Authors >
Author Voices

Author Voices

Share |

Simon & Schuster authors speak out on the topics that inspire them

A gossip queen dissecting politics? A political pundit musing about sports? A romance novelist waxing poetic on music? You read it here first... see what your favorite literary personalities have to say about life beyond books.

Most Recent Posts

The East End. A Rich History.

By Carol Rivers - May 13, 2013

The East End of London has such a colourful and rich history but not everyone sees past the glorious edifice of Canary Wharf and the new Docklands. It was the wonderful Jennifer Worth who recently raised the East End’s profile, author of ‘Call the Midwife’. The full flavour of the poverty ridden streets and plight of the communities in the post war years was brought to...

By Penny Hancock - April 8, 2013

The Cutty Sark inGreenwich-or Imagery The Cutty Sark re-opened in April this year. For five years the 19thcentury Thames Tea Clipper was shrouded in white plastic as its interior –wrecked by a fire - was repaired. Incredibly, the ship survived its inferno and has been restored to its former glory. The Cutty Sark was a land mark in my formative years, just a walk away from...

By Beth K. Vogt - April 8, 2013

I'm on deadline for my third novel and I just realized -- just realized -- why I write books.Huh.I write books because . . . life is messy. And I write stories that wade into that mess. Stories about how we make a mess of our lives . . . or someone else messes up or lives . . .and yet, there is still hope.There is redemption.There is the reality of "But God . . . " in the midst...

(Slightly) Giving Up The Day Job

By Mark Griffiths - April 5, 2013

Writing has, until recently, been something I fitted in around 'proper' work. I held down a full-time job and still managed to bang out four novels and a few plays. Nothing so amazing in that. If you're a writer you just sit down and get on with it whenever you can. It's people who describe themselves as 'aspiring writers' or 'budding writers' who always moan about never...

Falling in Love with Writing...

By K. L. Brady - April 4, 2013

He was my childhood sweetheart, from the age of 7 or 8. It wasn’t love at first sight, rather a passion slowly brewed, simmered over a low-burning flame. He hid in my diaries and my journals, but he was the secret I never kept. No, no. My mother, who has since sprouted angel’s wings, found him tucked covertly beneath my Sealy, while I wait for our next encounter. She was...

Music in Tideline

By Penny Hancock - April 2, 2013

Tideline musicOne of the questions the lovely Chris Simmons (Crimesquad) asked me during the New Blood panel at Bristol Crimefest was about the music in Tideline.Was I musical he asked?Sadly, I'm not, at all, not the tiniest bit. I chose to make Jez musical because I wish I was. Characters can sometimes be used a kind of wish fulfilment! I do however listen to music...

April's Wartime Novel

By Carol Rivers - April 2, 2013

We tend to think of the wartime era, 1939-1945, as drab and unvaried, full of dour uniforms and ungainly, old-maid underwear - “passion-killers” - such as our grannies wear. But it was during these years that women were at their most resourceful and many used their ingenuity in the most astonishing of ways; eyebrow pencil for drawing seams down bare legs, barrage balloon...

The Power Trip - Out In Paperback March 28th!

By Jackie Collins - March 28, 2013

Hi there! I’m so excited about my latest book, The Power Trip… the reviews it’s received from critics and readers worldwide has been amazing. I truly have the greatest readers, and am tremendously grateful for them making The Power Trip an international bestseller. I’m so proud of this book – it’s a bit of a departure from my other books… I like to think of it...

Harvard, Marvelous World, & Me

By Troy CLE - March 22, 2013

<p style="text-align: justify;">On March 10th I made my second trip to speak at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for Professor Fernando Reimers' Masters Class. It was an amazing experience to tell such a high ranking class about my journey as both an author and educator. My key speaking points were how I landed my book deal, Marvelous World University, and...

