Middle Grade Ninja

Middle Grade Ninja


Latest Episodes

176 Author Andrew Nehring
July 30, 2022

Andrew Nehring and I discuss how he learned to improve as a reader and a writer with the aid of an inspiring teacher who helped him manage his dyslexia. And we chat about the publication of his multiple novels, including his newest, DAVID MASSIE AND THE H

175 Literary Agent Lucienne Diver
July 23, 2022

Lucienne Diver and I talk about how she separates the writer part of herself from the part that’s a literary agent and why it’s important to do so. We discuss her novel, DISAPPEARED, the current state of publishing and how she’s sustained a successful car

174 Author Mat Heagerty and Illustrator Sam Owen
July 16, 2022

Mat Heagerty, Sam Owen, and I discuss the process for their collaboration on their new graphic novel, LUMBERJACKULA. We talk about scripting and paneling, how they make creative suggestions for revision without overstepping, and how publishing with a larg

173 Author Lakita Wilson
July 09, 2022

Lakita Wilson and I discuss how winning the 2017 SCBWI Emerging Voices Award and running a popular Instagram page set her on a path for publishing success as well as the launch of her newest novel, BE REAL, MACY WEAVER.  We mock James Patterson and t

172 Literary Agent Linda Epstein
July 02, 2022

Linda Epstein and I talk about her lifelong desire to be a writer and her journey from being a nurse to an unpaid intern for two years before becoming a literary agent and at long last arriving at the publication of her debut novel, REPAIRING THE WORLD. W

171 Author Zetta Elliott
June 25, 2022

Zetta Ellicott and I chat about her bestselling middle grade series, DRAGONS IN A BAG, and lessons learned writing more than 40 books for children (so far). We talk about how she envisions her success with a vision board and how she trains in puppetry, fi

170 Author Aisha Saeed
June 18, 2022

Aisha Saeed and I discuss her career and her newest middle grade novel OMAR RISING, a companion novel to AMAL UNBOUND. We chat about the difficulty she had submitting to traditional publishers and how that led her to seek out other diverse authors and the

169 Author Hilde Kate Lysiak
June 11, 2022

Hilde Lysiak and I chat about her new memoir, HILDE ON THE RECORD. As she’s just now 15 years old, presumably it’s the first of many, though she’s already led a very interesting life that’s the subject of the Apple TV series, HOME BEFORE DARK. We talk abo

168 Literary Agent Kristin Ostby
June 04, 2022

Kristin Ostby and I discuss how she grew up a reader and daughter of a librarian who went on to edit for Penguin Random House and rose to become a senior editor at Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers before becoming a literary agent with Greenhouse

167 Author Lindsay Eager
May 28, 2022

Lindsay Eager and I have an in-depth discussion about writing and publishing and her newest middle grade novel, THE PATRON THIEF OF BREAD. We talk about her time working as an intern for a literary agent, leaving one literary agent for another, how she wr