Author Q&As

If you’ve been shopping at our store for a while, you know we have a special place in our hearts (and on our shelves) for “Uncle” Rick Riordan, whose magical, mythology-infused middle grade novels have been delighting readers for fifteen years. When he’s not writing his own books, he’s busy with his own imprint, Rick Riordan Presents, which is publishing some of the funniest, most thrilling, and exciting middle grade series today.

We caught up with Stephanie Lurie, the Editorial Director of Rick Riordan Presents, to chat about working with Uncle Rick, children’s publishing, and what’s coming next from the imprint—starting with The Last Fallen Star, by Graci Kim. We’re delighted to host the launch event for that book on May 4, when author Graci Kim will appear in conversation with Rick Riordan himself. You can learn more about that event on our website, and purchase tickets here. In the meantime, check out our interview with Stephanie below!

We’re thrilled to welcome New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi to the blog to tell us about her incredible new book, Yolk. Gosh, where do we even start? This book is funny, raw, and wonderfully intricate—a shoo-in for your TBR list—and we loved hearing more about Choi’s process, what it was like writing a book in 2020, and the story behind that perfectly evocative title: Yolk.

Check out her great interview below, pre-order Yolk, and don’t forget to register for our free virtual event with her, in conversation with Shea Serrano, on March 4!

Let’s talk about girlhood. All around the world, teenage girls are going to school, making friends, dreaming big dreams. We see news headlines, but we know so little about ordinary girls’ day-to-day lives.

Girlhood, a new book from journalist Masuma Ahuja, shares those stories. It’s a thoughtful and informative project, centering the voices of thirty teens from twenty-seven countries through diary entries and photographs, with reporting and research to put their stories into context.

We’re thrilled to launch the book with a free, virtual event featuring Masuma in conversation with journalist Rainesford Stauffer. Plan to join us on February 9—you can register for the event here, and purchase your own copy of Girlhood here. In the meantime, check out our exclusive Q&A with the author!

We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time. Bryan Washington, Houston literary superstar and author of Lot, returns with a new novel on October 27. It’s called Memorial, and it’s a touching and funny story about two young, gay Houston men: Mike, a Japanese American chef, and Benson, a Black day care teacher. Through their stories, Washington explores universal themes of family and what it means to be human—parent, child, lover, friend. The book is just sublime, and we couldn’t be happier for this Houston author. 

We’re extremely excited to host a special, virtual launch event for Bryan Washington and Memorial on October 26, and to offer signed, personalized copies to attendees. You can learn more about that event and register here. In the meantime, enjoy our Q&A with the author below. 

YA pre-order alert! Folks, there’s a new can’t-miss book on its way to our shelves. It’s called Legendborn, and it’s the debut YA novel from author Tracy Deonn. Legendborn is a bewitching blend of fantasy and contemporary YA, full of Arthurian legend and Black Girl Magic. If you like books about myth and magic—if you’re into Kiersten White or Tomi Adeyemi or Victoria Schwab or Dhonielle Clayton—you’re going to love Legendborn. Blue Willow staffer Caroline Roberts is certainly a fan, and we can vouch for her excellent taste! Enjoy this Q&A between Caroline and Tracy, then be sure to pre-order your copy of Legendborn, which comes out on September 15. Be warned: There are a few *spoilers* within... so if you need to bookmark this one and come back once you’ve read the book, be sure to do that! 

It's no secret that we love YA books around here. They're smart. They're funny. They're thoughtful. They're true. And it's always a joy to share YA books we're excited about with you.

That's why we're here today—to recommend a new book that we just know you'll want to slide to the top of your TBR list: Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith. There are a million reasons we love this book, like its transgender protagonist, amazing rom-com vibes, and its setting in a Texas high school, and we had so much fun chatting with debut author Tobly about all of it. Check it out, then hurry up and read this book so we can talk about it, okay?

Each fall before the holiday season, we spend a lot of time as a staff talking about our very favorite books of the year—the can’t-miss future classics that we know will make for a perfect gift. Sometimes it can be tough to remember all the books that came out over the calendar year. But sometimes, we’ll read something in January or February and just know it will come up in those year-end conversations. That’s what happened with a debut picture book called The Old Truck, by Texas-born brothers Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey. It came out on January 7, and we haven’t stopped loving it since. It’s a beautiful story about perseverance and the passage of time, with striking retro design and unique, stamped illustrations. If you haven’t already read it, we highly recommend picking it up.

Check out our exclusive Q&A with the Pumphrey brothers below, then circle August 4 on your calendar. That’s the day when Jarrett and Jerome are helping us close out our Camp Blue Willow summer author series on Facebook Live! They’ll read The Old Truck and share a fun activity with viewers. We hope you’ll tune in!

Friends, one of our favorite Houston authors has a new book on the way, and we can't wait for you to read it. All the Things We Never Knew is the second YA novel from Liara Tamani, a dear friend of the shop and general author-you-need-to-read. It stars Carli and Rex, a pair of Texas teens who meet on the basketball court, and it's the perfect thing to help you through these lonesome, sports-less times we've been living through. The book is funny, romantic, thoughtful... it belongs on the same shelf as your well-loved copies of With the Fire On High, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, or The Sun Is Also a Star.

As if that wasn't enough, we partnered with Liara to hook you up with some special swag. If you pre-order a signed, personalized first edition of All the Things We Never Knew from us by June 4, we'll send you a branded notebook, pencil, sticker, pin, and bookmark in addition to your book! Liara will also generously make a donation to the Houston Food Bank for every pre-order placed. We were hoping to host a big event with Liara in the store to celebrate the book's release, but we've had to switch to the next best thing: An exclusive virtual launch party taking place via Zoom on June 12! Attending is easy: Order All the Things We Never Knew from our shop, and we'll send you an invitation to the Zoom event. We can't wait to see you there! In the meantime, check out our Q&A with the author.

One of the things we miss most about business-as-usual is bringing great authors to the shop and connecting them with you, our extended family of Houston readers. One of the authors we were looking forward to hosting was Food Network champion-turned-novelist Abby Jimenez, whose latest book, The Happy Ever After Playlist, hits that lovely sweet spot between humor and heartstrings. It's witty and warm, and is a great read for fans of Casey McQuiston, Beth O'Leary, or Jasmine Guillory. (If you don't know those authors yet, don't worry—The Happy Ever After Playlist also picked up a trio of starred reviews!) We've got copies on hand, so give us a call to reserve one. And be sure to enter the $50 Blue Willow gift certificate giveaway sponsored by Forever, Abby's publisher! In the meantime, enjoy a conversation between the author and our very own indefatigable events coordinator, Cathy. And stay tuned for more ways you can connect with us—and with other great authors—during these strange times.

Friends, the current health situation has upended life here at the shop, and has reminded us that our top priority is always to keep our customers and staff healthy and safe. That's meant a lot of event cancellations and a lot of curbside pickup for the last two weeks. We're carrying on as well as we can, but we're still bummed beyond words that one of our event casualties was this year's TeenBookCon festival. To us, the festival is a joyful, life-giving day each year where we get to see a lot of hard work and planning pay off and connect thousands of young local readers with some of our very favorite authors.

Two of those authors—Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones—have written an urgent page-turner of a debut that tackles big topics like race, privilege, violence, and coming together. I'm Not Dying With You Tonight is the story of Lena and Campbell, two very different girls from very different backgrounds, who are forced to rely on one another in order to survive a riot. We know it's not the same as attending a TeenBookCon panel, but we were able to ask Gilly and Kimberly a few questions about the book, what it's like to write together, and which books are on their nightstands. Read on!