Author Pep Talks Laekan Zea Kemp

Today I’m interviewing Natalia Sylvester, author of Breathe and Count Back from Ten.
Natalia Sylvester is the award-winning author of several novels for adults and young adults. CHASING THE SUN was named the Best Debut Book of 2014 by Latinidad and EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME won an International Latino Book Award and the 2018 Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters.
Natalia's debut YA novel, RUNNING, was a 2020 Junior Library Guild Selection, and her next novel for young adults, BREATHE AND COUNT BACK FROM TEN, is out now from Clarion Books/HarperCollins. A MALETA FULL OF TREASURES, Natalia's first picture book (illustrated by Juana Medina), will be published by Dial Books in 2024.
Natalia's non-fiction has appeared in the New York Times, Bustle, Catapult, Electric Literature, Latina magazine, and McSweeney's Publishing. Her essays have been anthologized in collections such as A MAP IS ONLY ONE STORY and A MEASURE OF BELONGING: WRITERS OF COLOR ON THE NEW AMERICAN SOUTH.
Born in Lima, Peru, Natalia came to the US at age four and grew up in Florida and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. She received a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Miami, was a 2021 Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and was formerly a faculty member at the Mile-High MFA program at Regis University.
Today we’re talking about the importance of consent when excavating our own trauma on the page, how the right readers can make authors feel just as seen and heard and held as our stories make them feel, the heavy burden of self-advocacy, and the impossibility of self-caring our way out of systemic oppression. If you’re looking to be more gentle with yourself and your work, this is the conversation for you. So without further ado, give yourself permission to hit pause on your day and then enjoy my conversation with Natalia Sylvester.
Connect with Natalia online:
Natalia's Website
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A pep talk for the Writer who needs nourishing.

Connect with Natalia online:

Natalia's Website

Twitter

Instagram

Buy her book!

A Pep Talk for the Writer who needs a warm-up.

Connect with Laekan online:

Laekan's Website

Twitter

Instagram

Buy her book!

Today I’m interviewing Jen St. Jude, author of If Tomorrow Doesn't Come.

Jen is a Lambda Literary Fellow who writes queer speculative fiction. They have served as an editor at Chicago Review of Books, Arcturus Magazine, Burning Worlds – Climate Change in Art & Literature, and Just Femme & Dandy Magazine.

Today we’re talking about the joy of our animal companions and how they keep us grounded, making peace with the possibility of not quite reaching your dreams, as well as embracing the possibility of creating new ones, and the power of writing your own emotional discoveries that can be just as transformative as the arcs our characters go through. This conversation is perfect for writers tackling sensitive and personal issues, as well as writers in need of a reminder that you and no one else decide the value of your story. So relax and settle in, and enjoy my conversation with Jen St. Jude.

Connect with Jen online:

Jen's Website

Twitter

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A Pep Talk for the Writer with big emotions.

Connect with Jen online:

Jen's Website

Twitter

Buy their book!

A Pep Talk for the Writer who deserves to just exist.

Connect with Laekan online:

Laekan's Website

Twitter

Instagram

Buy her book!