News
August 17 2010: TD Canada Children’s Book Week tour!
I am so excited to have been chosen to take part in the Book Week tour this year! From April 30 to May 7, I’ll be touring around Ontario, visiting schools and communities, talking with kids and teens about books and writing, meeting teachers and librarians and young readers and writers…. I can’t wait!
August 12 2010: Teens Read Too Book Club
I just paid a virtual visit to the fabulous Teens Read Too Book Club… to read interviews with me and with many other authors, click here!
June 15 2010: ARC
Just got my advance review copy of Liars and Fools, and it looks gorgeous! Thank you to Theresa Bubela at Orca Books for the awesome cover! Check it out….
May 7 2010: Book Launch for Ben’s Robot
Next Saturday, come on out and help me celebrate the launch of my first book for very young readers! Ben’s Robot is an early chapter book aimed at six to eight year olds. We’ll be launching at Victoria’s Tall Tale Books, on Saturday May 15 at 3pm. Sylvia Olsen and Mike Deas are also launching new books for children.
April 30 2010: Author Chat
Join me at the end of April for an on-line chat! The Teen Reading Club is offering a series of chats with YA authors this spring and summer. I’ll be online April 30, from 5-7pm Vancouver time, and I’d love to hear from you.
March 2010: BC Book Prizes
Just got some great news! My YA novel Inferno has been nominated for this year’s BC Book Prizes. It is a finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Award. I am thrilled! Carrie Mac, Rachelle Delaney, Sylvia Olsen and Kristin Butcher are also finalists. Congrats everyone! Look forward to seeing you at the BC Book Prize gala in April
January 2010: Where Do You Live?
If you live in Victoria and are between 13 and 19, check out my upcoming workshops. Should be lots of fun.
If you live in Slovenia, you probably can’t come to my workshops but (drumroll please) Orca has sold Slovenian rights to my novel Big Guy
If you live in Finland, keep an eye out for the Finnish edition of Impossible Things.
And if you live in Australia, lucky you. Summer holidays. I’ll be joining you in a couple of weeks… between February 9 and April 16, I’ll be visiting Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. Send me an e-mail if you’d like me to visit your school or library while I am there
November 2009: Kids’ Book Bash Event
I recently helped organize a local kids’ book event in Victoria (along with Val Wyatt, Sarah Harvey, and Kit Pearson– the Best Committee Ever). We had over twenty Vancouver Island and Gulf Island authors taking part, great art activities for the kids, and a fabulous turnout from local book lovers. Here are some pictures (thanks to Della Burford for putting this image show together and to both Della and Kit for the great photographs!
September 10 2009 ;CCBC Best Books List
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has just released its list of Best Books for Kids and Teens 2009 and two of my books are included: Big Guy and Impossible Things.
June 12: Foreign Rights Sale
My juvenile novel, Impossible Things (Orca, 2008), has been sold to Norwegian publisher Stabenfeldt for publication in both Sweden and Norway!
April 2010: Launch!
My newest teen novel, Inferno, was launched last night at Victoria’s Bolen Books. Thanks to Orca for organizing a fun and successful launch, to Bolen Books for hosting, and most of all to the folks who came out to help us celebrate!
April 18 2009: Northern BC tour
I’m in Northern BC this week, on tour with three of the finalists for the BC Book Prizes. Right now we are in Hazelton, where we visited elementary and secondary schools, and read at the Public Library. What a beautiful town…. I will be in Northern BC from April 13-19 as part of the BC Book Prizes tour. Along with three other finalists, I will be visiting schools, libraries and bookstores in Terrace, Smithers, Hazelton, Kitimat, Prince Rupert and Prince George. For more information about where we will be, visit the BC Book Prizes website.You can also follow us through the On Tour authors’ blog.
March 2009 ; Award Nominations
A month of great news. A Thousand Shades of Blue is a finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize. Impossible Things has been nominated for the Diamond Willow Award. And on top of that, I’ve just signed contracts with Orca for two new books!
December 2008
This fall has been so busy– between teaching and trying to keep up with my speedy four year old, I have barely had time to write, let alone update my website. However… I have had two fabulous book launches for A Thousand Shades of Blue, one in Vancouver and one in Victoria.
