Tucson Festival of Books

Writing and Selling Your YA Novel: YA Workshop


Three young adult authors share their tips and strategies they use to write and sell a successful young adult novel -- how they develop an idea for a book, their writing strategies, how to find an agent and publisher to get the book published.


Panelists
Susan Dennard

A best-selling young adult fantasy writer, Susan Dennard is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today author of The Luminaries trilogy and the Witchlands series. Her new books are "Witchlight" and "The Executioners Three....

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Cassandra James

Cassandra James grew up in a mixed immigrant family that fostered her love of storytelling. A Princeton graduate in creative writing, she now lives in Orlando, where she cooks Colombian dishes, adores Broadway musicals, and occasionally swashbuckles....

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Stacey Lee

Stacey Lee is The New York Times and Indie bestselling author of historical and contemporary young adult and middle grade fiction, including "Kill Her Twice," "The Downstairs Girl," a Reese’s Book Club Summer 2021 Young Adult pick, and "Luck of the Titanic," which received five starred reviews....

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Books:
Witchlight
A Witchlands Novel
Susan Dennard
Teen
Tor Publishing Group
November 2025
ISBN 9781250194176
464 pages
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The Executioners Three
Susan Dennard
Teen
Tor Publishing Group
August 2025
ISBN 9781250334664
304 pages
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Kill Her Twice
Stacey Lee
Teen
Penguin Young Readers Group
April 2024
ISBN 9780593532041
400 pages
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Capitana
Cassandra James
Teen
HarperCollins Publishers
February 2025
ISBN 9780063345614
400 pages
Buy now