

Inspiration for the fascinating bird characters

JH: Can you tell us about the inspiration for the bird characters in the book? I noticed there are actually two in the main cast!

LJ: I love birds of all sorts. That love started as a child. I remember when I was 10 years old, using my last 50 cents to buy a used bird cage at a garage sale and begging my mother to let me have a parakeet. She didn’t! (I now recognize the wisdom of this decision). As an adult, I was finally able to get a parakeet: Momo. He became a tiny and beloved member of our family, moving with us from Chicago to Greenville, and living for 11 years.

Lately, I’m fascinated by wild birds, like hummingbirds and crows. I loved the idea of a crow to support Mira in her journey. As Bandit the crow is from the ordinary world, it was important to me that he be an ordinary crow. However, there’s no reason to enhance crows from the way they actually are. They are extraordinary to begin with, very intelligent, and there is so much research available from which to draw. I read about some crow species using found objects as tools and I knew I had to include that behavior in the book.  Source: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/08/like-humans-crows-are-more-optimistic-after-making-tools-to-solve-a-problem/. I had a little more leeway with the character of Edwin, the golden bird who made it into the cover art. He’s from a magical land so I could make him a little more human-like. Overall, I enjoyed the parallel of having both the protagonist and the antagonist having bird companions.

To the Heart of Wand

JH: What would you most like for readers to take away from the book?

LJ: At its heart, the book is about family. However, you define family—whether it be the family you are born into or the one you find along the way. About recognizing that your family might not be perfect (can’t be perfect) but might be what you need to support you in your life, anyway.

Lightning Round!

No MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so. . . .

Favorite cities (besides the one you live in):

Chicago. My kids were both born there.

 Scale of 1 to 10—How good of a driver are you?

Eh. Maybe an 8. I’m very cautious and slow (careful about distracted driving!) but my reflexes aren’t what they used to be.

Would you rather be able to speak every language in the world or talk to animals?

Talk to animals!

 Favorite ice cream?

Mint chocolate chip.

 Dawn or dusk?

Dusk. Such a gorgeous and mysterious time.

 Favorite childhood TV show?

Well, that really dates me. My favorite was Space Giants. When I look back on that now, it’s kind of an embarrassing choice because the scripts and special effects weren’t exactly top notch.

 What’s the best advice you ever received?

Be accountable. Follow through on what you’ve promised and if you make a mistake, apologize.

 

 JH: How can readers obtain a copy of the book? And for our educators and librarians, do you offer reading guides?

LJ: The book can be preordered at your local independent bookstores, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon, or any place books are sold. Personalized copies can be preordered at Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC: https://www.fiction-addiction.com/quicksearch/author/landra%20jennings. And yes! I have an amazing curriculum supplement, with tons of fun and educational activities, to accompany my first book, and a curriculum supplement is soon to come for Wand. My multi-talented and multi-credentialed (EdS and M.Ed.) sister, Kinla Nelson, created both of these. And both will be available on my website.

 

And now. . . .

 

For a chance to win a signed copy of Wand, comment on the blog—and, if you’re on Twitter/X, on the Mixed-Up Files  Twitter/X account, for an extra chance to win!  (Giveaway ends September 18, 2023, MIDNIGHT EST.) U.S. only, please. Book will be mailed after publication. To enter, click here. 

 

About the Author 

Landra Jennings is a Greenville, South Carolina-based writer, author of middle-grade fantasy novels The Whispering Fog and the forthcoming Wand (October 31, 2023) published by HarperCollins Clarion Books. She holds an MBA from Northwestern University and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University in Minneapolis where she won the Anne Tews Schwab Scholarship for Excellence in Critical Writing and the Walden Pond Press Scholarship in Middle Grade Fiction and Non-Fiction. She is passionate about encouraging a love of reading and writing in children. You can learn more about Landra on her website. You can follow her on Instagram and Goodreads.

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Happy Birthday to A Horse Named Sky!

