margaret stohl

Our First YALLFEST Author Announcement - US!

 Lineup Announcement: Kami and Margaret

Obviously the first two authors that will be at Yall Fest will be the festival coordinators Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of The Beautiful Creatures Novels.  (Margie is also author of the new series Icons coming out 2013)

                                     

Margaret Stohl

Margaret Stohl is the author of the forthcoming YA novel ICONS, the first book in the Icons Series – as well as the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Indie-Bound and internationally bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures Novels with Kami Garcia, which have been translated into 28 languages and 37 countries and optioned for film by Warner Brothers.

A longtime veteran of the videogame industry, Margaret’s work includes - to name a few – Spiderman, Fantastic Four, Dune 2000, The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow, Defender, The Sopranos, Slave Zero, Apocalypse, Zork Nemesis, Zork Grand Inquisitor, Spycraft, Command & Conquer: Red Alert Retaliation, and Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

A graduate of Amherst College, Margaret earned a MA in English from Stanford University, and completed classwork for a PhD in American Studies from Yale University. Margaret was a teaching assistant in Romantic Poetry at Stanford, and in Film Studies at Yale. She attended the Creative Writing Program of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where she was mentored by the Scottish poet George MacBeth.

Margaret loves traveling the world with her daughters, who are nationally and internationally ranked epee fencers, and living in Santa Monica with her husband and two bad beagles, Kirby and Zelda.

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That's my part of the announcement, anyways. Read the whole thing here:

http://yallfest2011.tumblr.com/post/8779649809/lineup-announcement-kami-and-margaret

MTV SHOUTOUT - YALLFEST 2011

Woke up to this headline this morning. Not a bad way to start a Wednesday - Thanks MTV Crush! Check it out here:

http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2011/08/10/yallfest-announcement/

EXCLUSIVE: 'Beautiful Creatures' Authors Coordinating Big YA Book Festival!

Posted 2 hrs ago by MTV News in Crush Exclusive!, Page Turners

                                        

We are excited to announce YALLFEST—the first YA book festival to come to Charleston, SC! YALLFEST will hit Charleston on November 11-12, 2011, with a serious line-up of YA authors.

Founded by Jonathan Sanchez of Blue Bicycle Books, the two-day festival is open to the public and sponsored by Blue Bicycle Books, the College of Charleston, the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, and a host of local businesses. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, authors of the "Beautiful Creatures" novels, are coordinating the author line-up and panels.

So who's going to be there? Follow the festival's official Tumblr to find out. Exclusive author reveals will be posted in the days to come. You can also follow festival updates on Twitter via @yallfest and Facebook.

Bloggers, fansites and websites that want to support and promote the festival can add the festival button from the Tumblr to their sites and enter to win a basket of books and swag from more than 15 authors, special access at the festival and more! Contest details can be found on the festival Tumblr.

Hope to see ya'll there! And Kami and Margie, save a slice of pie for us, will you?

Do you plan to check out YALLFEST?

Tags Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, YALLFEST

DREAM DARK hits Amazon tomorrow: August 2, 2011

It's only available online, and right now, only in the USA. But as of midnight tonight, you can download the first-ever Beautiful Creatures Story. Check it out and let me know what you think! :) Margie

"I love the world!"

RIP Amy Winehouse, and my heart breaks with every new story from Norway. Some weeks are darker than others, and this is a dark one.

But don't worry, world. Somewhere at sleepaway camp in Michigan, a 10 y.o. whose heart has yet to be broken is still in love with you. I know it because she said so. In Sharpie, on her left Croc. Which is, as Lena can tell you, permanent.

It's written all over her shoes.

                                     

Caps For Sale! Real Life Books...

As seen on the street today in Santa Monica.
"Caps for sale! Fifty cents a cap! Caps for sale..."

Now I'm going to go look for Frances and her tea set...
I hear it's a real bargain.

I have an announcement!

                                

In case you didn't see the announcement in PW, I'm so excited to finally be able to tell you my news! My amazing agent, Sarah Burnes of the Gernert Agency, has sold my first solo project, ICONS, a new YA Sci-Fi series, to Little, Brown, which will be edited by my beloved Beautiful Creatures Novels editor, Julie Scheina.Yay!

