Deborah Kerbel

GG Shortlist!

2012-10-08T15:32:01Z

Last week, I got the shock of my life when my publisher called with the news that Under the Moon had been selected as a finalist for the 2012 Governor General’s Literary Award (in the children’s text category). To be honest, having my book included on this most prestigious of lists is an honour I never imagined receiving.

Like, ever.

I think it’s safe to say I’m utterly ‘over the moon’ about it ;)

Here’s the complete shortlist from the GG website:

Children’s Literature — Text

Rachel Hartman, Vancouver, Seraphina (Doubleday Canada, an imprint of Random House of Canada; distributed by the publisher)
Deborah Kerbel, Thornhill, Ont., Under the Moon (Dancing Cat Books, an imprint of Cormorant Books; distributed by Thomas Allen & Son)
Susin Nielsen, Vancouver, The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen (Tundra Books, an imprint of Random House of Canada; distributed by the publisher)
Judd Palmer, Victoria, B.C., The Umbrella (Bayeux Arts; distributed by Literary Press Group of Canada)
Allan Stratton, Toronto, The Grave Robber’s Apprentice (HarperCollins Publishers; distributed by the publisher)

Huge congratulations to my fellow finalists! I’m absolutely thrilled to be in your company!

Trailer Time

2012-09-30T14:42:38Z

Back in the spring, I made my very own mini book trailer for Under the Moon (then promptly forgot to post it here…oops).

Here it is for your viewing pleasure, better late than never:

Word on the Street Toronto

2012-09-30T14:26:26Z

I was thrilled to be invited to read from Under the Moon at this year’s Word on the Street in Toronto. Lucky me got to share the ‘This is Not the Shakespeare Stage’ with brilliant, talented, super-funny YA authors Lesley Livingston (Starling), Mariko Tamaki ((You) Set Me On Fire), and Natalie Walschots (Doom: Love Poems for Supervillains).

(Not) to quote Shakespeare: “‘Twas an afternoon made of so much awesome.”

How the heck do I end this thing?

2012-04-21T15:01:30Z

Many people dream of writing a book. Some brave souls actually give it a try. And even fewer brave souls actually see it through all the way to the ending. Now that you’ve started your novel, how are you going to finish it?

Click here to read how some authors (including me) approach ‘The End’.

I <3 Mail

2012-01-03T23:47:30Z

I have to admit, there are many difficult things about making your living as an author (sporadic pay, less-than-stellar reviews, long, solitary hours, etc.). But thankfully, all of these are mostly offset by all the incredible bonuses this career has to offer (creating work you love and are proud of, not-so-bad reviews, long, solitary hours, etc.).

But probably one of my absolute favourite things about being an author is getting mail from readers. Knowing that one of my books has moved a young person to the point where they’ve made the effort to get in touch is definitely made of awesome.

Last week, I got a big package of fan mail from a book club near Ottawa called ‘Tween the Lines’. This group of kids had read LURE as their fall book pick and they’d sent me some great letters, questions and artwork. My own children and I sat together on the couch, opened the package and poured through all of it. At ages 9 and 6, my little ones are book-lovers too and watching their faces light up as we looked over the fan mail was incredible — seeing how proud they were of their mom and watching the spark of inspiration flickering in their eyes. Yeah, it sure makes all the difficult parts of this job worthwhile.

No — thank you, dear readers! Please keep those wonderful letters coming!

Happy Blank Document!

2012-01-03T16:05:14Z

To me, starting a new year is kind of like a opening up a fresh new document on a computer — so filled with possibilities and potential. Listen carefully…can’t you just hear the energy crackling in the air?

As we all know, real life is often stranger than fiction. So whether you’re writing a new manuscript, facing a new adventure in your life, or making resolutions for change, here’s to each of us filling 2012 with strong characters, exciting plot twists, beautiful metaphors, a good dose of romance, and some mighty fine resolution.

xoxo

A Shiny New Cover for My Shiny New Book!

2011-11-28T15:08:59Z

Here’s a sneak peek at the new cover for my upcoming YA novel, Under the Moon!

