So many books come out each week that it makes it hard to decide what to read. We want to make that a little bit easier on you by sharing our favorite releases from the week and telling you our top 3 reasons why we think you’ll love them too!
This week one of our selections is Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles, Nicola Yoon, Malinda Lo, Melissa de la Cruz, Sara Farizan, Eric Gansworth, Walter Dean Myers, Daniel José Older, Thien Pham, Jason Reynolds, Gene Luen Yang, Sharon G. Flake, Schuyler Bailar, and Aminah Mae Safi. Are you ready to hear more about this book and its authors? Here we go…
Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Aminah Mae Safi, Daniel José Older, Eric Gansworth, Gene Luen Yang, Jason Reynolds, Lamar Giles, Malinda Lo, Melissa de la Cruz, Nicola Yoon, Sara Farizan, Schuyler Bailar, Sharon G. Flake, Thien Pham, Walter Dean Myers
Also by this author: Instructions for Dancing
Published by Crown Books for Young Readers on August 14, 2018
Genres: Anthology
Pages: 208
Goodreads Buy the Book
In partnership with We Need Diverse Books, thirteen of the most recognizable, diverse authors come together in this remarkable YA anthology featuring ten short stories, a graphic short story, and a one-act play from Walter Dean Myers never before in-print.
Careful--you are holding fresh ink. And not hot-off-the-press, still-drying-in-your-hands ink. Instead, you are holding twelve stories with endings that are still being written--whose next chapters are up to you.
Because these stories are meant to be read. And shared.
Thirteen of the most accomplished YA authors deliver a label-defying anthology that includes ten short stories, a graphic novel, and a one-act play. This collection will inspire you to break conventions, bend the rules, and color outside the lines. All you need is fresh ink.
3 Reasons You Should Read…
Fresh Ink: An Anthology by Lamar Giles, Nicola Yoon, Malinda Lo, Melissa de la Cruz, Sara Farizan, Eric Gansworth, Walter Dean Myers, Daniel José Older, Thien Pham, Jason Reynolds, Gene Luen Yang, Sharon G. Flake, Schuyler Bailar, Aminah Mae Safi
- We knew as soon as we hear about it that we were going to love this one. Why? Because it combines so many of our favorite things and people. Great authors. Anthology. Diverse books. Amazing cover. Even more amazing content. You need it. Now.
- We already have our favorites from within these pages, but we can’t wait to hear what yours are. That’s one of the best parts about reading an anthology, there’s something for everyone and we have no doubt you are going to find something to love (or more likely, lots to love) in Fresh Ink.
- This one is for literally everyone. Name something you’re looking for and it’s here. There is diversity on every level. There is contemporary, fantasy, historical, a graphic short story, and a one-act play. If you are looking for something full of emotion it’s here. Looking for something lighter? Something heavy? Something that will leave you begging for more? Something full of swoon? It’s all here. Go get yourself a copy now and see what we are talking about! You won’t regret it!
About Lamar Giles
Lamar Giles is a well published author, and a founding member of We Need Diverse Books.
Lamar is a two-time Edgar Award finalist in the YA category, for his debut YA thriller FAKE ID (HarperCollins, 2014), and his second YA thriller, ENDANGERED (HarperCollins, 2015). His third YA thriller, OVERTURNED (Scholastic, 2017) recently received this glowing New York Times review. Lamar is a contributor to the YA anthology THREE SIDES OF A HEART (HarperCollins, 2017) and the editor of the forthcoming We Need Diverse Books YA short story anthology FRESH INK (Penguin Random House, 2018). He resides in Virginia with his wife.
About Nicola Yoon
Nicola Yoon's first novel — EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING — debuted at #1 on New York Times bestseller list and stayed on the list for 1 year. The book was also adapted for film by MGM and Warner Bros Studios. Her second novel — THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR — is also #1 New York Times bestseller and is a National Book Award finalist. It has been optioned for film by MGM and Warner Bros Studios. She was born in Jamaica and currently resides in Los Angeles with her family.