By on August 31, 2023   /   Articles  

We are delighted to wish Happy Birthday to A Horse Named Sky, which Greenwillow Books just released. It’s the third in Rosanne Parry’s acclaimed Voice of the Wilderness novels. This one features a wild colt captured and forced into service by the Pony Express. We’re talking with Rosanne about how she wrote this story.
MUF: Rosanne, congratulations on another marvelously crafted (and beautifully illustrated) novel that invites readers into the world of a wild animal. Like all your novels, A Horse Called Sky is based on curiosity and on extensive research.  Was some of that done on location, in the places where wild horses live or have lived? If so, what was that like?

ROSANNE: I did travel quite a bit to learn about the wild horses in my story. I visited the Virginia Range just east of Reno, Nevada where my story begins and  I camped and hiked in the Steens Mountain Wilderness in Oregon where my story ends. I hiked over the summit of the Sierra Nevada mountains on the Pony Express Trail and I talked to all kinds of people. Paiute historians, wild horse conservationists, ranchers, geologists and hydrologists, and a variety of people who own, train or ride horses much more often than me.

MUF: In researching wild horses, what were some of the discoveries about them and their society that most interested you?

On the lookout!

ROSANNE: I have been fascinated by how horses communicate with their whole bodies in some very big and obvious ways and in some very subtle ways. Once when we were looking at mustangs from 100 yards away or so (like you are supposed to) a yearling got curious about me and approached. She walked right up to me, and then turned her head and neck to the side which is how a horse invites you to come closer. It was so sweet! I wanted to hug that little horse so much! But about 20 yards behind her the mare was fixing me with a look! Lips pressed together. It was subtle but I could see in an instant how unhappy she was. I did not take one step closer to the yearling! And as soon as she saw her mother watching her, she sprinted away from me.

I also saw a large group of mares and their stallions together and a smaller group of bachelor stallions alongside them. The youngsters got a little boisterous with each other. They started with just snorting and kicking dirt at each other. But then they reared up and started throwing kicks. One of the older stallions lifted up his head and gave one snort in the direction of the younger males.  They stopped fighting instantly. A subtle gesture with a huge response. It really made me think about the structure of a band of wild horses. They are very deferential to each other. The males do fight, but for the most part they are very conflict avoidant. It’s pretty inspiring.

MUF: There is much information in the back of your book about the status of wild horses and their environment in the present. You could have written a contemporary story about wild horses.  What was your thought in setting your novel during the brief run of the Pony Express in the early 19thcentury?

ROSANNE: It was the dearest ambition of my 8 year old self to be a pony express rider. 1. Outdoors 2. Moving fast 3. Excellent pay 4. Very little supervision. Four of my favorite things to this day! When I learned that the pony express had in fact taken mustangs off the range to run the more difficult and dangerous sections in the mountains of the west, I knew I had a story kids could really root for. And then I dug into the history of the Piaute War and the Comstock silver mine in the Virginia Range and the enslavement of Indigenous Americans in California, & the surrounding territories, and the history of Black cowboys.  Well it was all very interesting and piece of American history not so commonly talked about.

MUF: You set a task for yourself by having an animal character be your narrator. He can only communicate and connect with readers using perceptions and responses a horse would have.  Readers then have to guess at the actual object, animals, or words for things (and they do). I love the way Sky classifies humans by the colors of their hides and “manes” and identifies the stallions, colts, and mares among them. What things did you have to think hardest about to get them across through Sky?

ROSANNE: I love to think about how an animal perceives the world. It was very different to write about a prey animal as the last two Voice of the Wilderness books were predators—a wolf and an orca. Horses, even well cared for domestic horses, are always on the alert for danger. They notice the smallest things and every change of mood in the members of their family band.

The hardest part to write was thinking through the human interactions, understanding how horses regard humans and try to communicate with them. When I chose the wrangler who teaches Sky to accept a saddle and bridle, I chose a former slave. A person who would have a natural compassion for a creature who has newly lost his freedom. I studied both historic and contemporary horse training methods. The more gentle training model the wrangler uses was fairly common in the 1800s. Writing the actual steps in the gentling process from the point of view of a horse who doesn’t know what’s going on took lots of drafts.

