Posts Tagged #WNDMG

Through the Eyes of Gen Z

By on March 11, 2026   /   Author Interviews, WNDMG   /   1 Comment
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When we embark upon our journey as storytellers, we become part of the writing community at large. Each of us seeks to build relationships with not only our audiences, but also long to engage with other creatives across multiple mediums. As middle-grade authors, it is so important for us to stay connected with our readers and understand life through their eyes. People make sense of the world around them based on their own lived experiences, but if I have learned anything from my kids, it’s that the younger generation has just as much to offer us as we have to offer them.

That fact is the focus of this WNDMG post.

This month’s interview is with the co-founders of ProjectGenZWrites: Ruby Seidner and Boston Rohan. ProjectGenZWrites is a youth-led, nonprofit organization that offers free videos, tools, and resources for the next generation of creatives across multiple mediums. I had the pleasure of meeting these trailblazers several years ago when I volunteered to record a short video for their project. (To be honest, I was floored by the drive and dedication of these teens and could only regret not being half as motivated as they were in my youth.)

RESIST written in multiple colors. logo for project genZ writes

Project GenZ Writes

Their organization philosophy states:

ProjectGenZWrites is a fast-growing, youth-led, non-profit database that educates the next generation of novelists, poets, journalists, and creative visionaries. We believe in the power of communal nurturing and building a world that is kinder, stronger, and healthier due to the plethora of creative people in it. Yet, we recognized a gap that stood in the way of getting to that place. Money and its connection to accessibility of vital education. This is why we partner with published authors, who generously give us their time to create videos sharing their incredible knowledge with our viewers. Videos are about anything within the writing process, from publishing to creative exhaustion. They are available on the website free of charge, aligning with our goal to bridge the creative education gap and give everyone a chance to pursue their creative passions.

 

I had to find out more about these young founders and their mission to bridge the creative education gap, in between going to high school and working on their own writing projects! What better diverse perspective to focus on during Women’s History Month. Without further delay, here we go!

decorative cartoon lightbulb

Image by gstudioimagen on Freepik

My first question: What inspired you to start this project?

RUBY: I grew up privileged enough to have access to whatever creative writing education I needed to further my craft and I knew there were people who were so much more talented than me who didn’t have that and I wanted to use the privilege I was given to do something about that.

Amazing goal. This makes me wonder, what is your primary motivation for continuing this project?

RUBY: The fact that we’re growing, that people are taking notice and PGW actually seems to be helping the next generation become more literate, creative and inspired.

Nothing feels better than knowing you’re making a difference. Now, does working from the educational side help you as a creative?

RUBY: I watch all the videos that are submitted and I learn something new about not just craft, but myself as a person, as I watch every single one.

Video thumbnails from PGW

Courtesy of ProjectGenZWrites

So true! Listening to the experiences of others definitely helps me grow and I hope I never stop learning from others. Along the lines of experiences, what have you learned the most from this process of launching an online database?

BOSTON: The biggest thing I’ve learned is the importance of communication. We’ve made a real effort to communicate with all of the authors on our platform and make sure their work is represented correctly on the database. That’s meant coordinating with them about their videos, making sure everything is presented the right way, and keeping an open line of communication so everyone feels good about how their work is being shared.

Model of Communication

 

As a communication professor, this lesson is music to my ears! I love how you’re both dealing with real world issues at such a young age yourself. Given this unique experience, what advice do you have for young creatives?

RUBY: When you figure out the internal reason for doing what you do, the need to base your worth as a creative on only external validation (will still be there) but shall start to dim significantly. This way you’ll be able to learn from rejection and keep following your dreams without letting today’s no’s stand in the way of tomorrow’s yes.

Sage advice from one young creative to another! Last question, what’s next on your schedule — creative or nonprofit wise?

QC Family Tree Logo

BOSTON: Right now I’m working with QC Family Tree, a nonprofit in the Charlotte area focused on uplifting the local community. We’re continuing to build out the website by adding more ways for people to get connected with events, opportunities, and different parts of the community. The goal is to make the platform a place that really reflects the importance of community and helps people find ways to get involved.

Incredible work, both of you! Let’s give these teen founders a giant round of applause. It’s hard enough just trying to grow up grounded in this crazy world we live in. But, I feel proud knowing that the next generation is more determined and resilient than we know.

If you’d like to participate this project and show your support, check out their website at projectgenzwrites.com. Thank you both so much for taking the time to connect. You’re racking up karmic brownies to ensure your creative and professional success in the future. I wish you both the best of luck!

