#TTBF16 PANEL: Just Like Old Times

This entire week leading up to the festival, the Teen Press Corps will be highlighting the amazing panels that will be featured this year!

The Just Like Old Times panel is inspired by ancient history, legends, and myths of yore, these authors build on narratives we all know and love to spin tales that are shiny and new.  It’ll be just like old times… but in the here and now.

LAINI TAYLOR

Laini Taylor has written the Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy, Dream Dark series, Lips Touch: Three Times, and soon to be released in March 2017:  Strange The Dreamer. The most popular of her books is the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series. Karou lives in two worlds, in one she is a young art student in Prague, while in the other she works at a supply shop for strange creatures big and small. It was where she grew up, the only home she knows of, but Karou isn’t like the other creatures, nor is she completely human. Will the truth about her past be everything she imagined? Or something much worse?

Fun Facts about Laini Taylor:

1. She was a Navy brat and lived in Hawaii, Italy, Belgium, Virginia, and California
2. She lives in Portland, Oregon
3. Her favorite foods are breakfast, mangoes and chocolate
4. She has ALWAYS wanted to be a writer

 

ROSHANI CHOKSHI

Roshani Chokshi writes beautiful fantasy with her own personal and cultural twist. Her debut, The Star Touched Queen  is a YA novel about a dark Hades and Persephone style romance set in the lush fantastical realms of ancient India where a princess must overcome a sinister horoscope to find herself and rescue the one she loves.

Fun Facts About Roshani Chokshi: 

1. She always tries to include at least one well-mannered monster in each of her works.
2. Roshani Chokshi comes from a small town in Georgia where she collected a Southern accent.
3. At Emory University, she majored in 14th century British literature. She then spent a year after graduation working and traveling and writing.
4. If she were to have a horoscope in the world that her book is set in, it would be “She lived as she wrote: fitfully and with many false starts”.

 

RENEE AHDIEH

Renee Ahdieh has written two young-adult novels, one being The Wrath and the Dawn, a romance inspired by the collection of Arabic folktales, A Thousand and One Nights. The extremely sought-after sequel, The Rose and the Dagger, came out in April and is being featured at the festival. Ahdieh also has another book due to come out next year that’s been inspired by Japanese legends and myths. By incorporating old literature into her more modern style, Ahdieh has created two amazing books (so far!).

Some Fun Facts About Renee Ahdieh:

1. She has a dog named Mushu (aww!)
2. Ahdieh is an avid NC Tar Heels fan.
3. In her spare time, she also enjoys cooking and salsa dancing!

 

Sabaa Tahir

Sabaa Tahir published her first book, An Ember in the Ashes, last April. It is set in the Martial Empire, one that closely resembles Rome with its Emperor and tight grip on the populace. When Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia will do anything to get him back. Even if it means becoming a slave at the infamous Blackcliff Academy and trading secrets for the safe return of her brother. Along the way she meets Elias, the best soldier there, yet the one who wants to be there the least. An Ember in the Ashes is in the process towards become a movie!! Sabaa Tahir has also written A Torch Against the Night, the follow-up to An Ember in the Ashes and the second in a series of four.

Fun Facts about Sabaa Tahir:

1. If she could be anything, she would want to be a space explorer like Jean-Luc Picard.
2. Her favorite book is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
3. She is in love with all her characters, especially the bad ones.
4. She was nominated for two 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction and Best Debut Goodreads Author

 

SARAH PORTER

Sarah Porter is the author of Vassa in the Night, an extraordinary young-adult fantasy novel, that also happens to be a retelling of the Russian folktale, Vassilissa the Beautiful. She also has written a fantasy trilogy about mermaids (The Lost Voices trilogy) and has two more books on the way! Her style of writing is the perfect balance between being relatable and mystical. She’ll be a fabulous addition to the book festival, and I’m so excited that she’s going to be there!

Some Fun Facts About Sarah Porter:

1. In addition to being a distinguished author, Porter also loves to draw, and even sells prints of her artwork on her own Society6 shop.
2. She lives in Brooklyn, which also happens to be the setting for her featured book, Vassa in the Night.
3. She also has two cats and loves gardening!

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