#1 New York Times bestselling author, Mark Oshiro, spoke with me about what journalism taught them about book editing, capturing a transitional age with young adult and middle-grade fiction, and their latest novel JASMINE IS HAUNTED.

Mark Oshiro is the #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of young adult books including Anger Is a Gift, as well as middle-grade books The Insiders, You Only Live Once, David Bravo, and Star Wars Hunters: Battle for the Arena. They are also the coauthor (with Rick Riordan) of The Sun and the Star: A Nico Di Angelo Adventure.

Their upcoming middle-grade novel JASMINE IS HAUNTED (Starscape, Hardcover; October 1, 2024), is described as a "heartfelt, funny, fast-paced, and spooky” (Rick Riordan), tale about the gravity of grief and the courage it takes to overcome it.

Mark Oshiro won the 2024 Georgia Author of the Year Award and the 2019 Schneider Family Book Award.

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In this file Mark Oshiro and I discussed: 

• The strange circuitous route to bestseller and the public perception of debut authors
• Why their journalism background prepared them for a full-time fiction career
• How they teamed up with the author of Percy Jackson & the Olympians
• On writing queer stories with characters of color
• The outsized influence of Octavia Butler
• And a lot more!

Show Notes: 

• www.markoshiro.com
• Jasmine Is Haunted by Mark Oshiro (Amazon)
• Mark Oshiro Amazon Author Page
• Mark Oshiro on Instagram
• Mark Oshiro on Twitter
• Kelton Reid on Twitter

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