Here We Are: Feminist Party!

I am SO excited to be taking part in #HereWeAre Feminist Party! Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World is an incredible anthology of essays, lists, poems, comics, and illustrations about everything from body positivity to romance to gender identity to intersectionality to the greatest girl friendships in fiction. The contributors range from authors like Malinda Lo to actress and activist Amandla Stenberg.

The anthology is edited by one of my favorite humans and one of my feminist role models, Kelly Jensen. I've known Kelly online for years and have had the pleasure to meet her at BookRiot Live twice. Kelly is a huge inspiration to me and someone I admire very much so I jumped at the chance to take part in the #HereWeAre Party

With Kelly Jensen, Amanda Nelson, and Rebecca Schinsky -- some of my fav badass babes 

With Kelly Jensen, Amanda Nelson, and Rebecca Schinsky -- some of my fav badass babes 

One of my favorite things about being a feminist is the sense of female solidarity--and how women can lift each other up. I love celebrating amazing women and their achievements! I am so lucky to have so many wonderful women in my life who have supported and encouraged me, and whenever I can, I try to do the same for them. 

Often, the media portrays women as catty and competitive, but I think in reality, women are each other's best allies and supporters. I think it is possible to be ambitious and want to do your very best while still supporting and lifting up other women, especially in the publishing industry. 

In my YA debut, The Heartbeats of Wing Jones, female friendship and support plays a huge part of the story. All of the girls on Wing's track team are supportive of each other, especially Wing's friend Eliza. Eliza isn't threatened or intimidated by Wing's speed and skill, instead she wants to encourage Wing to be the best that she can be.

I'm so proud to be celebrating this incredible anthology -- and all of the amazing women in the world who life each other up. 

YouTube Interview with George Lester!

Such a treat to do an interview with the wonderful George Lester! We talk about the inspiration behind WING JONES, how I got a book deal, the publishing process, how I'm doing with book 2, and more! Thanks, George for such a great interview!

Previous video - https://youtu.be/t15FMmg0FlE And the one before that - https://youtu.be/R2mRYAa6hSQ A-Z OF LGBT BOOKS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZa3PueGCwg WRITING DIARY: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPr5ai-J0Mg 5 YOUTUBERS YOU SHOULD WATCH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjVaSeEzfP0 AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! So this is a super exciting thing that happened to me recently! I got the sheer pleasure to interview the wonderful Katherine Webber about her debut novel WING JONES.

Interview with Books&Quills!

I am a huge fan of Sanne from Books&Quills, so it was such a treat to be a guest on her YouTube channel. We had so much fun chatting about girl power, magical realism, NaNoWriMo, kissing ,and more! If you enjoyed our interview, be sure to subscribe to her channel and watch her other great videos. Thank you so much, Sanne, for having me on your channel! 

Living in Hong Kong, a 6000-word kissing scene and lots more in my chat with author Katie Webber, for her first YA novel Wing Jones! Twitter: https://twitter.com/kwebberwrites Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kwebberwanders/ Snapchat: Kwebberwanders Read Wing Jones: https://www.bookdepository.com/Wing-Jones-Katherine-Webber-Luke-Lucas/9781406369090?ref=grid-view/?a_aid=booksandquills I'm a Book Depository affiliate and get a small cut from every purchase made through my links.

Source: https://youtu.be/mbdOfCTbxsI

Pitch Wars 2016—I want to be your YA mentor!

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Hi! I am absolutely THRILLED to be a Pitch Wars YA mentor this year. I can’t wait to find a really amazing YA novel and help make it the best book it can be. 

So, why should you submit your manuscript to me?

-I’ve been in your shoes! I submitted to Pitch Wars two years in a row and while I was never picked, I learned so much in the process. The feedback I received from the mentors was invaluable—and encouraged me to keep writing.

I know how important any feedback is for querying writers which is why I will provide a query critique to everyone who submits to me. 

-I’ve been through the querying trenches and have come out on the other side! After getting lots of rejections on my first two manuscripts, I wrote WING JONES which was the book that got me my agent and my book deal! In May 2015 I signed with the amazing Claire Wilson at RCW and in July we went out on submission to publishers. Within two weeks I had 8 offers from UK publishers and a pre-empt offer from Delacorte/Random House in the US. In the UK I went with wonderful Walker Books who are also the UK publishers for amazing authors like Patrick Ness and Jandy Neson. 

