LitFest: Tips for Writing YA with Aaron Aceves, Casie Bazay, and Erica Waters

Join us for a LitFest presentation on Tips for Writing YA: where we talk writing, publishing and everything in between. Questions are always welcome.

We'll be joined by authors: Aaron Aceves (This is Why They Hate Us), Casie Bazay (Not Our Summer), and Erica Waters (The Restless Dark).

**
This is one of many events happening for LitFest 2022, which runs Aug 20 - Sept 24. For a full list of programs, visit: www.metrolibrary.org/litfest

About the authors:
Aaron H. Aceves (he/him) is a bisexual, Mexican-American writer born and raised in East L.A. He graduated from Harvard College and received his MFA from Columbia University. His fiction has appeared in jmww, Epiphany, and them., among other places. He currently lives in Texas, where he serves as an Early Career Provost Fellow at UT Austin, and his debut novel, This Is Why They Hate Us, will be released August 23rd by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
**
After leaving the teaching profession to become a stay-at-home mom in 2010, Casie decided it was time to chase a dream she’d long had: writing professionally. Following the old adage, write what you know, she opted to focus on horses and found her first break writing for The Horse. Around this time, she also began her blog, The Naturally Healthy Horse. She’s since gone on to contribute for other publications such as Natural Horse Magazine, Country Extra, Horse Network, and Oklahoma Horses Magazine. She even expanded her horizons to write an article about a bull named Fidel No Castro and a tear drop camper built by her husband.

Casie’s primary writing goal, however, has always been to use the traditional route for publishing a young adult fiction novel, and after years of hard work (and four completed manuscripts), she finally achieved that goal when her debut novel, Not Our Summer, released in May of 2021 from Running Press Teen/Hachette. She’s now working toward publishing a second young adult novel. When not writing or shuffling her two children to school or activities, Casie can often be found outdoors, hanging out with her kids and/or animals. She has a fondness for rescue animals and currently has five cats, two dogs, three horses, and two goats.

**
Erica Waters grew up in the pine woods of rural Florida, though she now resides in Nashville, Tennessee, with her spouse and two terrible dogs named Nutmeg and Luna. She has a Master’s degree in English and works as a university writing tutor. She is the author of Ghost Wood Song, a Bram Stoker Awards finalist and a YALSA 2021 Best Fiction for Young Adults nominee. Her second book, The River Has Teeth, was an Indie Next pick, an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and a Kirkus Best Young Adult Book of 2021. Erica’s forthcoming book, The Restless Dark, will be published in fall 2022.