Please join us to celebrate the finalists and announce this year’s winners at the beautiful and historic Penrose House in Colorado Springs. Situated at the base of Cheyenne Canyon and listed on the National Register for Historic Places, Penrose House now serves as an education and conference center available to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations.
The Colorado Book Awards annually celebrates Colorado’s outstanding literary achievement by commending the accomplishments of its authors, editors, illustrators, and photographers. In this free public reading, finalists will read from their work and attendees can pose questions. Select finalist books will be available for purchase at the readings and through Poor Richard’s Books & Gifts at poorrichardsdowntown.com.
Register here.
Finding her voice takes on a whole new meaning when fourteen-year-old Azar Rossi sets out to win her local Battle of the Bands contest in this heartfelt and hilarious contemporary young adult novel.
Azar on Fire is the sophomore book by beloved author Olivia Abtahi (Perfectly Parvin), who will be speaking with local author Crystal Maldonado (Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, No Filter and Other Lies) at this FREE online event!
My next book AZAR ON FIRE, comes out August 23rd and we'll be celebrating its launch in person! Come hear me speak in conversation with amazing author and friend, Mathu Subramanian, at 6pm
Tattered Cover is pleased to welcome Casey McQuiston to our Colfax location on May 6th at 7pm MT to celebrate their new book I Kissed Shara Wheeler! They will be in conversation with Denver's very own Olivia Abtahi. A signing line will follow the conversation and audience Q&A!
This is a ticketed event. You will receive a copy of I Kissed Shara Wheeler in addition to a seat at the event. Masks are required.
YALLWEST: LET’S GO TO THE BEACH
When: Friday, 4/29 @7PM ET / 4PM PT
Length: 1 hr
What: Live Zoom webinar featuring a group of Penguin Teen authors and moderator to lead a Q+A. Focusing on our romance/contemporary books for readers to discover their next beach read.
Featuring:
Jesmeen Kaur Deo, TJ Powar Has Something to Prove
Lillie Vale, Beauty and the Besharam
Kristina Forest, Zyla & Kai
Grace K. Shim, The Noh Family
Register here: https://www.coteenlit.org
The Colorado Teen Literature Conference is an annual event held each spring in Denver, Colorado to promote and celebrate teen literature. I’ll be doing an author panel with other Colorado writers!
Come on an extraordinary journey to explore the many worlds of middle grade fantasy! From musas to brujas, to time traveling pirates and life and death adventures, these stories will lure you in and never let go. With Olivia Abtahi (PERFECTLY PARVIN/ROSTAM AND THE RED DWARF), David Bowles (CLOCKWORK CURANDERA), Victor Piñeiro (TIME VILLAINS), and Kaela Rivera (CECE RIOS AND THE DESERT OF SOULS). Moderated by Chantel Acevedo (MUSE SQUAD).
Register here.
Friday, Oct 22 – “Yep, We’re Supposed To Be Here!” Shining Your Identity Through Writing
Graphic novelist and professor R. Alan Brooks will moderate this writers’ panel discussion for Dairy Arts Center, featuring:
Olivia Abtahi, author of Perfectly Parvin.
Steven Dunn, author of water & power and Potted Meat.
Dylan Edwards, writer & artist of Politically InQueerect, and Transposes.
We’ll be discussing art as protest, art as “not” protest, and what it means to enter the world of writing with an identity and perspective that isn’t always heard.
Join us! Bring your questions (and your masks!), and come prepared to check out these authors’ books! This event is FREE, registration is required.
Writing Responsibly
Olivia Abtahi (The Word), Paloma Hernando (Einstein Literary), Tanusri Prasanna (DeFiore and Company), Mathangi Subramanian (moderator) Hear from experts in the field on using sensitivity readers, avoiding cultural appropriation, and writing for young audiences, all in the name of writing responsibly.
Register here.