About Malinda Lo
Malinda Lo is the author of several young adult novels, including most recently A Line in the Dark. Her novel Ash, a lesbian retelling of Cinderella, was a finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Andre Norton Award for YA Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and was a Kirkus Best Book for Children and Teens. She has been a three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Malinda’s nonfiction has been published by The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Huffington Post, The Toast, The Horn Book, and AfterEllen. She lives in Massachusetts with her partner and their dog.
About Melissa de la Cruz
Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times, #1 Publisher’s Weekly and #1 IndieBound bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for readers of all ages. Her more than thirty books have also topped the USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists and have been published in over twenty countries.
Melissa de la Cruz lives in West Hollywood, California with her husband and daughter.
About Sara Farizan
Sara Farizan was born on August 2, 1984 in Massachusetts. Her parents immigrated from Iran in the seventies, her father a surgeon and her mother a homemaker. Sara grew up feeling different in her private high school not only because of her ethnicity but also because of her liking girls romantically, her lack of excitement in science and math, and her love of writing plays and short stories. So she came out of the closet in college, realized math and science weren’t so bad (but not for her), and decided she wanted to be a writer. She is an MFA graduate of Lesley University and holds a BA in film and media studies from American University. Sara has been a Hollywood intern, a waitress, a comic book/record store employee, an art magazine blogger, a marketing temp, and an after-school teacher, but above all else she has always been a writer. Sara lives near Boston, has a cool sister, loves Kurosawa films, eighties R&B, and graphic novels, and thinks all kids are awesome.
About Eric Gansworth
Eric Gansworth, a writer and visual artist, is an enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation. He has published ten books, including the novels, Mending Skins and Extra Indians, the young adult novel, If I Ever Get Out of Here, and the collection of poems and paintings, A Half-Life of Cardio-Pulmonary Function. His first play, Re-Creation Story, was selected for the Public Theater’s Second Annual Native Theater Festival. He is a Professor of English and Lowery Writer-in-Residence at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. As a visual artist, he has had solo exhibitions at the Castellani Museum, Colgate University, and Bright Hill Center. Two separate career-spanning shows were mounted at Westfield State College and SUNY Oneonta. His work has been supported by PEN Oakland, the National Book Critics Circle, The Saltonstall Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, The New York Foundation for the Arts, and The Seaside Institute among other places.
His work has appeared in the journals The Kenyon Review, The Cream City Review, The Boston Review, Provincetown Arts, Shenandoah, and has been supported by the National Book Critics Circle, The Saltonstall Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities and The Seaside Institute.
About Walter Dean Myers
Walter Dean Myers won the Council on Interracial Books for Children contest in 1969, which resulted in the publication of his first book, Where Does the Day Go? Since then, he has won more awards than any author for young adults, and is one of the most prolific writers, with more than 110 books to his credit.
He is the recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults. He has won the Coretta Scott King Award five times and received two Newbery Honors. His book, Monster, was the first winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, a National Book Award Finalist, and a New York Times Bestseller. He delivered the 2009 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture, a distinction reserved for an individual who has made significant contributions to the field of children’s literature. Most recently, he served as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, a post appointed by the Library of Congress.
Walter Dean Myers was married, had three grown children and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died on July 1, 2014, following a brief illness. He was 76 years old.
About Daniel José Older
Daniel José Older is the New York Times bestselling author of the Middle Grade historical fantasy series Dactyl Hill Squad, the Bone Street Rumba urban fantasy series, Star Wars: Last Shot, and the award winning Young Adult series the Shadowshaper Cypher, which won the International Latino Book Award and was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize in Young Readers’ Literature, the Andre Norton Award, the Locus, the Mythopoeic Award, and named one of Esquire’s 80 Books Every Person Should Read.
About Thien Pham
THIEN PHAM is a comic book and visual artist, based in the Bay Area. He is also a high school teacher. Pham illustrated Gene Luen Yang's Level Up. Sumo is his first solo work.