Project GenZ Writes – Founder Bios

Ruby Seidner

Ruby Seidner photo

ProjectGenZWrites Founder

Ruby Seidner is a poet, advocate, and activist. She’s been published thirty-four times in various literary journals, won the Running Start Political Simulation in 2023, and participated in a Jubilee Media video that garnered over one million views. She’s been a finalist for Sonoma County Youth Poet Laureate in 2024, a special awardee for the Bay Area Creative Youth Awards in 2025, and a finalist for the Sonoma County Office of Education’s Five Minute Film Festival in 2023. She has graduated from online creative writing programs at the Kenyon Review and the Iowa Writers Workshop. She is the co-founder of the creative writing education database ProjectGenZWrites.

Boston Rohan photo

Project GenZ Writes Founder

 

Boston Rohan

Self taught developer currently working at Elevation Church. code, listen to music, and watch anime.

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Landslides and landfills make for great reads!

By on March 9, 2026   /   Articles   /   Leave a comment

Betty Culley Young Adult and Middle Grade Book Author

Maine author Betty Culley has lived the effects of a landfill on a small rural community. A commercial landfill situated less than five miles from her home collapsed in 1989. Garbage that had covered 12.5 acres was, within moments, spread across 25 acres. The land surrounding that site still is a landfill (now operating on 158 of their 1,267 acres) and it now supplies waste capacity for towns and businesses all throughout New England and beyond. It also provides jobs and contributes to the community, sponsoring school sporting events and more. Given her experiences, this Maine writer wanted to paint a realistic picture of what it’s like for kids in a small town where a large, commercial landfill is situated.

In Landslide, the main character, ten year old Nathan Savage, lives right across the road from a landfill, where the mountain of garbage is reaching 90 feet. This landfill provides employment for Nathan’s dad, who works on top of the heap driving the huge compactor that compresses the garbage. The landfill also  sponsors Nathan’s hockey team. At the same time, Nathan’s mom closes her curtains during daylight hours and chooses to work  at night when the garbage trucks are not rumbling past the house. She works at home stitching shoes for a local shoe shop. The landfill is on land her own parents once farmed, and where she grew up playing in the fields and listening to birds sing.

Landslide - A Middle Grade Book by Betty Culley

Nathan, the book’s narrator,  has an extraordinary ability to perceive motion. Per Betty, this ability  “is not a documented talent. It’s something I made up. Maybe a bit of magical realism, but also, there’s the suggestion that when you pay close attention to the world around you, you may notice  things other people don’t. I wanted to have kids realize that noticing the natural world can be its own gift. You might observe what  others might not notice because you’re paying attention.”

The downside of living near a landfill is portrayed honestly, including the pervasive odor, the noise of truck traffic and the contamination of a local stream on a organic dairy farm that Nathan loves to visit.  Betty carried out extensive research on the solid waste industry, created sympathetic characters and provided an even handed portrayal of the economic benefits of the landfill. Nathan’s quirky friend, Wilder Bacon, learns about landfills and “garbology” as Nathan observes subtle movements and shifting on the hill. Nathan explains to Wilder that a landslide is inevitable and how he worries that his dad might be hurt or even killed in the collapse.

Betty became interested in telling Nathan’s story in part because the landfill that collapsed in 1989  is now the site of the only commercial landfill operation in Maine and is owned by the largest trash management company in the world.  It’s also where she brings her own trash. As she wrote Nathan’s story, Betty researched the history of trash management in her own town. “I live on 85 acres in a small town in Maine. Our town used to have an open pit dump where the  trash was burnt when it got full.” When open pit dumps were banned, engineered landfills with leachate collection systems became the norm. She learned that a few, like the one near Betty’s home, take special waste such as oily debris and forever chemicals.

Regarding the family that lives across from her local landfill, Betty reports, “They’re in their 80s and still live there, where their parents farmed, right across from the entrance to the landfill and they still have cows. Their persistence and steadfastness was a great part of my inspiration.” Betty strove to write an even handed story because she wanted to answer the question, “How do we live with these things?”

“I also have seen how the waste management industry has changed,” she says. Betty sees that efforts are being made to improve landfill safety as well as urging people to reuse, recycle and reduce reliance on single use products.

In many ways, Landslide parallels community efforts nowadays to deal with giant corporations creating data centers which can create problems such as drought due to water usage, or excessive energy bills.