Is there anything more exciting than reading an incredible debut novel? No! Because in the book world, we’re always excited to celebrate new voices, and these three YA authors are no exception. Join #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn and The Beautiful series, Renée Ahdieh and Penguin Young Readers on Monday, June 7 at 1PM CT/2PM ET for this free, hour-long discussion where debut authors will be introducing attendees to their first novels and participating in a panel discussion about YA, publishing for the first time, and how they’re excited to work with librarians to meet readers. We’ll hear from:
• Olivia Abtahi, author of Perfectly Parvin, a fun rom com about a young Iranian American teen navigating high school, homecoming, and the ramifications of a Muslim ban on her family in Iran.
• Ryan Douglass, author of The Taking of Jake Livingston, a horror novel in the vein of Get Out.
• Isaac Fitzsimons, author of The Passing Playbook, a novel about a transgender teen who has to decide between staying stealth or standing up for himself by revealing his identity to all.
At Your Service
Accommodations are offered based on user needs.
For transcription or other accessibility requests, please contact us at webinars@booklistonline.com
Personal Data Notification: Booklist, an American Library Association publication, uses Zoom webforms to fulfill your webinar registration requests. Your personal data is stored and used to fulfill your requests for services from Booklist.Booklist will occasionally convey news to you on behalf of ourselves or our sponsors based on this data. You can choose to block these messages by adjusting your communications preferences. We will not sell your e-mail to outside parties. If the webinar sponsors choose to communicate with you by e-mail, they are also obligated to provide you with an opportunity to opt-out from future e-mails. For more information, review ALA’s Privacy Policy at www.ala.org/privacypolicy.
Register here.
Please join NIAC's Colorado chapter on Thursday, May 27 at 7:30pm ET for a very special book talk with Colorado-based Iranian-American author and filmmaker Olivia Abtahi. Her new young adult fiction book, Perfectly Parvin (published by Penguin Random House), explores high school drama, Iranian-American culture, and the Muslim Ban through the experience of 14-year-old Parvin Mohammadi. Joining Olivia in discussion will be Dr. Neda Maghbouleh, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and author of The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian-Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race. Denver-based attorney, teacher, author and NIAC Colorado member Shadi Kafi will host the interactive event, which will also feature a giveaway of three signed copies of The Limits of Whiteness.
Register here.
The two YA authors come together for a joint celebration of their new books, OFF THE RECORD and PERFECTLY PARVIN!
About Off the Record:
The behind-the-scenes access of Almost Famous meets the searing revelations of metoo in this story of a teen journalist who uncovers the scandal of the decade.
“Brave, necessary, and unflinchingly real, Off the Record is an instant classic.”—Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends
Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she’s equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She’s got this.
Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie’s world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn’t know whether she’s flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she’s in over her head.
One woman’s account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she’s reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn’t step up, who will?
From the author of Full Disclosure, this is a moving testament to the MeToo movement, and all the ways women stand up for each other.
Camryn Garrett grew up in New York and began her writing career at thirteen, when she was selected as a TIME for Kids reporter, interviewing celebrities like Warren Buffett and Kristen Bell. Since then, her writing has appeared on MTV and in the Huffington Post and Rookie magazine, and she was recently selected as one of Teen Vogue's "21 Under 21: Girls Who Are Changing the World." When she's not writing, she studies film at NYU, and she's a proud advocate for diverse stories and storytellers in any medium. Her first novel, Full Disclosure, received rave reviews from outlets such as EW, Glamour and SLJ, which said in its starred review, "Readers will fall in love." Off the Record is her second novel.
About Perfectly Parvin:
Fourteen-year-old Iranian-American Parvin Mohammadi sets out to win the ultimate date to homecoming in this heartfelt and outright hilarious debut.