Pretty awesome, isn’t it? Makes you want to run out to the book store and buy a copy, doesn’t it? Well hold your horses…it’s not available until March, 2012. But because I love you, here’s the back cover blurb to keep your curiosity satisfied until then…

Lily MacArthur is a not-even-halfway-normal, forever-a-disappointment-to-her-mother, oxymoronically-named, and permanently introverted nocturnal freak of nature. On top of all that, she’s probably the only fifteen-year-old in history to make friends with the moon. Although Lily’s never been much of a sleeper, ever since her Aunt Su’s sudden death, she seems to have lost her sleep completely. Convinced that death-by-exhaustion is around the corner if she can’t figure out a way to find her sleep again, she sneaks out of her house, searching the moonlit nights for a way to cope with the long, dark hours of solitude. At the local drive-thru, Lily meets newcomer Ben Matthews working the graveyard shift. With the clock ticking away on the remaining days of her life, Lily has no way of knowing that this strange boy with the mysterious past holds the key to finding her sleep and saving her life.

But only if she can figure out a way to save his first.

2011 Upcoming Appearances

2011-01-12T01:52:19Z

So nice to be busy! It’s shaping up to be an eventful new year - if you’re in the Toronto or Ottawa area any of these days, come on out and say hi!

January 14, 2011 - I’ll be speaking at the CLA special one-day workshop on Libraries and Teens and discussing my latest novel, LURE.

Time: 11:30am

Place: The Capital Hill Hotel and Suites 88 Albert Street, Ottawa, ON

February 4, 2011 - I’ll be signing lots of books for lots of librarians at the 2011 OLA Superconference in Toronto.

Time: 11:00 - 11:30am

Place: Metro Toronto Convention Centre

and then directly over to the annual CANSCAIP Mass Book Launch

Time: 12:00 - 2:00

Place: Expo Theatre, Hall C

February 11, 2011 - I’ll be signing copies of LURE at Reading For the Love of It - Canada’s largest annual reading conference.

Time: 10:30am

Place: The Sheraton Centre in downtown Toronto.

March 23, 2011 - I’ll be speaking at the ‘I Haven’t Read the Book’ Club Workshop series for teenage girls (Organized by Mable’s Fables and Small Print Toronto

Time: 6:30 pm

Place: Mable’s Fables 662 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, ON

Hope to see you there!

Drumroll please...

2010-10-24T03:15:36Z

Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the fantabulously free copy of kc dyer’s new YA novel, FACING FIRE is…..

Shari Green!!!

YAY - congrats, Shari!! Kc will be contacting you soon for information on where to send your book.

Notes From WordFest

2010-10-19T13:41:42Z

Monday, Oct. 18, 2010

Phew - what a whirlwind this week has been! It’s Monday morning and I’m just catching my breath after three days of presentations for Wordfest in Calgary and Banff (note - this thin Rocky Mountain altitude doesn’t help the breathing thing).
It all started last Tuesday evening when I flew from Toronto to Calgary - chasing the sunset for much of the flight.

By the time I landed in Calgary we’d lost the race, it was too dark to see anything. And as it turned out, I was way too busy to really see much of the city aside from our lovely hotel, The Fairmont Palliser:

And some street art on a sunny walk along scenic Stephen Ave. on Thursday afternoon.

It all went by in a bit of a blur, but here’s a quick numeric summary of it all:

So over 3 days in Calgary and Banff, I presented LURE 5 times. - 4 of those times with superstar of kidlit, Kenneth Oppel. That’s about 1000 eager kids, 500 autographs signed, 300 bookmarks given away, 100 questions answered, 70 hands shaken, 50 photos posed for, 3 meals skipped for lack of time, 2 signing pens completely drained of ink, and 1 thrilled and overwhelmed author (that would be me).

As you might imagine, presenting with Kenneth Oppel was a huge treat. I knew he was a big deal, but I guess I hadn’t realized quite how big until this trip. When we walked through crowds together, kids would clap and scream and call out his name. Honestly, it was almost like I was touring with a rock star. But he’s a nice guy who’s somehow managed not to let his crazy success go to his head. So yeah, I felt lucky to be riding along on those famous coattails.

I was pretty certain that none of the kids packing our presentations were coming to see Deborah Kerbel.

Excuse me…Deborah who?

But after hearing me speak about LURE, the kids were clearly taken with the real-life ghost story theme of the book. After our first presentation, Ken Oppel turned to me and said: “Did you just sell more books than me?” Yeah, baby…I did (just that once, mind you). And by the end of the third presentation, I’d sold completely out of LURE! A mad scramble for more copies ensued (too bad I hadn’t packed any of my own).

