Stephanie Kuehnert Interview + CONTEST!

[CONTEST CLOSED]
As you know Stephanie Kuehnert's new book Ballads of Suburbia comes out TODAY! You all know who she is, and most of you love her, but do you really know her? Well I set out to ask Stephanie some question I know you want to know. So without further introduction here we go!

How are you today?

Well, I'm answering this on Weds July 15 and today I am just exhausted. I spent the weekend at ALA and Monday was my birthday and I just haven't caught up on sleep or anything else since then. Book release time is a crazy time. But the day this posts, on book release day, I'm sure I will be both nervous and excited!

What is the most influential book for you? What book hit you the hardest when you read it?

This is really hard for me to answer because there were so many books that influenced me heavily throughout the years. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block is probably my all-time favorite YA and the book that inspired me to write for an audience of teens who feel different and sometimes isolated the way I did when I was a teen reading Weetzie Bat. Though of FLB's books the one that actually hit me the hardest was The Hanged Man. However there are other books that influenced me big time, too. The classics like The Grapes of Wrath and The Scarlet Letter. Contemporary fiction like Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh and Hairstyles of the Damned by Joe Meno. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson probably hit me the hardest. Though there are books like Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr and Almost Home by Jessica Blank and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh that have really hit me hard too.

What is your favorite part about being a published Young Adult author?

YA readers. They are some of the most passionate readers out there. Every time I hear from a reader and find out the impact my words had on them, it just blows me out of the water. It's the best part of the job.

What are you afraid of, phobia wise?

Failure and imperfection are probably my biggest fears. But phobia wise, spiders terrify me and centipedes. Anything with more than four legs is just freaky.

What was the first thing you said or did when you found out I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone was going to be published?

I asked repeatedly if it was really happening. When my agent confirmed it was she said, "You're a published author. Call your mom and tell her." So I did exactly that. Then I called my fiance (who was just my boyfriend at the time). And then I called the Fiction Writing Department at Columbia College Chicago where I got my Masters and where a lot of my friends worked and told them.

Where does your last name come from, nationality?

It's German. If you are curious how to pronounce it, I explain that in a recent vlog I did which you can find here.

What is your favorite recent-ish Young Adult book?

Well, I love Melissa Marr's faerie series, so Fragile Eternity was probably my most recent fave. Though I just blurbed a book called Hollywood Ending by Kathy Charles that is coming out in September in Australia that I really really adore.

What is the last movie you watched?

I just saw The Wrestler on dvd. I don't get to the theater as often as I would like though hopefully by the time this posts I will have seen or be on my way to seeing the new Harry Potter!

What would you like to tell the world?

Break the silence. Talk about the hard stuff. Write songs or stories or poems about it. Make art about it. My whole goal with writing Ballads of Suburbia was to destroy the myth that the suburbs are safe and happy. I wanted to get people talk about about things like addiction and self-injury and depression because the only way we heal and solve problems is my talking or expressing ourselves.

So Thank You Stephanie and people so ahead and check out here blog here and today go buy Ballads of Suburbia, wherever you get your books, you won't regret it! You can check out my review of it here.

Contest Time

In honor of Stephanie's book release I am going to be giving away 1 brand spankin' new copy of Ballads of Suburbia to a lucky winner! All you have to do is comment below with your e-mail address and tell me why you want to read this.

Extra Entries:
+2 for becoming a follower
+3 if you already are a follower
+2 for each time you link to this post (please leave a link if it's not on your blog)

Contest ends August 18th or when 50 people enter whichever comes first.

Sorry I didn't put this before but contest IS international.