Panel: Speculative Fiction in YA

Nic Stone is an Atlanta native and after working extensively in teen mentoring and living in Israel for several years, she returned to the United States to write full-time. Her debut novel for young adults, Dear Martin, was a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of the teen titles Odd One Out, and Jackpot, a love-ish story that takes a searing look at economic inequality. In Dear Justyce (Crown Books for Young Readers), the sequel to Dear Martin, incarcerated teen Vernell LaQuan “Quan” Banks, writes letters to his friend Justyce McAllister about his experiences in the American juvenile justice system. Quan and Justyce grew up a block apart in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood of Wynwood Heights. Years later, though, Justyce walks the halls of Yale University while Quan sits behind bars at the Fulton Regional Youth Detention Center. Through a series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce — the protagonist of Dear Martin — Quan’s story takes form. Troubles at home and misunderstandings at school give rise to police encounters and tough decisions. But then there’s a dead cop and a weapon with Quan’s prints on it. What leads a bright kid down a road to a murder charge? Not even Quan is sure. Booklist, in a starred review, called Dear Justyce “An unforgettable tour de force of social-justice and activist literature.”

Safon Floyd is a writer, editor, and self-proclaimed television aficionado. She is the host of web series Books, Bud & BS (@booksbudbs), and co-founder of EstroHaze, a production company highlighting the lifestyle, culture, and benefits of cannabis. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Tochi Onyebuchi is the author of Beasts Made of Night, its sequel Crown of Thunder, War Girls, and his adult fiction debut Riot Baby. His writing also has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Omenana, Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America, and elsewhere. His non-fiction has appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Nowhere Magazine, Tor.com and the Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy. He has worked in criminal justice, the tech industry, and immigration law. Rebel Sisters (Razorbill) Onyebuchi’s sequel to his novel War Girls, the battles are over, but the fight for justice has just begun. It’s been five years since the Biafran War ended. Ify is now nineteen and living where she’s always dreamed–the Space Colonies. She is a respected, high-ranking medical officer and has dedicated her life to helping refugees like herself rebuild in the Colonies. Back in the still devastated Nigeria, Uzo, a young synth, is helping an aid worker, Xifeng, recover images and details of the war held in the technology of destroyed androids. Uzo, Xifeng, and the rest of their team are working to preserve memories of the many lives lost, despite the government’s efforts to eradicate any signs that the war ever happened. Though they are working toward common goals of helping those who suffered, But when a mysterious virus breaks out among the children in the Space Colonies, Ify and Uzo’s paths collide. Ify makes it her mission to figure out what’s causing the deadly disease, even if it means