Seattle Writes: Writing Teen Fiction

The Seattle Public Library - Author Readings and Library Events

Seattle authors Kevin Emerson, Karen Finneyfrock and Jennifer Longo discuss writing young adult fiction, finding your voice and reaching teen readers. There will be time for questions from the audience.Kevin Emerson is the author of 12 novels for teen and middle grade readers. His two most recent young adult novels are “Exile” and “The Far Dawn,” the third and final book in the Atlanteans series. Kevin is a former elementary science teacher and middle school writing teacher, and has taught for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program. He is also a guitarist and drummer in two bands: Northern Allies and the Board of Education.Karen Finneyfrock is a poet, novelist, and writing teacher. Her two young adult novels are “Starbird Murphy and the World Outside” and “The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door.” She is a former Writer-in-Residence at Richard Hugo House in Seattle and teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers-in-the-Schools program. In 2010, Karen traveled to Nepal as a Cultural Envoy through the US Department of State to perform and teach poetry and, in 2011, she did a reading tour in Germany sponsored by the US Embassy.Jennifer Longo’s young adult novel “Six Feet Over It” is “an impressive debut novel – simultaneously hilarious, clever, and poignant,” according to School Library Journal. A California native, Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from San Francisco State University and an MFA in Writing for Theatre from Humboldt State University. After years of acting, playwriting, working as a literary assistant and as an elementary school librarian, Jennifer decided to face her fear of prose.