Confessions of a Bird-a-holic

By Trudi Trueit - March 18, 2013

Did you ever look at something but not really see it? That was my relationship with birds for the longest time. I knew the basics. I could tell a robin from a crow from a blue jay, but that was about it. I longed to know more, but never seemed to have the time (or take the time) to learn. When my husband and I bought our first house, I plunked a monstrosity of a bird house...

Things are moving quickly!

By Jason Myers - March 13, 2013

Rewriting this new book due out next spring. It's gonna be fucking epic. You'll love these characters. Can't wait to get it out on shelves.

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 12, 2013

That was the headline for an e-mail I received last week . . . "Why wait?" The message was from Diana, and with her permission--and her mother's--I give it to you below. Dear Marion, I am a young writer, twelve years old. I plan to become a author in the future, but why wait? So over the past years I have been writing. I have a book that I feel confident in. I have...

What's in a Name?

By Julie Summers - March 11, 2013

Now that Jambusters has been published, people are beginning to comment on the name, I just want to put the record straight and explain its origin. The title came from my younger brother, Tim. Tim and Julie at Glenn Tanner, November 2012I was at home in the kitchen with my family in November 2009, celebrating the fact that Simon & Schuster had agreed to publish a...

Kids Saving the Rain Forest

By Marion Dane Bauer - March 5, 2013

Whoever it was who said "Ninety percent of the pleasure of travel is in anticipation and the other ten percent is in recollection" had hold of a disheartening truth. I'm just back from a week in beautiful Costa Rica and the deepest discovery I made is that I'm allergic to the entire place. I've long known I have a slight allergic reaction to mold. In Minnesota my head gets a...

A Revival for Connie of Kettle Street: In April, republished as Cockney Orphan.

By Carol Rivers - March 5, 2013

In April of this year, Simon & Schuster have decided to republish one of my earlier books, ‘Connie of Kettle Street’. The novel is freshly titled as ‘Cockney Orphan’. The book has a new cover too, so I thought it best to let my readers know well in advance of these plans. However, if you’ve not read ‘Connie of Kettle Street’, then ‘Cockney Orphan’ might be...

The Page and the Palantir

By Douglas Nicholas - February 28, 2013

Normal 0 The Page and the Palantir One of the things that I found myself thinking about in the last year or so—and wondering why I hadn’t before—is the magical aspect to reading. I knew vaguely that there was a point when I began to read smoothly as a child, and it was no longer something I had to think about doing as I did it, and that it became very...

Betrayed by Dragon

By Marion Dane Bauer - February 26, 2013

Not long after I fell on the early December ice, dislocated my elbow and broke the radial bone, I wrote about having discovered Dragon software. It was quite magical. I spoke into a microphone, and the words I spoke appeared on the screen in front of me. As I said earlier, I wasn't sure I could write that way. Many years ago, I began having problems with carpel tunnel, and...

Must They Be Funny?

By Marion Dane Bauer - February 25, 2013

"Must they be funny?" It's what Shonna McNasby asked following my last blog. And her thoughtful question calls for a response. Shonna also said, "I am an aspiring author of picture books, and what I write, I’m told, is rather quiet and sometimes sad. Everywhere I look there are hilarious picture books, (which I do love), and I just saw a notice in SCBWI about a publisher who...

An Enduring Passion

By Julie Summers - February 20, 2013

Those who know me are aware of my passion for archives. I am never happier than when up to my elbows in old papers and photographs. Much of the research for my books is done in archives. I have a wonderful very part-time research assistant who helps out on hard facts, such as the price of onions in 1940 or the amount of potash shipped to Britain from Canada in 1944, but I do...

The Joys and Pitfalls of Oral History

By Julie Summers - February 20, 2013

If someone in a bar tells you a story about their past, do you believe it wholly or do you think it might have been embellished a little to make it a cracking good yarn? It probably depends on who is telling you the story and how far-fetched it seems to you, given your experience. Normally, it does not matter. You can take it or leave it. However, when you come to interview...

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 24 25 Next

Results 1-20 of 500