-What this means for a mentee is I’ve had experience working with a big publishing house and a smaller independent one. I also was lucky to have TWO amazing editors working simultaneously on WING JONES, so I’ve learned a lot about how to make a book really shine.

-I enjoy editing. I plan on doing a round of structural edits with my mentee and line edits. Plus I'll be there to talk through plot problems, character development, and will help make their query IRRESISTIBLE.

-I know the industry! My day job is at the reading charity BookTrust and I get to work with all the major children’s publishers in the UK. I also am on the working group for the YA Lit Con (YALC)— the UK’s biggest YA convention! I also regularly interview authors and chair author events.

-I’m active in my critique group and work with super awesome authors. My writing partners include superstars like Samantha Shannon, Melinda Salisbury, and Krystal Sutherland. I was actually the very first person to read Krystal’s highly anticipated debut OUR CHEMICAL HEARTS. It is AMAZING and I am a very proud writing partner! 

-I’m a huge fangirl! I’ve dressed up as Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Daenerys from Game of Thrones, Paige from The Bone Season, to name a few. I’ll probably dress up like a character from my Pitch Wars mentee’s book! 

Think we might be a good fit? Here is what I’m looking for: 

-I would love something with a bit of magical realism (Jandy Neson, Laura Ruby’s Bone Gap,  Moira Fowley Doyle's Accident Season, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender)

-I adore fantasy grounded in the real world (Laini Taylor, Maggie Stiefvater, VE Schwab, Libba Bray) 

-I love books with romance and books with a focus on female friendship—if your book has both GIVE IT TO ME PLEASE.

-A vibrant, unique setting (real or imagined!)

-Strong voice. Draw me into the world or character right away. Let your writing shine! Show me what you’ve got. 

-I like weird and unexpected. Having trouble fitting your MS into one genre? That’s the book for me! (think how hard it is to put anything by Patrick Ness into one genre!)

-I’m a sucker for beautiful writing. 

-I swoon over literary contemporary. (Rainbow Rowell, Jeff Zentner, Sarah Crossan)

-I’m in an interracial relationship so am very happy to see this represented in books! A note on diversity, if you are writing outside your experience, please let me know what inspired the story and what your connection is to that culture or experience. And of course I’d love to see OwnVoices stories. 

-Most of all I’m looking for something that makes me

feel

. Something with characters that seem so real I can’t stop thinking about them. Something that makes me laugh or cry or gasp in shock.

I’m probably not the best fit for:

Paranormal (vampires, werewolves, etc) 

Books dealing with extreme abuse or violence 

Horror

Sci-fi (love to read it but no good at writing it!) 

Mysteries (I love a good mystery but am hopeless at plotting them!) 

Thrillers (same issue as above!) 

About me:

I’m originally from Irvine, California but have also lived and worked in Hong Kong, Hawaii, and Atlanta. I currently live in London. I love to travel and have been to 6 continents and over 40 countries. I studied Comparative Literature at UC Davis and Chinese language and literature at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I probably spend too much time on twitter so come say hello

@kwebberwrites

Find out more details about PitchWars

here.

Books

My YA novel WING JONES will be published on January 5 2017 by Walker Books in the UK and on March 14 2017 by Random House/Delacorte in the US.


Wing Jones, set in the run-up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, is about a girl called Wing who, having one grandmother from China and another from Ghana, often feels caught between worlds. But when tragedy strikes, Wing discovers a talent for running she never knew she had.





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About Katherine

The short version:

 Katherine Webber is originally from California but currently lives in London. She spent four years living in Hong Kong and has also lived in Atlanta, GA and Hawaii.

 She loves an adventure, whether it is found in a book or in real life. Travel, books, and eating out are her favourite indulgences. 

 Her debut YA novel, WING JONES, will be published on January 5th 2017 by Walker Books in the UK and on March 14th by Delacorte/Random House in the US. The film rights for WING JONES are represented by Emily Hayward Whitlock at The Artists Partnership.