Betty, who writes realistic young adult and middle grade novels and is a keen observer of adolescent and young adult perspectives, has been writing since she was a little girl. She says, “I always wanted to publish a book but I didn’t have a lot of self-confidence so I didn’t share my writing for a long time. Then I joined a writers’ group and started sharing my writing and learned more about the publishing world and the process of querying agents.” That changed her perspective and approach. “I couldn’t be shy about my writing anymore. It really is a dream come true to have my words out in the world.”

Betty’s interest in writing is definitely coupled with her interest in learning, researching and realism.  Once she decided to portray Nathan’s mother as a shoemaker she researched the Maine shoemaking industry. “I met a woman who was a hand sewer and she showed me her tools. She laid out her tools and showed me her thread and how she taped her hands.” Betty adds, “Shoe shops were very big in Maine at one time and there is still hand sewing being done here.”

Per Betty, Nathan’s mother chooses to work at night and keep the drapes drawn against the landfill, “as a survival mechanism. I think it was the idea that there was something beyond her control out there. It changed her beautiful view and peaceful quiet. Drawing closed the curtains and working at night is her way of trying to deal with it. Not to see it, not to hear it, not to smell it, if she can.”

The message here goes beyond Natham’s mom to the ways we all try to cope. “Whether it’s healthy or if it works, it’s all she can do. On this earth we all try to create beauty in our lives but there are things beyond our control, like a big building might be built near us or a highway might be rerouted, changing our view. That’s what happened to Nathan’s mom.”

At one point, Nathan sees his mom transplanting her perennials from the front yard to the backyard and he helps her, realizing it’s one of her ways of coping while living with the landfill.

There is tremendous reality and depth of life and character in this novel. Betty says this comes about almost magically. “The way I write, I’m not really a plotter. I’m kind of a pantser and when I write sometimes characters appear and there they are. It can feel like the muse is at work, kind of a magical thing. That’s what happened with Wilder. Having Wilder in the story was fun, especially because friendship is an important part of the book.”

“In all my novels that have social issues—Three Things I Know Are True has gun violence issues in it—I don’t really take sides. Instead, I strive to show the truth as best I can. It’s not about this is right and this is wrong. That’s not how I view writing. I try to find a voice and see what the character tells me.”

To assure that she was giving readers a well-rounded view of small communities and their landfills, Betty says she “talked to a landfill compactor operator, toured the giant state run landfill at Juniper Ridge, north of Bangor and stood on the working face watching the trucks come in.” She says everyone on all sides of the solid waste issue appear to share the same sentiment, “Garbage has to go somewhere.” So Betty “tried to look at the whole picture and how this industry affected one boy’s life and where he lives and what happens to him, his family, his friends, and his community.”

Nathan is a character who stays with readers long after we close the last page of the novel. A memorable image is of Nathan looking down at his house from atop a nearby hill as the landfill expansion begins and planning to plant more crabapple trees. That leaves readers wondering what Nathan might do next. Betty says, “I do have my own crabapple orchard with close to 20 crabapple trees. Some of them grow apples big enough to eat. Others have hard berries that birds love . I planted the orchard  simply for its blooms, its beauty.”

There’s a big takeaway in this novel, one that could make it a valuable all-community read for teachers and librarians who want to share the love of reading in their schools and communities. Betty describes that takeaway as “In life, sometimes there are big challenges we have to face, like what Nathan faced. Challenges that are right in front of you that don’t have easy answers and you have to rely on yourself and other people to find your way. And you can still find the beauty in your life.”

Betty had some specific advice for readers of all ages:

For the teachers and librarians – “The nature and volume of our garbage has dramatically changed and the generation coming up is going to have some real challenges. I hope that we can give students the tools for how to think about these things and learn how to help protect the environment. Maybe some of them will come up with ideas that are life changing for all of us.”

For students — “I’ve met with students and I’ve heard some of them talk about their concerns for the earth and the environment. Tell them I believe in them and I have faith in them to help things move forward. They’re thoughtful and they’re caring and I appreciate that. “

For more of Betty’s novels, you can visit her website: Betty Culley – Author of Young Adult & Middle Grade Novels Betty Culley | Author

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DOUBLE DOSE of WNDMG!!! Author Interviews with Raidah Shah Idil and Yxavel Magna Dino!

By on November 12, 2025   /   Author Interviews, WNDMG  
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WNDMG Reads

November’s typically filled with so much to do! Some households just finished celebrating Dia de Los Muertos, while others are saluting the veterans in their lives. Others are already planning Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or any other -Givings Day dinners!

Yet those in the bookish community simply wait for all the incredible new releases that embrace the family spirit. And what better way to celebrate family this month than with a double dose of WNDMG book releases!

