Tag Archives: Quill & Quire

New book bonanza

My new middle-grade novel Me and Banksy came out a couple weeks ago, so I’ve been visiting bookstores, chatting with book bloggers, and secretly sleeping with copies under my pillow. (Just kidding, but I do feel about new-book smell the same way my husband feels about new-car smell.)

This was a nice surprise at Vancouver Kidsbooks.
And look how many copies they had for me to sign!

Me and Banksy is the first of my books to have an audiobook edition, which I’ve already gushed about here. This week, I got to download and listen to it for the first time. My son, Violence, who has just turned thirteen (!!!) and who’s long been the biggest audiobook fan in our household, hung out with me in the kitchen listening to the first chapter. I think he’s decided I’m now a real writer.

There are reviews posted, including this one from Quill and Quire, one here from Shelf Awareness, and these lovely words from Publisher’s Weekly. Today, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre published an interview with me. I also have guest posts appearing on various book blogs next week, so watch this space for the links.

And thanks to everyone for your kind words and support!

Kind words

I am trying to stop talking about myself, myself, and myself. I really am. But I’m just so pleased to have read these two reviews of Anywhere But Here.

After waiting for months for the book to come out, worrying the whole time about what readers will think of it, it’s such a wonderful feeling (and a relief!) to see that people understand what I was trying to say.

Here’s the Booklist review:

After dating his beautiful girlfriend, Lauren, for two years, Cole has abruptly broken up with her. Despite the long hours when she sat by his side while his mother died, Cole now finds her presence suffocating. In fact, Cole feels that he is constantly suffocating in his tiny hometown, known affectionately to locals as “the Web.” His plan is to escape through film school, and the admission process requires a submission of his work. In an intuitive flash, Cole decides to create a documentary about the Web, but he uncovers secrets that only deepen his entanglement with the town. Kyi’s first-person narration feels organic as Cole grudgingly reveals background information as needed, and secondary characters are distorted by Cole’s grief, reflecting the exhaustion Cole feels when he tries to engage with others. Readers will easily feel Cole’s difficulty with being present. Like Daisy Whitney’s When You Were Here (2013), Kyi’s novel presents a heart-wrenching, realistic depiction of a son grieving the loss of his mother. Grades 9-12.
–Diane Colson

And here is part of what Quill & Quire had to say:

Kyi demonstrates a certain amount of bravery in her treatment of the characters and their stories: Cole isn’t always as likeable as he thinks he is – in fact, he’s a bit of a jerk – and the other characters are vividly, humanly flawed. The author allows her characters room to make bad decisions and doesn’t flinch from dramatizing the consequences. The novel’s relatability twists inside the reader.

Diane Colson (Booklist) and Robert J. Wiersema (Quill & Quire), these are for you:

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It’s a boy!

Alright, get out your magnifying glass (and maybe your champagne glass, too) and take a look at this:

Deal announcement_PM_Kyi

You may want to read it again. Really, go ahead. I’ll wait. Because it’s from Publishers Marketplace and it says my name and Simon & Schuster and Anywhere but Here, the title of my Fall 2013 YA novel.

Ooooh… I’m so excited. Hang on, I just have to read it one more time. And then I have to look at the Quill & Quire announcement.

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Do you see where it says “Vancouver author Tanya Lloyd Kyi”? Yeah. I love that part. And the line where it says “Simon & Schuster”? My other favourite.

Last year I started working with Patricia Ocampo at Transatlantic Literary Agency, and she sent this book along to Simon & Schuster, where I worked with editor extraordinaire Annette Pollert, and now Anywhere but Here is going to be a real book!

My hot, documentary-filmmaking, imaginary guy is going to star in a real book. And he’s not just hot in my imagination anymore: you should SEE the cover. But you can’t. Because it’s not quite ready for revealing yet. We’ll save that for 2013!

Have a wonderful Christmas, all!