On Thursday night, after a full day of presentations, a small group of kidlit authors packed our bags and moved on to Banff. We drove into the Rockies at dusk and the view of the mountains was spectacular.

Since arriving at the Banff Centre, I’ve met so many great book-ish people. The graphic novel duo of J. Torres and J. Bone, award-winning author Sharon McKay, renowned editor Barbara Berson, PB powerhouse Ruth Ohi, Aussie MG mystery writer Richard Newsome, French author Susie Morgenstern, agent extraordinaire John Pierce, and literary phenom Jane Urquhart to name a few.

No more presentations now…just time to hang with the other artists, soak up the view, and of course, catch that elusive breath. Sorry…did I mention the view?

Today, the sun is shining in Banff and the Rocky Mountains are covered with a light dusting of snow. A perfect day to open up a fresh document and start something new…

A Visit From Darby

2010-10-17T15:35:59Z

Today there’s a special guest on my blog - Darby Christopher from A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW is visiting to tell us about her new book, FACING FIRE! Read to the end for a chance to win a copy!

Hey Darby!

Shhh!

You hear that?

um, no…

Listen…what is it?

A scratching branch? A creaking gate?

You’re scaring me, Darb…

Yeah — yeah, that’s all it is. No worries. No worries at all.

Okay…phew!

Hello, Readers of Deborah Kerbel! My name is Darby Christopher…and I’m here to talk about ghosts.

If you’re familiar with Deborah’s new book LURE, I’ll bet you’re interested in ghosts. And today you’re in luck. Why? Because I’m a bit of an expert, actually.

Since the adventures in my very first book, A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW, I learned I’ve got a talent. Not for haunting…necessarily. No. But it does seem I’ve picked up a knack for travelling through time…

When a person travels through time, some really odd things start to happen. No shadow, for one. No strength. No walking through walls either, mind you — but how does total invisibility strike you?

You’ve got to admit, it’s an interesting possibility.

Today, I’m here to celebrate the launch of my new book. It’s called FACING FIRE.

FACING FIRE picks up the story of what happened to me after the magical summer that you may have read about in A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW. And if you’re interested in a whole new way at looking at how people came to live in Canada, you might consider taking a look.

You can learn more by peeking at my new book. Find out more about it - and the author - at www.kcdyer.com

Or better still, would you like to win a copy as a prize? If you leave comment on this post, Deborah will put your name into a draw to win a free copy of the new book - FACING FIRE. And if you actually link to this post somewhere else [like in another blog, or facebook post or even a tweet] we’ll put your name in for the draw for BOTH of my books. Go for it!

By the way, if you’re into looking for prizes, [especially if you like making videos], check out my blog HERE at Darby Speaks. I have an AMAZING contest going with some totally fantastic prizes. And if you like twitter, you can follow all the latest on the contest and the blog tour and launches @DarbyWalking.

See you there.

Soon as I figure out just who is clanking those chains…

~Darby

Thanks, Darby. And if you want to win a copy of her new book, leave a comment on this post. Contest ends on Oct. 23.

LURE - Book Trailer #3

2010-10-04T13:53:35Z

Just in time to get you all freaked out for Halloween, here’s the 3rd and final spooky book trailer for LURE, which is officially out now and should be on the shelf at your favourite bookstore. And just in case someone else has grabbed the last copy, you’ll be able to find it online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters/Indigo :-)

BOO!!

LURE Book Trailer #2

2010-09-24T12:12:41Z

The second book trailer for LURE is ready to go.. Watch below…if you dare ;-)

And don’t forget to look for the third and final book trailer to land next week!

LURE!!

2010-09-17T13:38:30Z

A big box full of crisp new books arrived on my doorstep yesterday - aaah the sweet smell of fresh ink! And so, with the cutting open of cardboard, another book is born! And it’s already blazing a trail out into the world - copies are in stock at Amazon Canada and should be arriving on your favourite bookstore shelf soon.

Review: And on the heels of Lure’s birth comes it’s first awesome review from CM Magazine who has pronounced it to be: “Highly Recommended…exciting to the very end.” Click on the CM link to read the full review.

Contest: And as if that’s not enough to get you excited, we’re having a Lure CONTEST too! Teen writers who are interested in crafting their own ghost story can enter to win a story critique from yours truly, a ghostly prize pack of books from Dundurn Press (retail value: $150.00), AND will have their story printed in an upcoming issue of What If? Magazine! How cool is that? For more details and info on how to enter, check out the Lure Ghostly Short Story Contest website.