MUF: And now let’s hear from Sky’s illustrator, Kirbi Fagan. Kirbi  is recognized for her cover art in adult, YA, and Middle-grade fiction as well as comic books projects such as Black Panther/Shuyri and Firefly. She illustrated this book in pan pastels.

MUF: Brava, Kirbi! Aren’t horses one of the more difficult animals to draw?  Love helps, right?

KIRBI: Thank you. It does take a certain kind of artist to take on drawing over a hundred illustrations of horses! My agent asked if I was tired of horses after I turned in my last revisions. I’m not. In fact, I think my inner horse girl is living her best life. Horses have lived alongside people for so long, it’s one of the animals humans can recognize quickly. That’s why, even for a novice, it’s easy to spot a bad horse drawing. All of this to say, yes, drawing horses is tough. 

MUF: Are wild horses an extra challenge?

KIRBI: I visited as many different horses as I could, I did proper studies to refer to, and drew in the field. I felt prepared (and inspired!). Seeing the range of diversity from horse to horse is freeing and helped me loosen up. Mustangs are on the more petite side, and I was lucky to meet Maggie, who lives about an hour away from me, who fit the size of Sky’s band roughly. Thanks Maggie!

MUF: Does being free but also having to provide for themselves change wild horses’ appearance or stance or carriage, compared to domestic horses?

KIRBI: The truth is, a lot of wild horses are dehydrated and undernourished. Likely worse today than during the Pony Express times. Today, wild horses will show characteristics of draft horses and thoroughbred horses. When most people think of wild horses many think of the swath of colors and markings. This reputation is well deserved. Wild horses roam great distances and these rugged terrains are not kind. Manes are ragged and mangled, sometimes even with burrs. They bear all sorts of battle wounds. They aren’t groomed, so when their coats change with the seasons, it’s a string of bad hair days!

MUF: Thank you, Rosanne and Kirbi, for taking time to share some of what went into creating this book!  Readers, treat yourselves to Rosanne’s unique and moving way of writing an animal’s story in A Horse Named Sky.  Also in the other two books in the Voices of the Wilderness series: A Wolf called Wander, and A Whale of the Wild.   (And keep an eye out for Kirbi’s debut author/illustrated picture book appearing in 2025).

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Author Spotlight: Ciera Burch

By on August 28, 2023   /   Articles, Author Interviews  
Today, we welcome author Ciera Burch to shine in the Author Spotlight. Her MG debut novel, Finch House, is out September 5th from Margaret K. McElderry Books. But first…

A Summary 

Eleven-year-old Micah has no interest in moving out of her grandfather’s house. She loves living with Poppop and their shared hobby of driving around rich neighborhoods to find treasures in others’ trash. To avoid packing, Micah goes for a bike ride and ends up at Finch House, the decrepit Victorian that Poppop says is Off Limits. Except when she gets there, it’s all fixed up and there’s a boy named Theo in the front yard. Surely that means Finch House isn’t Off Limits anymore? But when Poppop finds her there, Micah is only met with his disappointment.

By the next day, Poppop is nowhere to be found. After searching everywhere, Micah’s instincts lead her back to Finch House. But once Theo invites her inside, Micah realizes she can’t leave. And that, with its strange whispers and deep-dark shadows, Finch House isn’t just a house…it’s alive. Can Micah find a way to convince the house to let her go? Or will she be forced to stay in Finch House forever?

Interview with Ciera Burch

MR: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Ciera. It’s always exciting to have a debut author on our blog!

CB: Thank you for having me!

MR: Could you tell Mixed-Up Files readers about Finch House?

CB: Of course! Finch House is a horror middle-grade novel about a young girl, Micah, whose curiosity draws her to an old Victorian house that she’s been forbidden by her poppop, her grandfather, to go near. When he goes missing, she’s drawn back to the house to search for him, and she discovers mysteries about the house, the people who used to live there, and even things about her own family’s past.