Parvin Mohammadi has just been dumped—only days after receiving official girlfriend status. Not only is she heartbroken, she’s humiliated. Enter high school heartthrob Matty Fumero, who just might be the smoking-hot cure to all her boy problems. If Parvin can get Matty to ask her to Homecoming, she’s positive it will prove to herself and her ex that she’s girlfriend material after all. There’s just one problem: Matty is definitely too cool for bassoon-playing, frizzy-haired, Cheeto-eating Parvin. Since being herself hasn’t worked for her in the past (see aforementioned dumping), she decides to start acting like the women in her favorite rom-coms. Those women aren’t loud, they certainly don’t cackle when they laugh, and they smile much more than they talk.
But Parvin discovers that being a rom-com dream girl is much harder than it looks. Also hard? The parent-mandated Farsi lessons. A confusing friendship with a boy who’s definitely not supposed to like her. And hardest of all, the ramifications of the Muslim ban on her family in Iran. Suddenly, being herself has never been more important.
Olivia Abtahi’s debut is as hilarious as it is heartfelt—a delightful tale where, amid the turmoil of high school friendships and crushes, being yourself is always the perfect way to be.
Olivia Abtahi is a writer and filmmaker born in Washington, DC. When she isn’t drafting novels about awkward teens, you can find her working on documentaries about social justice and climate equity. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and daughter. According to Olivia’s senior year bassoon teacher, she was “the worst first-chair bassoonist in Northern Virginia.”
Debut author Olivia Abtahi joins us for a virtual event to share her new young adult rom-com, PERFECTLY PARVIN. In this heartfelt and hilarious debut, frizzy-haired bassoon player Parvin Mohammadi tries to turn the eye of high school heartthrob Matty by pretending to be like the women in her favorite rom-coms, but between the parent-mandated Farsi lessons and the ramifications of the Muslim ban on her family in Iran, Parvin soon realizes that being herself is more important than ever. Olivia will be joined by award-winning author Kate Racculia (TUESDAY MOONEY TALKS TO GHOSTS). Together, they will talk about writing young adult novels, answer audience questions, and face off in a hilarious bassoon battle!
Register here.
Please join BookBar Denver in celebrating the launch of PERFECTLY PARVIN by Olivia Abtahi! Olivia will be in conversation with author Brenna Yovanoff.
About the Book:
Fourteen-year-old Iranian-American Parvin Mohammadi sets out to win the ultimate date to homecoming in this heartfelt and outright hilarious debut. Parvin Mohammadi has just been dumped--only days after receiving official girlfriend status. Not only is she heartbroken, she's humiliated. Enter high school heartthrob Matty Fumero, who just might be the smoking-hot cure to all her boy problems. If Parvin can get Matty to ask her to Homecoming, she's positive it will prove to herself and her ex that she's girlfriend material after all. There's just one problem: Matty is definitely too cool for bassoon-playing, frizzy-haired, Cheeto-eating Parvin. Since being herself hasn't worked for her in the past (see aforementioned dumping), she decides to start acting like the women in her favorite rom-coms. Those women aren't loud, they certainly don't cackle when they laugh, and they smile much more than they talk. But Parvin discovers that being a rom-com dream girl is much harder than it looks. Also hard? The parent-mandated Farsi lessons. A confusing friendship with a boy who's definitely not supposed to like her. And hardest of all, the ramifications of the Muslim ban on her family in Iran. Suddenly, being herself has never been more important. Olivia Abtahi's debut is as hilarious as it is heartfelt--a delightful tale where, amid the turmoil of high school friendships and crushes, being yourself is always the perfect way to be.
About the Author:
Olivia Abtahi is a writer and filmmaker born in Washington, DC. When she isn't drafting novels about awkward teens, you can find her working on documentaries about social justice and climate equity. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and daughter. According to Olivia's senior year bassoon teacher, she was the worst first-chair bassoonist in Northern Virginia.
Brenna Yovanoff was raised in a barn, a tent, and a tepee, and was homeschooled until high school. She spent her formative years in Arkansas in a town heavily populated by snakes, where sometimes they would drop turkeys out of the sky. When she was five, she moved to Colorado, where it snows on a regular basis but never snows turkeys. She is the NYT bestselling author of The Replacement, The Space Between, Paper Valentine, Fiendish, and Places No One Knows. She currently lives in Denver.