We recognize that publishing is an incredibly difficult pursuit and that journey can be even harder for international authors. Yet, despite all odds, I have had the pleasure of sharing the virtual stage with not one, but two amazing MG authors who both have US/CANADA releases this month!

Without further ado, I present Raidah Shah Idil and Yxavel Magna Diño! Welcome ot the Mixed Up Files – We Need Diverse MG feature!

 

How to Free a Jinn book cover

How to Free a Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil

Raidah Shah Idil is the author of HOW TO FREE A JINN which released in the US and Canada on November 4! Here’s a summary of her Malaysian fantasy novel!

Insyirah’s calm, orderly world falls into chaos when her proud nenek (grandmother) has a bad fall, and Insyirah and her mother must move back to Malaysia to take care of her.

Her new home holds wild and dangerous mysteries, and while finding her feet, Insyirah discovers a shocking secret: the women in her family can control jinn—powerful, ancient jungle spirits—and, one day, she will inherit one of her own. What’s more, her new school is haunted by an evil spirit determined to force her out of Malaysia.

As Insyirah discovers the fascinating ways of the seen and unseen worlds, she finds danger around every corner. And when her family situation grows perilous, she must gather all her resilience to overcome unexpected obstacles and make a life-changing decision.

 

 

 

New Realeases Nov 2025

The Firefly Crown by Yxavel Magna Dino

Yxavel Magna Diño is the author of two amazing Filipino fantasy novels THE SERPENT RIDER (2024) and THE FIREFLY CROWN released in the states yesterday, November 11! Focusing on her sophomore novel for this interview, here’s the blurb for THE FIREFLY CROWN:

An unlucky sorcerer must learn to wield her insect magic in this charming middle grade fantasy that’s perfect for fans of Impossible Creatures and Witchlings.

In the empire, magic determines your fate. But Yumi is tired of being a failed Cricket. Their magic is lousy and boring. She dreams instead of the sparkling magic of Fireflies, whose powers rival the sun. If only she could harness her talents like other magicians . . . For now, Yumi is ignored by even the crickets who are supposed to follow her spells.

Then, Yumi gets a chance to prove herself sooner than expected when all sorcerers are summoned for the princess’s coronation. But everything falls apart when the Firefly Crown is stolen, leaving the empire defenseless against the Ghost Swarm, a horde of undead bugs. Worse, Yumi is blamed. Suddenly this lowly Cricket is the empire’s most wanted. To clear her name and protect her loved ones, Yumi must find the real thief. But can a Cricket really save the day?

 

Now enough with the pleasantries, let’s jump into this interview!

 

CHILDHOOD DREAMS

 

My first question for both of you: did you always want to become an author?

RAIDAH: Yes! I was always that kid who found socialization far too tricky, so I sought refuge in reading and writing books. I’ve lost track of the number of stories I’ve written, and all my unfinished manuscripts. I wrote fanfiction for years, too, which really helped me improve my writing craft.

YXAVEL: Yes! Ever since I was really young, “author” was always my answer whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was the kid who would rather read books in the library at lunchtime rather than hang out with the other students (thank you to everyone who still talked to me even though I was super shy and quiet, haha!) I once told someone that if I could only publish one book, and have even just one person read and love it, I would be a very happy writer. So, I feel extremely blessed and lucky to be able to live out my dream of being a published author right now, and very grateful to all the family, friends, and industry professionals who made it possible.

So determined! This of course has me asking you to tell us a bit about your publication journey.

YXAVEL: Since fantasy novels were the books that first sparked my obsession with reading and writing, I knew I wanted to be a fantasy author first and foremost. However, when I started writing my own ideas, I struggled with discipline and sticking to a single idea. Back then it was super difficult for me to write a thousand words, let alone the tens of thousands that were needed for a full-length novel.

After high school, I decided to write a story that was truer to my identity than any of the Western fantasy-inspired novels I’d ever tried writing before: a story inspired by my Filipino heritage, its myths, and its folklore. In my first year of university, I started writing what would become my debut middle-grade fantasy novel, THE SERPENT RIDER. I finished the manuscript and started querying by the start of the following year and got an offer of representation, and my wonderful agent sold the book the year after that. After several rounds of edits, THE SERPENT RIDER released in September 2024 and my sophomore novel, THE FIREFLY CROWN, just landed this month!