Victorian Inspiration

MR: What was your inspiration behind the novel?

There are so many inspirations behind Finch House—my own poppop’s basement, my attitude on change, my love of horror as a genre despite being easily frightened. One of my biggest inspirations, however, was my love of Victorian houses. There was a neighborhood near mine growing up that was full of them, and every time we drove past my eyes would be glued to the window. I loved imagining what the houses looked like on the inside and who used to live in them and, for some of the scarier ones, what ghosts or witches might exist inside. That curiosity never left and eventually manifested into Micah, who’s even more curious than I was as a child.

A Dark Room, Creaky Floorboards…BOO!

MR: What is it about the genre of spooky MG that appeals to you most? Were you into ghosts, haunted houses, and the supernatural as a child?

CB: Oooh, what a great question. I think it’s probably the courage that the characters possess. I was, and still am, a bit easily spooked but getting to read about characters who are brave in the face of scary things is always fun to me. Plus, I love the atmosphere. A dark room, creaky floorboards… it always gets my heart racing in the best ways.

I wasn’t quite as into them as a child as I am today, but I did enjoy the Goosebumps books. I always tried to pick the ones I thought might be less scary based on the cover. Those, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark always had me up reading until way too late…and then burying my head under the covers to hide from all the monsters.

Breaking the Rules

MR: Micah, the main character of your novel, knows that Finch House is strictly off-limits—but she dares to go inside anyway. What is it about rule-breaking that is often so enticing? And what does this say about Micah’s character that she ignores Poppop’s instructions?

CB: I think it’s the sense of self that it allows you. After all, it’s typically someone else who has set the rules—Poppop in this case. In choosing to break a rule, you’re making your own decisions. Your own rules, even! There’s something thrilling about that, especially as a kid, the aspect of being in charge of yourself and doing what you want to do regardless of what anyone else has said or told you to do.

As for Micah personally, I think it shows a good portion of her stubbornness—she wants answers and she’s going to get them whether or not she’s been told otherwise. I think she craves the knowledge that her usually very open Poppop won’t give her in this particular instance. And honestly, she also just thinks it’s fun. At first, anyway.

(For more spooky fun from the Mixed-Up Files archives, click here.)

Poppop: Fact versus Fiction

MR: Speaking of Poppop, I’m guessing this character is based on your own grandfather. Can you tell us about him? How is he similar to the fictional Poppop? How is he different?

CB: He is! Oh, man, I love talking about my Poppop. He’s great. He’s the most adorable man in his 70s that you’ve ever seen. He has a single gold tooth, forever wears his Navy hat, and chuckles in answer to just about anything. In terms of similarities, he and the fictional Poppop look pretty much alike and they both go networking! I also think they share a sense of comforting quiet. Unless he’s telling a story, my Poppop isn’t a huge talker but he’ll listen to you and I think both Poppops do that well. They also both spoil their granddaughters! In terms of how he’s different, my Poppop can probably be a little grumpier sometimes.

Writing for Different Readers

MR: In addition to being a writer of middle-grade fiction, you write YA (Something Kindred, out Winter 2024 from Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers) as well as short stories. What is the secret sauce for writing with different readerships in mind? The biggest challenge? The greatest reward?

CB: Honestly, I just try to stay true to the story and to the characters. They are usually about the age of the general readership—kids or teens or adults, etc—but I don’t tend to think too much about that when I’m writing. I’m focused on what my characters’ lives are and whether they are coming across as genuine and if the situation they’re in fits them—or doesn’t fit them.

I think the focus on readership is important, of course. If I’m discussing grief in MG versus YA, I’m going to go about handling things differently, but I don’t ever really censor myself based on who’s reading because that feels limiting for both me and my readers. I try to tell the best story I can for my characters first and foremost to do them the justice they deserve. That’s where both the biggest reward and biggest challenge comes into play for me: creating authentic, fully fleshed-out characters who people can relate to in any age range or format or genre.

