Meet the award winning author - A.M. Jenkins

Today A.M. Jenkins joins us for a little chat. Her book, REPOSSESSED, was a Printz Honor Winner for the year 2007.

About the book:

Don't call me a demon. I prefer the term Fallen Angel.
Everybody deserves a vacation, right? Especially if you have a pointless job like tormenting the damned. So who could blame me for blowing off my duties and taking a small, unauthorized break?
Besides, I've always wanted to see what physical existence is like. That's why I "borrowed" the slightly used body of a slacker teen. Believe me, he wasn't going to be using it anymore anyway.
I have never understood why humans do the things they do. Like sin—if it's so terrible, why do they keep doing it?
I'm going to have a lot of fun finding out!

About the Author:

A.M. Jenkins is the author of Breaking Boxes, Damage, Out of Order, Beating Heart, Repossessed, and Night Road, which have won honors including the Delacorte Press Prize for a First Young Adult Novel, California Young Reader Medal, L.A. Times Book of the Year Finalist, ALA BBYA Top Ten, and the Michael L. Printz honor. Jenkins is coauthor (with Tiffany Trent) of the forthcoming Queen of the Masquerade, a book in the Hallowmere series.

The Interview:

2k8: Can you tell us about "the call," when the Printz committee called you, and what transpired afterward on that special day?

A.M.: I was in Philadelphia attending ALA with some of my closest YA writer friends when I got the call. My cell phone rang while we were at breakfast, so I was lucky enough to get the news while surrounded by people who understood what a phone call like that truly means.

Afterwards, we met up with more friends and kept them company while *they* had breakfast, which would have been a semi-momentous occasion for me anyway because I got to taste scrapple for the first time.

From there I had to catch a cab to the airport and fly home, then start getting my family and house back in order; unpack, do laundry, that sort of thing. My family and writing lives are in different compartments, so once I headed home everything was back to normal.

2k8: Did you buy anything special for the awards ceremony or celebrate in any special way?

A.M.: At the Philly airport I got an express massage while waiting for my flight home. For the awards ceremony itself, I don't think I bought anything.

2k8: If your current writer self could travel back in time to talk to your debut novelist self, what advice would you give him/her?

If you haven't started your next book yet, start it now, because you will need that distraction. It's better to have something to focus on future-wise as your first book comes out.

2k8: And to end on a light note - what kind of pie are you most looking forward to enjoying this summer?

A.M. Pie has crossed my mind not at all. But I will eat pretty much anything that's not moving. And some things that are.

Thanks, A.M., for joining us - now go have some pie, you'll be glad you did!