Jodi Lynn Anderson’s Ghosts (for ghost enthusiasts 👻 and other adults)

Join us for a conversation between acclaimed author, Jodi Lynn Anderson, and her longtime editor, Liesa Abrams, as they discuss ghosts – how they figure into so much of Jodi’s writing and why. 👻 A perfect conversation to get us in the Halloween spirit this fall season. 💀

Jodi Lynn Anderson is a bestselling author of numerous books such as Peaches, Tiger Lilly, the Thirteen Witches series,  and most recently Each Night Was Illuminated.  She grew up in a lake town in northern New Jersey where she spent way too much time walking in the woods with her cat, watching the clouds, and making things up. When she was 13, her family set off to live in far flung places around the world…and it taught her to think places are alive and to want to explore that in stories.  She’s deeply drawn to the magic in real life and is always trying to capture it in what she writes.

Jodi began her career as an editor at HarperCollins in NYC before starting to write full-time in various nooks and crannies around the world. These days she lives in Senegal, West Africa, with her husband,  two wonderful and goofy kiddos, and a persnickety dog who always takes things too far. She holds an MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College and has taught for the Great Smoky Mountains Writing Program at UNC Asheville.

Liesa Abrams is VP, Editor-in-Chief of the Labyrinth Road imprint at Random House Books for Young Readers. Labyrinth Road publishes middle-grade and young adult novels, with a particular focus on middle-grade series. The imprint is a home for books about epic journeys—both fantastical and emotional—that allow readers to explore our world and imagined worlds. Liesa began her publishing career at the company now known as Alloy Entertainment, where she worked on long-running franchise series such as Sweet Valley High, before becoming a founding editor of the Razorbill imprint at Penguin Young Readers, and then moving to Simon and Schuster. In her years at Simon and Schuster, Liesa launched the blockbuster #1 bestselling Dork Diaries series from then debut author Rachel Renée Russell. Other debut authors whose books Liesa edited and helped build into New York Times bestsellers include James Riley (Story Thieves), Shannon Messenger (Keeper of the Lost Cities), and Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award winner Tracy Deonn (Legendborn). Liesa also edited bestselling titles from Brandon Mull, Lisa McMann, Jodi Lynn Anderson, Suzanne Young, Lynn Weingarten, and Scott Westerfeld. Her focus on editing timely stories revolving around themes of identity and self-discovery in the YA space is reflected in the Michael L. Printz Honor Book A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti, the Sydney Taylor Honor Book The Last Words We Said by Leah Scheier, the Amelia Bloomer List title The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed, and the multiple books she’s edited that have been named ALA Rainbow List Top Ten selections, including Shaun David Hutchinson’s Brave Face and Sarah Gailey’s When We Were Magic.

Purchase Jodi’s books HERE at The Curious Reader (support indies!)

Each Night Was Illuminated.

★ “Searing prose…Tender and wise” – Booklist, starred review