November 10, 2008: Booksplash
Booksplash was great fun, as was the BCTLA conference and Authors’ Day. In all, I spoke at three high school groups, two middle schools, and one elementary school. The students were wonderful– lots of enthusiasm, lots of questions, lots of great ideas… Very inspiring!
October 2008: First Review for A Thousand Shades of Blue
Today is my birthday… and how’s this for a nice birthday present? Canadian Materials has just reviewed my new book and given it 4/4 stars… Highly recommended. Click here to read the full review.
October 2008: A Thousand Shades of Blue has arrived!
I just got my author copies of my new YA novel, A Thousand Shades of Blue and it looks gorgeous… thanks so much to Theresa Bubela for the cover design and Janice Kun for the beautiful art work! The official launches will be November 4, 7pm, at Victoria’s Bolen Books; and November 13, at Vancouver’s Kids Books.
August 2008: Cleavage: Breakaway Fiction for Real Girls.
I have a short story in a new anthology coming out this fall, from Sumach Press, edited by Jocelyn Shipley and Deb Lougheed. It is a collection of short stories centered around the theme of mothers, daughters and body image. It looks great and I can’t wait to get my copies so that I can read all the other stories in the book. Check it out: Sumach Press.
July 2008: CCBC Best Books List
The Canadian Children’s Book Centre has just released its list of Best Books for Kids and Teens… and my teen novel Out of Order has been selected as a starred selection in the Best Book for young adults list.
April 2008: Launching my THREE NEW BOOKS!
Orca had a fabulous April launch for five Victoria writers of books for kids and teens. We launched my three spring 2008 books– Big Guy, Impossible Things, and Dead In the Water ; as well as great new books by Victoria authors Sylvia Olsen, Bev Cooke, Jeff Rud and Chris Tougas.
November 2007: Nice article from our local Fernwood paper…
Fernwood’s Cornerstone Café was an apt setting for the October 18 launch of Robin Stevenson’s first book, Out of Order, given that Stevenson and the book’s central characters all call Fernwood home. Family, friends, co-workers, and fellow writers crowded into the cozy art-filled café as Stevenson greeted attendees and signed copies of her book.
The author described how the novel grew out of a short story (based on memories of her own high school experiences), gradually taking on a richer life as she delved deeper into its characters, and fell in love with Fernwood—her young son in tow. Stevenson’s engaging writing style quickly draws readers into the world of her book’s characters, particularly its central character, Sophie Keller. Sophie has just moved the province and is anxious to leave her “loser” reputation behind.
Her plan to fit in seems straightforward at first, but as she starts to make friends and struggles to maintain a cool facade, Sophie’s life becomes complicated. Her two new friends are strong, influential forces: Zelia is an energetic risk taker, while Max, a fellow horse lover, is more low-key. As these relationships evolve, it becomes clear that all three characters are harbouring secrets, and Sophie comes to realize that her own lack of authenticity—with friends, family, and herself—is costing her more than the past she is trying to leave behindThis book has strong and relevant messages for adolescents, particularly teenaged girls, about the power and complexity of friendship and family and, as Stevenson articulates so well, about “how we can both discover ourselves, and lose ourselves, in our relationships with others.” It also explores the often uneasy issues of sexuality, eating disorders, peer pressure, and mental illness with a compassionate, matter-of-fact voice that never lets any one of these themes become the story.
Ultimately, Stevenson says, Out of Order is about how we learn what it means to be ourselves; and, by the end of the book, Sophie takes a first step as she considers the idea that every experience—good and bad—has a place in our lives.It’s an idea that can be difficult to embrace at any age, but Stevenson respects her young readers enough to gently extend the challenge. When asked what she would ideally like to hear back from her readers, Stevenson said she would love to hear that readers related to and cared about the characters…”that readers saw some of their own feelings or struggles reflected in the lives and stories of the girls in the book
Her readers will have further opportunities to care about the characters she creates, given that four more Robin Stevenson books are due out in 2008. With her writing career now gathering momentum, it seems that Stevenson, like her character Sophie and the neighbourhood the author has grown to love, has found a way to both honour the past and create a new beginning.