RAIDAH: Buckle up, because it took YEARS! I had attended Hanna Alkaf’s author event, and her advice to me was to finish my first draft. I completed the first draft of HOW TO FREE A JINN while I was pregnant with my son. I knew I needed a solid draft before he was born, before I got swallowed up by the newborn haze all over again. My two daughters were both under 4 at the time, so while my oldest was in preschool and my middle daughter was with her grandmother, I’d go from restaurant to restaurant and write. It was such a fun process, especially because I’m a panster and had no idea where my story was going until I wrote THE END. I polished it as best I could, hired an editor to help me polish it even further, then started the arduous process of querying….two months after I gave birth to my son! I gave myself a deadline of a year – if I didn’t secure representation by then, I would shelve my book and write another. I had about 100 rejections by the time I secured a single agent offer. In October 2020, when my son was one year old, I signed with my agent, Alli Hellegers of Stimola Literary. After some edits with her, in 2021, she sent the then-YA version of my book to US editors, and we had a lot of complimentary rejections. I spent 2022 revising my book down from YA to MG. We finally landed my Australian book deal in late 2023, and then got published in Sept 2024!

applause hands

I’m not worthy to be in the presence of two agented international PHENOMES! Now, do you both strictly write fantasy? Or do you dabble across genres? Is there one genre you would (probably) NEVER try?

This image is a promotional poster for the 2018 Malaysian supernatural horror film, Munafik 2

 

RAIDAH: Not at all! I read very widely and reflect that in my own writing practice e.g. I also write non-fiction, poems, romance, mysteries, adventures….One genre I would probably never try is straight up horror. Suspense and psychological thrillers are something I’d love to experiment with, but I’m far too squeamish for gore and horror.

 

 

Fluffy cupid

 

YXAVEL: I’m a fantasy writer at heart, but I love consuming media in all different genres including sci-fi, horror, psychological thrillers, and literary! I’d love to be a multi-genre author one day. Although I don’t think I could ever write a purely romance-oriented book, as that requires a skillset which I doubt I currently have (for now at least … but hey maybe one day!)

REPRESENTATION GOALS

 

Diverse ReadsAs a Thai-American MG author, I personally love discovering the commonalities between different Southeast Asian cultures. What are some key cultural elements or traditions from Malaysia and the Philippines you knew you had to include in your stories?

RAIDAH: I wanted to include tasty Malaysian food and our obsession with jinn stories. I also wanted to include spiritual practices like reading Ayatul Kursi for protection. My intention was to always weave these seamlessly into my narrative, as a way to invite the reader into Insyirah’s lived experience.

YXAVEL: It’s super fascinating how Southeast Asia is so diverse yet there are so many values our cultures share! THE SERPENT RIDER features several mythical creatures from Filipino folklore, while THE FIREFLY CROWN’s magic system is inspired by the mambabarang, or traditional Filipino insect magicians. Aside from these aspects, one element of Philippine culture I knew I had to include in my stories is the concept of bayanihan: the deep bonds of family, friends, community, and the sense of “we’re all in this together” that permeates Filipino society even today. The importance of community and connection across Southeast Asian cultures is something you also explore very well in your own books, Patchree!

Thanks for kind words, Yxavel! Borrowing the sentiment from our colleague, Annie McCann, do you feel like a trailblazer for your culture when it comes to representation?

Southeast Asian MG Cover Banner

YXAVEL: In writing my novels, my goal was to spread the word about Filipino myths and hopefully encourage young readers to want to learn more about them! I’m so glad to be a fellow author alongside Annie, whose book MY HARIMAU KING does this with Indonesian legends; with Raidah Shah Idil whose novel HOW TO FREE A JINN explores Malaysian culture; and with you, who absolutely blew me away with your Thai-inspired SKYLIGHT! Since there’s an underrepresentation of Filipino-inspired books in the kidlit space, writing about our culture does make me feel like a trailblazer in that sense—although I’m definitely not the first person to do it!

An amazing writer-sister of mine, Caris Avendaño Cruz, wrote MARIKIT AND THE OCEAN OF STARS, as well as her second novel released earlier this year, THE BOY, THE MOUNTAIN, AND THE SERPENT WHO ATE THE MOON (which features the Filipino moon-eating sea serpent that also appears in my book THE SERPENT RIDER). Caris is a brilliant author who writes our myths with a poetry and charm I can only dream of. I’ll always recommend those books!