 Katherine is represented by Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge, and White.




The long version:

Hi! I'm Katherine Webber. I'm a reader, a writer, and a wanderer. I'm represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge, and White. 

I'm originally from Irvine, California but recently moved from Hong Kong to London. I love living abroad and having lots of adventures.

I studied Comparative Literature at the University of California, Davis and Chinese Literature and Language at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. I spent a year studying abroad in Hong Kong, and loved it so much I moved back after I graduated university. While in Hong Kong, I lived in a teeny apartment on the 24th floor right in the heart of the city, and worked for a technology company. It was all very exciting. As much as I loved living in Hong Kong and traveling in Asia, I knew there was a whole other side of the world to explore. So in January 2014, my then-fiance and I moved from Hong Kong to London. We spent our first 18 months in London living with two of our best friends in East London. After we got married in May 2015, we moved into a tiny flat in Central London.

California, London and Hong Kong are my absolute favorite places in the world...but I love lots of other places too. Feel free to ask me any questions about London, Hong Kong, or any of the other places I've been. And let me know your favorite places...I'm always looking for new travel inspiration!

I'm currently working as a programme coordinator at a London based reading charity. I spend a lot of time writing and even more time reading. I love talking about books and giving and getting book recommendations...so if you have any questions or book recs send them my way!

Books, travel, and eating out are my favorite indulgences. I love wandering down old and new streets, getting lost in forests, climbing mountains, swimming in the sea, and frolicking in parks. I'm a little bit addicted to spicy food of all kinds, from Sichuan to Thai to Mexican, and I'll never turn down a chocolate chip cookie. I probably overuse the words festive, fancy, and fabulous.

My debut novel WING JONES will be published on January 5th 2017 by Walker Books in the UK and on March 14th by Delacorte/Random House in the US.


I spend far too much time on Twitter so please say hello! @kwebberwrites 


Deal Announcement!

Thrilled to announce that my YA novel WING JONES is going to be published in January 2017 by Walker Books in the UK and Random House/Delacrote in the US.




More details on this to come but I am so happy to be published by two amazing publishing houses and that I get to work with two brilliant editors.


An exciting month


I have some wonderful news!

May 2015 has been a pretty spectacular month.

 I married the love of my life surrounded by all of our favorite people. It was a very happy day.

Saying 'I do' 
Bookish wedding readings


Getting all romantical in this teaser shot by wedding photographer extrodinaire Kelly at Wild Whim

                                     

Books and bridesmaids!



New husband and I moved into a little flat in one of our favorite parts of London. It is tiny but we love it.

And...

I signed with a literary agent! Thrilled to be represented by the incredible Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge&White 



This is something I've been working towards for years so it really feels like a dream come true. What does it mean? Well, on one hand it means that I have an amazing advocate, editor, friend, negotiator, cheerleader on my side for all writing related things. Career wise, it means that my novel (my novel!) will be sent to publishers and *hopefully* I'll have a book deal in the not too distant future. I'll explain in another post the whole query process, the writing process, all that fun stuff, but for now, it is suffice to say I've been writing seriously since 2011 and it took a lot of hard work and luck to get to this point. It doesn't guaruntee that I'll have a book out (a book! a real book!) but it sure means I'm much, much closer.

I'll be sure to share any exciting news as it comes! 

Endlessly grateful for the amazing support of my friends, family, writing partners, the online writing community, and Kevin. I'm feeling like the luckiest girl in the world right now. 





Hello world...

Hello world! 

 I just wanted to direct anyone stopping by to my K Webber World tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter, or Instagram account.

 I will be posting more regularly soon...I promise! 

 Until then come say hi on any on any of the above sites. I always love talking about books, writing, or travel :-) 

 x

Welcome!

Welcome to the World of Katherine Webber!

This is where I'll share what I'm writing, what I'm reading, where I'm wandering, and anything else interesting I'm working on. 

The site is currently under construction. In the meantime you can follow me on twitter @kwebberwrites ,check out my kwebberworld tumblr, see snippets of my life on my Instagram at kwebberwanders or find me on Pinterest. And if you are really, really curious you can peruse my old blog Daily Good Thing. 

Thanks for stopping by!