YA Rom-Com Teens Love Romantic Comedies Too! Romance is in the air with a dash of the ridiculous we all experience when it comes to love. Who doesn’t love a love story? Featuring Olivia Abtahi, Penguin Random House; and S. K. Ali, Melissa Kanter, and Morgan Matson, Simon & Schuster
More info here: https://www.yallwest.com/yallwest-2021/selfcaresaturday
Listen to New Voices with lots of internal publisher buzz and support. PLUS, attendees enter a raffle for multiple winners to receive finished copies of featured books. Informal “meet the authors chat” after panel discussion.
Register here.
You’re invited! Join us March 18-20 for the virtual Penguin Teen Book Fest for a bookish celebration filled with author chats, giveaways, games, and prizes. Join debut authors Olivia Abtahi, Ryan Douglass, Isaac Fitzsimons, and Navdeep Singh Dhillon for a preview chat about their exciting upcoming books!
Join agent Jim McCarthy and his client, author Olivia Abtahi as they discuss the agent/writer relationship through The Word For Diversity.
Register here.
Join Booklist and Penguin Young Readers for this free, hour-long discussion on new and old books for young readers (grades K–12) featuring strong, inspiring women. This webinar will also feature a panel discussion between Olivia Abtahi, author of PERFECTLY PARVIN; Shelly Anand, author of LAXMI'S MOOCH; Tyler Feder, author and illustrator of BODIES ARE COOL; and Lisa Fipps, author of STARFISH. This panel will be moderated by Booklist editor Maggie Reagan.
Join us for our first Happy Hour reading of 2021 with a YA focus, as well as the official launch of Olivia Chadha's latest book, Rise of the Red Hand.
Olivia Chadha writes science fiction, fantasy, comic books, and literary novels for YA and adult audiences. She also holds a Ph.D. from Binghamton University’s creative writing program and a master's from the University of Colorado, Boulder's creative writing program. Much of her research centers on the history of exile, India’s Partition, precarious borders and boundaries, global folklore and fairy tales, and the relationship between humans and the environment. She is a first-generation American of Punjabi Sikh and Latvian/German descent. She began her writing career with a stint writing comic scripts for Michael Turner’s Fathom. Balance of Fragile Things is her debut adult literary novel, and Rise of the Red Hand (The Mechanists Series) is her YA debut. She lives in Colorado with her family and two very odd dogs.
Growing up in the DC area, Olivia Abtahi devoured books and hid in empty classrooms during school to finish them. Her debut novel, Perfectly Parvin, will be published with Penguin Random House Putnam Books For Young Readers, with forthcoming novels from LEE & LOW Tu Books. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and daughter.
NEW VOICES: MIRRORS, WINDOWS AND SLIDING GLASS DOORS
Saturday, December 5, 2020
12:00 PM 1:00 PM
Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors: Self-exploration Through Reading
Discover a new wave of Latinx talent! Meet debut authors Aaron Aceves (THIS IS WHY THEY HATE US), Olivia Abtahi (PERFECTLY PARVIN), Daniel Aleman (INDIVISIBLE), Emery Lee (MEET CUTE DIARY) and Alda P Dobbs (BAREFOOT DREAMS OF PETRA LUNA). This group of 2021 and 2022 debut authors discusses how young readers can explore their own identities through the power of story. Using Rudine Sims Bishop’s powerful essay titled “Mirrors, Windows and Sliding Glass Doors” these authors explore how kidlit books can be a means of self-exploration, growth and affirmation. Panelists will be answering your questions live via chat.
Moderator: Aaron Aceves is the author of the young adult novel This Is Why They Hate Us.
The Colorado Teen Literature Conference is an annual event held each spring in Denver, Colorado to promote and celebrate teen literature.