RAIDAH: I think so. I’d like to think that I’m building on the foundation set by Southeast Asian authors who have been published before me, like Hanna Alkaf and Jesse Sutanto. I admire Hanna Alkaf’s books, which reflect a deep love for Malaysian families, food and culture. My experience is different because of my returnee diaspora experience. I’m Malay, but not Malaysian. I’m Australian, but I’m definitely not white. I still occupy this liminal space of being between worlds. I wanted to emphasize the healing power of coming back to my ancestral home after struggling with a lot of anti-Islam, anti-Asian sentiment growing up as a minority in the West.

Representation matters so much and ALL children need to see themselves in the stories they read. We’ve still got a long way toward balancing our libraries, but at least we’re taking up the challenge to make our cultures present and accounted for!

Group of five chibis

Designed by FreePik

Now, I’ve got a question just for Raidah! While most writers feel like we can revise forever (some begrudgingly!), what did the revision process look like for you between the original version of HOW TO FREE A JINN and the upcoming US/Canadian release?

RAIDAH: Where do I even start? The original version of HOW TO FREE A JINN was actually a YA novel! Insyirah started off as being 16. One of my American beta readers said that she sounded closer to 12, and that was the winning tweak that I suggested to my agent, who enthusiastically agreed. I had to brutally cut out many subplots and characters (including Insyirah’s dad, stepmother and stepsister haha) to get to the heart of my story. That was the version that landed my first book deal with Allen and Unwin.

Once my book got acquired by my Australian publisher, I had a little bit more polishing to do with my Australian editor, Kate Whitcher. Once I got my American book deal with Salaam Reads (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), I fleshed out my story even more with my American editor, Deeba Zargapur. I hope to get a UK book deal too, and I’m looking forward to strengthening my book with my UK editor.

 

Who knew the process was so complicated! Now, Yxavel, here’s a question just for you! Since all writers dream of getting every story published, how did the publishing journey of THE FIREFLY CROWN differ from THE SERPENT RIDER? Did you experience any sophomore release nerves?

Mambabarang

YXAVEL: With THE SERPENT RIDER, I had all the time in the world to come up with the initial draft, but THE FIREFLY CROWN was the first book I’ve ever had to write on deadline and I really felt the challenge! It helped that I decided to write a main character who shares a lot of traits with me—Yumi is a quiet Cricket magician who comes from humble beginnings, but is forced to prove her innocence when the empire’s most treasured possession, the magical Firefly Crown, goes missing and the blame lands on her. My initial attempt at a manuscript was pretty messy, so I’m thankful to my editor for being very forgiving with the first draft, and for writing a brilliant edit letter that helped me improve the story so much!

A lot of people who enjoyed THE SERPENT RIDER are Filipino readers who know our myths exceptionally well, so I’m a little (read: EXTREMELY) nervous about what they will think of THE FIREFLY CROWN. Here’s hoping you all will enjoy it too!

 

My goodness! I am blown away but both of your journeys! Last question, what’s one key takeaway you want readers to take away from your work?

RAIDAH: I hope that Insyirah’s story, and all of my future stories, will show the complexity and humanity of Muslim families, and how we deserve to go on fun adventures too. The dehumanization and demonisation of Muslims in mainstream media has real-life harmful and often fatal consequences. Writing joyful Muslim stories is my resistance.

YXAVEL: A recurrent theme across both my novels is having the courage to forge your own path, no matter who or what may stand in your way. I sincerely hope that anyone who reads my work will feel inspired to do just that.

 

Here, here! I love these messages and agree with both of you wholeheartedly. Publishing takes courage and joy is resistance! Thank you both so much for sharing with us today! Be sure to support these amazing authors and grab their books today! Check out their socials and book links below!

Raidah Shah Idil

Raidah Shah Idil

 

Author Bio:Raidah Shah Idil was born in Singapore; grew up in Sydney, Australia; worked in Amman, Jordan; and now lives in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, with her husband, three children, and mother-in-law. Raidah earned her BA in English and BSc in Psychology from the University of New South Wales and her Diploma of Counselling from the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. Raidah loves ginger tea and noodle soup and dreams of uninterrupted sleep. HOW TO FREE A JINN is her first book.

 

 

Yxavel Magna Dino

Yxavel Magna Dino

 

Author Bio: Yxavel Magno Diño is the author of The Serpent Rider and The Firefly Crown. She was born in the Philippines before moving to Australia at a young age, where she soon discovered that almost nobody there knew how to say her name. To make up for it, she spent her time daydreaming about fantasy worlds filled with characters who had more unusual names than she did. Now, she writes stories about her Filipino heritage and its fantastical folklore. When she’s not writing, you can find her drinking copious amounts of black tea or getting lost in the pages of a book.

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