Here's the full PW announcement!:

Stohl Launches SF Series at LBYR
Margaret Stohl, co-author of the bestselling YA series Beautiful Creatures, sold North American rights to two books in a new series called Icons to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Julie Scheina acquired the novels from agent Sarah Burnes at the Gernert Company, and book one is slated for spring 2013. The YA science fiction series, which is set 16 years after an alien invasion, follows a group of teenagers who become swept up in a resistance movement looking to unseat the extraterrestrials who've taken control of the planet.

UPDATE: You can click here to visit The Icons Series on facebook!

For all our loyal Caster readers everywhere, don't worry! Kami and I are still hard at work on the Beautiful Creatures Novels. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kami had her own news to share in the near future -- but of course, that's just speculation on my part :) And even if she did, you'd have to wait and hear it from her...!

Surprised?

If you need me, I'll be here doing cartwheels up and down the street in front of my house.

xo Margie

 

2011 - Six Months In - Half-Full or Half-Empty?

I can't believe it's already June. Here's what's happened since January. I winged my way east to Dijon, France, for a fencing tournament and a writing retreat, then headed back west to Chinatown in LA for a little more writing...

                                     

I drove up to Zions and the Grand Canyon with my daughter and parents, to see red rocks in the snow. And to write about red rocks in the snow...

                                 

I flew south to Los Cabos, Mexico, to see my friends, and write in the sunshine...

                                

West to the South Pacific (the west south pacific?) for a writing retreat...

                              

East to Trastevere, Rome to write, and see my old friend in St. Peter's Square on his big day...

                               

South again to Mexico to write...I think you're getting the picture. Write, read, repeat.

In between, I got to see wonderful writers at the Romantic Times Conference, the LA Times Festival of Books, and one of my favorite events, the first ever YA Smackdown, where Team Paranormal faced off against Team Dystopian and Team Contemporary. Needless to say, Gayle Forman cannot be stopped, and Ally Condie, Kami and I were like so much dust under her wheels...

                                

Speaking of Kami, we are still hard at work on the FOURTH BOOK(!!!) of the Beautiful Creatures novels, and looking forward to DREAM DARK releasing online August 2, 2011 and BEAUTIFUL CHAOS releasing October 18th, 2011.

We are also hard at work on other secret projects of our own. It's been a busy six months, and there's an even busier six months ahead, I think. Check back soon for more details. Like, really soon!

So 2011? Half Full, not Half-Empty! AT LEAST Half Full!

xoxo Margie

Happy 2011, Casters! & Thanks, Readers, for an Amazing 2010!

I spent the last few days of 2010 looking back on the year, and I'm so grateful for the past twelve months. I'm the luckiest girl in the world, and here's why:

                                                 

- In January, Kami and I headed out for the Beautiful Creatures tour, spending two weeks in North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi. (Tour Clothes all came from here.) BC hit the NYT Bestseller list in November, as well as a few others, and we were shocked and confused and happy. And when I say happy I mean, ECSTATIC!

                                                 

- In February, we braved the rain and the snow to visit with readers, schools and sign books in the Seattle area and the Chicago area and the Bay Area. I spent Lena's birthday with good friends of mine at their place in Mexico.

    

- In March and April, when not writing our sequel, we hit the LA Times Book Festival. Which, by the way, is a completely awesome festival. My friend Pseudonymous Bosch was there, which I am illustrating with a random picture from an award dinner we were both nominated for but he won. Note the shades.

                      

- In May, we headed to France and Spain to meet with readers and journalists. We had an amazing time with Espasa and the YA writer Javier Ruescas in Spain, and with our famille Francaise at Hachette Jeunesse in Paris.

- In June, I spent time in Otranto, Italy, at the BAU Institute for writers and artists. My friends from Spain, Javier Ruescas and Carlota Echevarria, met up with me. Hijincks ensued. Later that month, Kami and I had the good fortune to speak at the ALA Annual Conference in Washington, DC. It was so much fun to celebrate with the librarians from the Morris Committee. Never let it be said otherwise - librarians are wild good fun!

- In July and August, I got to write in Park City, UT - one of my favorite places in the world. 

                     

                                           

- In September, Kami and I went with Melissa Marr and the Smart Chicks for eight wild events with readers throughout the US and in Toronto, and oh so many more hijinks did abound! (Tour Clothes came from here.) We so much more than Kicked It...