One City One Story

MR: As a follow-up, your short story, “Yvonne,” about a queer woman of color who reconnects with her biological grandmother, was selected as the 2019 One City One Story read for the Boston Book Festival. Can you tell us about that? What was it like to be chosen for this prestigious opportunity at such a young age? (You were only 23!)

CB: I’d honestly forgotten about it after I submitted the story at first! I was in grad school for my MFA at the time and working two jobs, so I was very busy and I had a spreadsheet of what story I’d sent to which contest or magazine and when. So I didn’t stress about them all, once I marked a short story down, I tried my best to forget about it. When I got the email, I was at work, at the indie bookstore, and tried super hard not to freak out at the register! I took a quick break to call my mom in the stairwell and from there…everything got real.

Being chosen for that was more than a dream come true, it was something I hadn’t even dared to imagine for myself. So, it was really amazing to have my very diverse, queer story be celebrated by the entire city from the newspaper to the radio to all the languages that it was lovingly translated into. It was such a wonderful experience that I’ll never forget, especially because it just reaffirmed my goals in life: I can write professionally while telling diverse stories and be successful at it.

Path to Publication

MR: Can you tell us about your path to publication? Was it smooth sailing or bumpy seas?

CB: It was pretty smooth. I waited until my manuscript, which was also my master’s thesis, was ready and then I started by querying an agent who had reached out to me during the One City One Story whirlwind and a few other agents on my spreadsheet. I was signed pretty quickly and I was lucky enough that I was talking to editors and was offered a book deal for my YA very shortly after that.

Ciera’s Writing Routine

MR: What does your writing routine look like? Do you have any particular rituals?

CB: I’m such a big type-A person that it’s really shocking that I don’t have a routine! It used to be whenever I could find the time; on my lunch break, after a closing shift, on my phone on the metro, etc. Typically, at night since I’m a big night owl. But these days, I like to take a few hours a day or two a week to write at a café or library during the day and the rest of the week it’s me typing away on my couch or at my desk.

MR: What are you working on now, Ciera? Enquiring Mixed-Up Files readers want to know.

CB: I’m currently working on my second middle grade! I don’t know how much I can say but it involves a summer camp, missing campers, and a particular cryptid native to my home state.

 We All Scream for Ice Cream

MR: Before I let you go, I must share that we have something in common: We’re both ice cream lovers. What’s your favorite flavor? (I know… it’s like being asked to pick your favorite child.) Also, you have a favorite ice cream haunt? (sorry!).

CB: Yay ice cream! My absolute favorite food group. Hmmm…a favorite flavor is so hard! I’m going to have to go with a good old classic and say Mint Chocolate Chip. Perfect blend of mintiness with just a hint of chocolate. Favorite ice cream haunt in Boston was probably J.P Licks (or the Scoop N Scootery for late night writing cravings!) and now in D.C I’d probably go with Larry’s Homemade Ice Cream.

Lightning Round

MR: And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? (besides ice cream) Dark chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s!

Coffee or tea? Neither, actually! Strictly a hot chocolate girl.

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? No way!

Superpower? Flying!

Favorite place on earth? Scotland!

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be? A copy of Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, my stuffed bunny, and a hair tie!

MR: Thank you for chatting with us, Ciera. It a pleasure, and I’m sure MUF readers will agree!

CB: Thank you so much for having me! These were such fun questions to answer.

Bio

Ciera Burch is a lifelong writer and ice cream aficionado. She has a BA from American University and an MFA from Emerson College. Her fiction has appeared in The American Literary Magazine, Underground, the art and literary journal of Georgia State University, Stork, and Blackbird. Her work was also chosen as the 2019 One City One Story read for the Boston Book Festival. While she is originally from New Jersey, she currently resides in Washington, DC, with her stuffed animals, plants, and far too many books. Learn more about Ciera on her website and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

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