Graphic Novels for Today’s Readers
 Join authors Cynthia Levinson and Varian Johnson for a discussion about this popular genre. 
 

Cynthia Levinson writes nonfiction for young readers. Her award-winning books include The Youngest Marcher, Watch Out for Flying Kids, We’ve Got a Job, and Fault Lines in the Constitution, which is available in both text and graphic novel versions. Her next book is The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art. She also braids challah with six strands, juggles up to two balls, and takes a constitutional most days. She and her husband divide their time between Austin, where they have lived for over 40 years, and Boston.


 

Varian Johnson is the author of several novels for children and young adults, including The Parker Inheritance, which won both Coretta Scott King Author Honor and Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor awards; The Great Green Heist, an ALA Notable Children’s book and a Texas Library Association Lone Star List selection; and the graphic novel Twins, illustrated by Shannon Wright, which was named a School Library Journal Best Book and a Horn Book Fanfare selection. He lives with his family near Austin, Texas. You can visit him on the web at varianjohnson.com and @varianjohnson.

Moderator: Lindsey Lane is the author of Snuggle Mountain (Clarion) and Evidence of Things Not Seen (Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers) as well as many plays, short stories, and poems. She was a features journalist at the Austin Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman, where she interviewed death row inmates, cops, and wayward millionaires. As a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, she is a mentor and teacher to many other writers through her private classes, the Writers League of Texas, Austin SCBWI, and the Writing Barn, and as an adjunct professor of Children’s Literature at Austin Community College.

The #TXBookChat series offers brief discussions and programs with authors, librarians, and literary professionals. These informal “coffee chats” last about 30 minutes and offer a quick look into different aspects of the state’s literary world. The #TXBookChat series seeks to bring together diverse voices and perspectives.

Past #TXBookChat Discussions