                                                          

- In October, our Beautiful Darkness Tour went livestream, courtesy of Kaleb Nation and Blog TV. We were able to field questions from all around the world while we went all around the US, which was a completely awesome experience. October was also our first time at the Texas Book Festival in Austin, which is not to be missed! AND better yet, our beloved agent Sarah Burnes and editor Julie Scheina met us along the way.

- Also in October, Kami and I published Beautiful Darkness, the sequel to Beautiful Creatures, and it became a NYT bestseller (and a few other kinds of bestseller) also! AND I'm still receiving copies of Beautiful Darkness/17 Lunes in all sorts of languages from around the world, which I love.

                                                 

- In November, we returned to our adopted home of Charleston, South Carolina, again with Kaleb Nation, to visit YA debut author Michelle Hodkin, photographer bestie Vania Stoyanova and our fave Southern Indie, the Blue Bicycle.It was a crazy busy month, though, because we turned in Caster Chronicles III just in time for me to head to Paris.

                                                               

I spent Thanksgiving Day with my extremely cool publisher - Hachette Jeunesse / Black Moon - in Paris. I met with readers in Paris and Grenoble, and hung out in the Christmas Markets, one of my favorite things to do in the Alps in winter.

- In December, I got to visit the Monarch School in San Diego, where I played a sort of Santa to a wonderful classroom, and then met up at Kami to sign at Mysterious Galaxy, one of the greatest fantasy and science fiction bookstores in the US. I enjoyed the holidays in the snow in Park City. New Years' found me back at home in Santa Monica, feeling - like I said - grateful and ready to take on 2011.

What lies ahead in 2011?

I'm not sure. I know it involves a lot of writing - Caster Chronicles IV, my last Caster book (for now) with Kami - as well as a project or two of my own to finish. And I know I'll be in Dijon, France and San Diego, CA in January. And then Goteborg, Sweden and Mexico in February.

I'm looking forward to loads of good books, including new books from all my favorites - Melissa Marr, Cassie Clare, Carrie Ryan, Holly Black and Ally Condie. I'm looking forward to Pseudonymous Bosch, my oldest friend, finishing his NYT bestselling middle-grade series as well. I'm looking forward to a new book from my favorite Spanish YA author, Javier Ruescas. And I'm looking forward to getting back to work with Kami after the holidays, myself.

As for the rest, your guess is as good as mine.

Here's hoping you, too, have recovered from your 2010 - and wishing you the very best of 2011.

Love & Luck,

Margie

 

The Lord Jeffery Amherst Was a Soldier for the King...

                  

This is a photo of me, at our signing at Bookpeople in Austin, TX, with the moderator of our panel at the Texas Book Festival, Juli Berwald. She's the head of the Texas Jewish Book Festival, as well as a writer for National Geographic and a whole host of other smartypants publications. You can probably find her on CSPAN.

She's also my college roommate, from one million lifetimes ago. And she's awesome. A giant thank you to Clay and the Texas Book Festival for letting me see her again!

Now, on to San Antonio. . . and Denver. . . and Boulder . . . and Salt Lake City, which really means Park City, which really means home. And then home home.

See you out on the road, Casters and Outcasters!

 

On the road again...

So far, so good.

St. Louis, MO - Pudd'nhead Books, w/ our kickoff guest interviewer Heather Brewer - you rocked, with cake, and I am a minion. Having our superstar agent Sarah Burnes with us didn't hurt, either!

Phoenix, AZ - Borders - awesome. Scottsdale, AZ - The Poisoned Pen, w/ guest interviewer Rosemary Clement Moore - our Southern Gothic conversation was one of my favorites, and they will ship a signed copy of our book ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

Austin, TX - Bookpeople, w/ Anastasia Hopcus - those are all good people. Plus, I got to see Julie Scheina, editor extraordinaire, as well as my roommate from Amherst College, who I haven't seen in 20 years!

Tomorrow we face the actual Texas Book Festival with a panel of our own and a joint YA panel. Should be fun. Until then, I leave you with the first installment of Kaleb Nation's documentary of our tour. He's a gifted filmmaker, but I'm so tired with all the many release-day activities, I look like I'm about to pass out.

Or don't I? You tell me.