Growing Up: Young Adult Fiction (2009): Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

by Robin Benway, Cecil Castellucci (Narrator), Deb Caletti

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple to bring together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious book festival in the country, attracting more than 130,000 book lovers each year.Cecil Castellucci is a writer, filmmaker, actress and singer-songwriter, and engages in many other creative pursuits. She is the author of the young adult novels Boy Proof and The Queen of Cool . Castellucci's latest title is Beige.

Robin Benway's debut novel is Audrey, Wait. She attended college at New York University and UCLA. At NYU, she won the Seth Barkas Prize for Fiction. A former bookseller, she has worked at Ballantine, Knopf, Borders and Book Soup in West Hollywood.

Deb Caletti is an award-winning author and a National Book Award finalist. She is the author of The Queen of Everything and The Nature of Jade. Caletti's sixth book for young adults, The Secret Life of Prince Charming was just published.

Lauren Myracle is the author of many books for teens and tweens, including New York Times best sellers Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen. She lives with her family in Fort Collins, Colo. Myracle's book Peace, Love, and Baby Ducks is available now.

Lisa Yee is the author of children and young adult novels including her latest Absolutely Maybe. She won the 2004 Sid Fleischman Humor award for Millicent Min. Her book Stanford Wong Flunks Big Time was an American Library Assn. Notable Book.

Audible Audio

Published September 22, 2009

About the author

Robin Benway is a National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of six novels for young adults, including Far From the Tree, Audrey, Wait!, the AKA series, and Emmy & Oliver. Her books have received numerous awards and recognition, including the PEN America Literary Award, the Blue Ribbon Award from the Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, ALA’s Best Books for Young Adults, and ALA’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults. In addition, her novels have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly, and have been published in more than 25 countries. Her most recent book, Far From the Tree, won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, the PEN America Award, and was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, NPR, PBS, Entertainment Weekly, and the Boston Globe. In addition, her non-fiction work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Bustle, Elle, and more.

Robin grew up in Orange County, California, attended NYU, where she was a recipient of the Seth Barkas Prize for Creative Writing, and is a graduate of UCLA. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Hudson.