WRITERS' RUMPUS

HOW TO MIDDLE GRADE

July 21, 2026 Alumni & Guests

Hi! My name’s James Ponti, and I write Middle Grade book series such as City Spies and The Sherlock Society. I’m excited to share some pointers with you, but only with a major caveat. I know a bunch of writers and we all do it differently. I’m not talking plotting vs. pantsing, but radically different approaches.

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SKIPSHOCK by Caroline O’Donoghue: A Master Class in World Building

July 14, 2026 Laura Fineberg Cooper

For writers of fantasy, science fiction, and romance, this genre-blending novel is a master class in how to create details and imagery that pull readers into the plot and keep them riveted from first page to last, and importantly, leave them eager for more.

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Writing Side by Side: Adriana Mather and James Bird on Books, Family, and Finding the Magic

July 7, 2026 Hilary Elizabeth Margitich

Writing is often described as a solitary pursuit. Most of us spend our days alone with our thoughts, our characters, and a blinking cursor. Yet

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Celebrating America’s Birthday with a talented author/illustrator team!

July 3, 2026 Marcia Strykowski

We’re just in time to celebrate America’s 250th birthday with Roxanne Troup and Jennifer Doehring. They have a beautiful new picture book, Happy Birthday America,

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Teen Book Review: I Wish You All The Best by Mason Deaver

May 7, 2019 Rebecca Moody

I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST by debut author Mason Deaver is a contemporary coming of age that’s out from Scholastic/Push in May 2019. *I

Interview: Susan Kaplan Carlton, author of IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF TRUE

May 3, 2019 Joyce Audy Zarins

This is more than an interview with a young adult author about her newest book. Recent events in the news reveal that antisemitism has not

Survival Guide for #NESCBWI

April 30, 2019 Alumni & Guests

By Dana Nuenighoff The annual spring conference for NESCBWI is coming this weekend! That means a weekend full of workshops and keynote speakers, of being

B is for Books! Two Wonderful Surprises

April 26, 2019 Laura Fineberg Cooper

I thought I missed my chance to review these March debuts, so imagine my surprise when I opened a big box (filled with the nicest

YA Book Review: To Best The Boys by Mary Weber

April 23, 2019 Rebecca Moody

TO BEST THE BOYS features lush world-building, a spunky, dynamic heroine with a mile-a-minute mind and voice reminiscent of Felicity Montague of Mackenzi Lee’s Petticoats & Piracy, and a plot as nail-bitingly intense as Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games.