Launch: If you live in the Toronto area and want to come join me at the Lure Launch party, here’s your invitation. We’re launching Lure on the evening of Sat. Oct. 30th (the night before Halloween, of course) at the Thornhill Village Library - the old haunted house where the book is set. There will be cake and a ghost tour and a chance to get your copy of LURE signed as well as to win a prize pack of spooooky books. Best of all, it’s all FREE! Interested? Call (905) 513-7977 ext. 5522 to register - spots are limited so reserve yours soon!

Really hope to see YA there!!!

WordFest: For those of you in Western Canada, I’ll be dropping by your neck of the woods chatting about Lure next month when I visit Calgary and Banff for WordFest. If you’re in the area, please come out and say hi!

Book Trailer: As I mentioned, Lure is out just in time for the Halloween season - perfect for those of you who enjoy a spooky read. Or, as my publicist would say, “a book that goes bump in the night”. How spooky are we talking? Check out this video, the first of three creepy trailers for Lure. Watch for the second trailer, coming next week!

BOOOO!!

Interview with YA author, Jill Murray!

2010-04-10T02:08:24Z

Hey everyone - as a special treat, I have the fabulous Jill Murray visiting my blog today!!

Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Jill Murray is the author of two contemporary urban novels for young adults: Break On Through (2008), and Rhythm and Blues (2010), both published by Doubleday Canada.

A enthusiastic member of Canada’s Kid-lit community, Jill is also the brainchild behind Y-Eh.net…a blog tour circuit for Canadian YA authors. In honour of her visit to my blog, I thought I would ask her some questions that all relate to the themes of my newest YA novel - Girl on the Other Side.

So, Jill…

What were you like in high school? Would you identify more with Tabby (rich, pretty and the most popular girl in her class) or Lora (smart, timid and target of bullies)?
I was definitely more of a Lora. Head down, eyes on the prize of eventual freedom, my survival strategy for high school was to go to the library and wait it out. That or hang around the halls loudly singing showtunes with my merry band of misfit buds. I think we were so strange, we bonded permanently then— many of us (not that there were actually that many of us) are still friends today. And we can still sing the entire score of shows The Music Man, and The Phantom of the Opera from memory. (Though I try not to.)
Two pairs of very different shoes are featured on the cover of GIRL ON THE OTHER SIDE. If you really think about it, shoes can say a lot about what’s going on in a person’s life. What is your favourite pair of shoes and what do they say about your life?
For years now, every time I go to the store to buy a new pair of sneakers, no matter how many pairs I like or try on, the one pair that really fits and feels good is always some variation of a “lightweight approach runner.” Never mind that I live in the city, where there are few opportunities to spring from a kayak and sprint up a rock face, or that I’m mainly going to wear them on smooth sidewalks, or to dance class, I think these shoes speak to my off-road approach to life.
In GIRL ON THE OTHER SIDE, the thing Lora treasures most in life is her collection of books. And for Tabby, it’s her dog, Sam. What is your treasure in life and why?
My own brain. I think I can survive almost anything and make myself adjust to almost any environment. I’m adaptable, and I attribute this to the enormous flexibility, versatility, and self-rewiring powers of the grey matter we all get to carry around in our skulls. All my “favourite” things are tools— for building, cooking, writing, and all kinds of creating, but this also points back to the brain. I think this is one of the fun parts of being human.
What is the biggest struggle you’ve faced? Did you feel you had to keep it a secret? How did/do you manage to cope with it?
OMG my answer to this one is also “my own brain.” I get depressed sometimes, and I I have to work hard to get happy and stay that way. I don’t keep it a secret, but depression is insidious in that even if you talk about it, it’s always a little bit invisible or incomprehensible to others, and in those times when you feel things you barely understand yourself, it’s like being alone with an enormous mystery.
If you could go back and give your high school self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Everyone lacks confidence about something, and that’s what makes them act shy, stuck-up, belligerent, self-obsessed, bossy, flirty, friendly, clingy, silly, smiley, jokey, loud, quiet, nerdy, judgmental, cliquey, theatrical, serious, flaky, pushy, slackerly, nervous, and even over-confident. The moment when you look for the good in them may be the moment they start to see the good in you. True though, you might have to look REALLY hard.

For more information about Jill and her books, visit her website. And be sure to check out her brand new book, Rhythm and Blues!