Malinda Lo

Today I have a lot of great news to share!

Lambda Literary Awards

I’m very happy to announce that Ash is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in the LGBT Children’s/Young Adult category. Here are all five of the Children’s/YA finalists:

• Ash, by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)
• How Beautiful the Ordinary, edited by Michael Cart (HarperCollins)
• In Mike We Trust, by P.E. Ryan (HarperCollins)
• Sprout, by Dale Peck (Bloomsbury USA)
• The Vast Fields of Ordinary, by Nick Burd (Penguin Books)

Yay! I’m so honored that Ash is in such great company. For more great LGBT books, you should check out the entire list of finalists here. The winners will be announced on May 27, 2010.

Northern California Book Awards

I’m also very pleased to share the news that Ash is a nominee for the Northern California Book Awards in the Children’s Literature category. Here are the five nominees:

• Zero Is the Leaves on the Tree, Betsy Franco, illustrator Shino Arihara,Tricycle Press
• Night Lights, Susan Gal, Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Mother Goose in California, Doug Hansen, author/illustrator, Heyday Books
• Hold Still, Nina LaCour, Dutton Juvenile
• Ash, Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The winner will be announced on April 18, 2010, at the Koret Auditorium at the San Francisco Public Library, and I will be there! The event is free, and more info, including all the nominees, is here.

Ash makes the DA BWAHA Tournament!

In seriously awesome news, I’ve also learned that Ash is part of the DA BWAHA tournament, which is sort of a March Madness-style tournament for books (mostly romance and related genres). Ash is part of the YA lineup:

• Flygirl by Sherri L Smith
• Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
• Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
• Ash by Malinda Lo
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
• The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Dude! In that company, I don’t think Ash has much chance of winning, but seriously, I am so tickled by its inclusion! In case you didn’t know, DA BWAHA stands for Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hellagood Authors, and Dear Author is this awesome website about romance fiction. DA BWAHA has prizes for winning brackets, and I know nothing about March Madness and don’t really know how that works, but you can go here and join in the fun! Voting begins on March 18!

SF in SF Podcast

Last weekend I read from Ash at SF in SF, and if you weren’t able to make it, you can now download a podcast of my reading at Rick Kleffel’s bookotron.com. I read almost all of the big hunting scene in the middle of the book. In the coming weeks, Rick will also have a Q&A with me and a podcast of the discussion that followed the readings at SF in SF.

Last call for UK Ash giveaway!

Thursday, March 18 is the last day to enter my Ash Across-the-Pond Giveaway! You have until midnight Pacific to leave a comment to win one of three signed copies of the U.K. edition of Ash. Go here to enter!