Interview Tuesdays

@MaryLanniReads

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Have you ever wondered what inspired a favorite author to write their books? Join @MaryLanniReads each week as she sits down with the creative minds behind books for kids, tweens, and teens. Filled with fun moments and sage advice, these conversations are good listening, and you may discover a next favorite read. *Music by Alex Gux from Pixabay.

20h ago

Interview Tuesdays: C.M. Cornwell with @MaryLanniReads

C.M. Cornwell is the author of whimsical stories with magic and heart including The Memory Spinner (Penguin Random House, 2025) and The Paper Ballerina (Penguin Random House, 2027). She has a degree in English Literature and lives in Pennsylvania with her family. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys traveling, hoarding cardigans, and tangling herself in fiber arts projects.Learn more at https://www.cmcornwell.com/

18 min
Jun 23

Interview Tuesdays: Christy Mihaly with @MaryLanniReads

Author Christy Mihaly loves history, nature, and books. She writes for kids because she believes that our best hope for the future is raising young people who love to read, and giving them the knowledge and skills to lead. Christy has written around 40 children's nonfiction titles on topics from hayfields to free speech to food.Her fall 2021 picture book with Barefoot Books, WATER: A Deep Dive of Discovery, illustrated by Mariona Cabassa, was awarded a Kirkus star and a Gold in the Nautilus Book Awards. Other picture books include Patience, Patches, a fictional tale of a dog and a new baby (Dial), Our Congress and The Supreme Court and Us, which introduce young readers to the history and functions of the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress. (Albert Whitman.) A former lawyer, Christy has written extensively about civics and our government. The picture book Free for You and Me introduces the First Amendment through poems and stories. (Albert Whitman 2020.) Other books include the YA Diet for a Changing Climate: Food for Thought (Lerner 2018, co-written with Sue Heavenrich), which explores how our food affects the environment, and Hey, Hey, Hay! (A Tale of Bales and the Machines That Make Them), a rhyming picture book about haymaking (Holiday House, 2018). In addition to the Nautilus Gold, Christy's books have been included on the Green Earth Book Award shortlist, Bank Street Children's Best Books, and Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections. Many of her poems appear in anthologies and magazines. She is represented by Erzsi Deak of Hen&ink Literary Studio. She lives in Vermont, where she enjoys walking her dog in the woods and playing cello (though not simultaneously).Learn more at https://www.christymihaly.com/

26 min
Jun 16

Interview Tuesdays: Tom Tracy with @MaryLanniReads

Tom was born and raised in Southern New Jersey. Growing up in rural America, Tom has a deep sense of community - when our families, neighbors, farmers, local businesses, and organizations all work in concert to support one another, it strengthens us individually and collectively. Tom relishes opportunities to develop meaningful relationships with his local community. As a gay dad and a father of BIPOC daughters, Tom is committed to advancing children’s stories that are inclusive of diverse families, who have been historically under-represented in children's books. Tom's work helps to fill that representation gap. Professionally, Tom is a NJ Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked with at-risk youth and individuals living with mental illness for most of his career. Through that work, he has come to appreciate the importance of sharing one's lived experience with others through story-telling. He hopes his kids books help others feel more seen and valued. https://www.tomtracybooks.com/

30 min
Jun 9

Interview Tuesdays: Alby C. Williams with @MaryLanniReads

Alby C. Williams hails from the land of snow and salt potatoes. They are a storyteller, poet and artist of dubious skill but endless enthusiasm. If you catch them in their spare time, you might mistake them for a cat based on the amount of yarn in their immediate vicinity, but don't be fooled---they're actually several pigeons in a trench coat.Learn more at https://albycwilliams.com/

33 min
Jun 2

Interview Tuesdays: Lija Fisher with @MaryLanniReads

Lija Fisher is the author of funny adventure novels for kids that explore the world of cryptozoology, or the search for legendary animals that might be real. Her debut novel. THE CRYPTID CATCHER (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) received a starred review from Booklist and was a Junior Library Guild Selection. The sequel, THE CRYPTID KEEPER, was written while Lija was the Writer in Residence with Aspen Words and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award in juvenile literature.Lija travels the country speaking at schools, libraries, and Bigfoot festivals where she gets kids interested in reading and science through searching for hidden animals, or cryptids, like the Loch Ness Monster. ‘Cryptozoology for Kids’ is her specialty! Prior to becoming an author, she trained for a while (a very short while) to be a Hollywood stunt person. She lives in Colorado near several Bigfoot sightings. Learn more at https://www.lijafisher.com/

21 min
May 26

Interview Tuesdays: Isabelle Knight with @MaryLanniReads

Isabelle Knight is the middle-grade fantasy author of the Enchantria series, which she began writing at age ten and published during her middle school years. A lifelong book and cat lover, she now resides somewhere in a book-filled apartment, surrounded by an unimaginable number of stuffed pandas and enough books to start her own bookstore. When she’s not writing about creepy shadows, daring heroines, and magical adventures, she’s talking about books, writing, and other writerly ramblings on her YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@isabelleknightbooks)!Learn more at https://springfallschronicle.com/

24 min
May 19

Interview Tuesdays: Jeff Dorrill with @MaryLanniReads

After years of professional writing, private equity attorney Jeff Dorrill decided it was time to write something a little different. Switching gears from his experience writing law review articles, including over thirty-five pieces for publication in SMU Law Review, Baylor Law Review, and Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law, Jeff wanted to write something that would be read for fun.Growing up, Jeff combined the skills and life lessons he learned from each of the caring adults in his life to build his own roadmap for living. Now an adult with children of his own and recognizing that families in today’s world are formed in ever-changing ways, Jeff sought to pen an entertaining and emotional children’s book about the magic of chosen family. Inspired by the many caregivers who played a role in his own rearing, Jeff dreamt up Brunt and Eggbert and brought the story to life.Jeff currently resides in Dallas, Texas with his wife, Melisa, children, Tenley and Hunter, and his grandchild, Vivian. He is working on his third master's degree at the University of Southern California in criminal justice, and despite the time dedicated to practicing law, studying, and writing, Jeff doesn’t spend his life behind a desk. He has won multiple national championships in triathlons including three-time Ultra-Distance Triathlon National Champion in his age group.Learn more at https://bruntandeggbert.com/

18 min
May 12

Interview Tuesdays: Haven Iverson with @MaryLanniReads

Haven Iverson is an author of children's literature living in Boulder, Colorado. She received her MFA as a fellow at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. Slow Down, Tumbleweed (Sounds True, 2021) was her first published children’s book, and her next book, Into the Wilderness, which received a Kirkus starred review, is forthcoming from Macmillan in March 2026. Learn more at https://haveniverson.com/

24 min

Have you ever wondered what inspired a favorite author to write their books? Join @MaryLanniReads each week as she sits down with the creative minds behind books for kids, tweens, and teens. Filled with fun moments and sage advice, these conversations are good listening, and you may discover a next favorite read. *Music by Alex Gux from Pixabay.

Creator

@MaryLanniReads
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

64
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© @MaryLanniReads
Show Website

Interview Tuesdays