About Jason Reynolds
After earning a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, he moved to Brooklyn, New York, where you can often find him walking the four blocks from the train to his apartment talking to himself. Well, not really talking to himself, but just repeating character names and plot lines he thought of on the train, over and over again, because he’s afraid he’ll forget it all before he gets home.
About Gene Luen Yang
Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry grant, for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, his first comics work as an adult. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan's Kingdom (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and The Rosary Comic Book. American Born Chinese received National Book Award.
He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his lovely wife and children and teaches at a Roman Catholic high school.
About Sharon G. Flake
Sharon G. Flake is the author of five books, The Skin I'm In (1998), Money Hungry (2002), Begging for Change (2003), Who Am I Without Him? Short Stories About Boys and the Girls in Their Lives (2004), Bang! (Sept. 2005), and her latest novel The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street (2007).
Her work is used in public and private schools around the nation, from elementary to high school, and is often required reading in colleges for students in education, child development, children's literature and English writing programs. Beyond that, her work is also a favorite among adults and adult book club readers.
Flake and her work have won numerous awards and recognitions including: Best Books for Young Adult Readers; Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers; the New York Public Library Top Ten Books for the Teen Age; 2005 featured author in the Ninth Book of Junior Authors & Illustrators; 2005 Capitol Choices; Noteworthy Books for Children; 2004 Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Book; 2004 Texas Lone Star Award for Top Ten Books; 2002, 2004 Coretta Scott King Honor Award; Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Grant; 2004 Bank Street Best of the Year; 2004 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book; 2004 CCBC Choices; Booklist Top Ten Fantasy Book; 2004 Booklist Top Ten Romance Novels for Youth; 2004 Booklist Editor's Choice Award; 2003 Detroit Free LIbrary Author of the Year; 1999 YWCA Racial Justice Award; 1999 Coretta Scott King-John Steptoe New Talent Award and more.
Flake's work appears on the Anti-Defamation League's website which stresses the use of children's literature to help educators address the problem of bullying in schools.
Flake was born in Philadelphia, PA, but has resided in Pittsburgh, PA with her daughter for many years. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in English. For several years she was a youth counselor for a foster care agency, after which she spent 18 years working at the University of Pittsburgh in public relations. She has written numerous articles for national publications. Prior to having her first book published, she wrote for approximately 15 years.
About Schuyler Bailar
Schuyler Bailar is an American swimmer, and the first openly transgender NCAA Division I swimmer. He is also the first publicly documented NCAA D1 transgender man to compete as a man in any sport. He was recruited by Harvard University and swims on the Harvard Men's Swimming and Diving team under coach Kevin Tyrrell and as member of the Harvard Class of 2019. Bailar was originally recruited in 2013 as a member of the women's team by Harvard Women’s Swimming and Diving head coach Stephanie Morawski. After transitioning during a gap year, Bailar was also offered a spot on the men’s team by coach Tyrrell, allowing Bailar the choice of either team. He elected to swim on the men’s team.
Prior to swimming for Harvard, Bailar won many honors in both high school and club swimming including setting a USA Swimming National Age Group record in the 400yd Medley Relay at the 2013 USA Swimming AT&T National Championships with teammates Katie Ledecky, Janet Hu, and Kylie Jordan. Bailar swam for the celebrated Nation’s Capital Swim Club (NCAP) at that meet; and the team won the 2013 USA Swimming AT&T National Championship title. Bailar's 100yd breaststroke swim at the 2013 NCSA Junior National Championships qualified for the U.S. Open, the fastest national championship meet. Bailar is also multi-year qualifier for the NCSA Jr. Nationals.
About Aminah Mae Safi
Aminah Mae Safi is a Muslim-American writer who explores art, fiction, feminism, and film. She loves Sofia Coppola movies, Bollywood endings, and the Fast and Furious franchise. She’s the winner of the We Need Diverse Books short story contest. Originally raised in Texas, she now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her partner, a cat bent on world domination, and another cat who’s just here for the snacks. NOT THE GIRLS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR is her first novel.
