Traci Chee

A picture of the book WE SHALL BE MONSTERS surrounded by dark purple tulips

It's been one year since the release of WE SHALL BE MONSTERS, my love letter to Frankenstein, mythology, and angry/weird girls.

🪷

As I work on the sequel (brace yourselves), I'm so grateful to my readers who continue to champion me and my books 💜🖤

Honored by this beautiful #blurb from one of the authors I admire most. Thank you, @tracichee.bsky.social !

#Preorder D.J. ROSENBLUM BECOMES THE G.O.A.T. today!

This is the book cover for You Are Here: Connecting Flights (written by Ellen Oh with Randy Ribay, Meredith Ireland, Mike Chen, Christina Soontornvat, Susan Tan, Erin Entrada Kelly, Grace Lin, Traci Chee, Linda Sue Park, Minh Lê, Mike Jung) features children from various Asian cultures and ethnicities walking together through an airport. Some are carrying items like a guitar, one boy is chasing his little sister, another girl is listening to headphones. Several boys are dressed in a sports uniform.

May 23: A middle grade book of connected short stories all taking place in an airport written by East Asian and Southeast Asian authors: You Are Here: Connecting Flights. #AAPIHeritageMonth #AAPIBooks #BookSky

We had the best time talking with @tracichee.bsky.social today! We learned so much about the inspiration behind the realm of Awara and learned some words in the Awaran language she created. What was your favorite part?

Are you joining us this week to talk with @tracichee.bsky.social about her novel A Thousand Steps Into Night? We are so excited to talk to her about how she uses mythology to challenge readers to think critically about their sense of self and community. See you there!

It's hard to believe that we are heading into our last 3 events for this school year! What an amazing trio we have in May -- @vashtiharrison.bsky.social and @lamargiles.bsky.social for elementary and @tracichee.bsky.social for middle & high school. We can't wait! Will we see you there?

graphic of text that says 'FIND ME AT Los Angeles Times 30 YEARS FESTIVALOFBOOKS FESTIVALOE APRIL 26-27, 2025 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Many stories. One weekend. HIGH INTENSITY EVEN HIGHER STAKES: FANTASTICAL WORLDS AND UNDERWORLDS IN YOUNG ADULT FICTION SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 11:20 AM YA STAGE Sharon Levin, Victoria Aveyard, Traci Chee, Ransom Riggs, Brittany N. Williams, Regan Revord, Annabelle Chang SIGNING TO FOLLOW

This weekend! 🔥Join us at @latimes.com Festival of Books on Sat. 4/26, 11:20am for High Intensity, Even Higher Stakes: Fantastical Worlds and Underworlds in Young Adult Fiction at the YA Stage! 🔥 Signing to follow in Signing Area 9.

events.latimes.com/festivalofbo...

“A charming, post-war fantasy, A Legionnaire’s Guide to Love and Peace is the perfect mix of the flashy, extravagant struggle between good and evil and the down-to-earth grind of a military on the march. Kat, Emory, and their fellow soldiers are my favorite kind of heroes—big, good-natured, and supportive, both on and off the battlefield—and between the quest for hand pies, the inane ball games, and the general camaraderie, it’s impossible not to fall in love with them. For anyone who adores everyday folks just doing their best, this book is a warm, welcoming hug.”—Traci Chee, New York Times bestselling author of Kindling and A Thousand Steps into Night

Another glorious blurb for A LEGIONNAIRE'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND PEACE, this time from my good friend @tracichee.bsky.social!

Thank you for reading!

white background with the flaming red cover of Kindling and the text: Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far) Teens & YA, All Young Adult books alpha, KINDLING by Traci Chee, February 27, 2024

KINDLING is one of Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far)! 🔥 Thank you so much to Kirkus for including Kindling on this list of truly incredible YA titles. What an honor! Find the full list and get some TBR inspiration here: www.kirkusreviews.com/young-adult/...

Advanced reader copies of A LEGIONNAIRE'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND PEACE sit stacked on rumpled gold reflective mylar with colorful highlights

Did we spend nearly an hour finally taking down our new years balloons, arranging them on the floor with the books, and meticulously aligning every light in our kit to get this picture? Maybe so.

But in my defense, I have ARCs!!!!!

How many of these new Would You Read It? videos have your middle schoolers watched? And how long is the holds list for each book? What an amazing bunch!!

@barbaradee.bsky.social @cynleitichsmith.bsky.social @tracichee.bsky.social

‘The reception of my books is different now’: Author Grace Lin on the reality of book bans and their impact The Mary Sue spoke to author Grace Lin about her experiences with book banning and how it has impacted her career.

I hesitate to give interviews about book banning as I feel that other authors have been much more targeted (in super scary ways) than I and are more deserving of sympathy & protection. But I thought, I would try to explain the pain “soft banning” also causes:

www.themarysue.com/the-receptio...

The cover of A LEGIONNAIRE'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND PEACE, by Emily Skrutskie. The cover is green, with the title text displayed on a golden ribbon. A tagline reads "A ONE NIGHT STAND BEFORE THEIR ONE LAST STAND." Centered on the cover are two silhouettes in gold, a man carrying a shield and a taller woman holding a spear. The man and woman are holding hands.

Here's the cover of A LEGIONNAIRE'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND PEACE! It was art directed by Regina Flath, designed by Aarushi Menon, and the illustration at the heart of it was done by my sister, Sarah Skrutskie. I love it to pieces.

Out on 6/24/25! 💙📚
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771397...

Person with long black hair in an orange checkered top holding up a red hardcover copy of Kindling by Traci Chee

KINDLING is a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize! 🔥 I’m so thrilled to be included alongside K.A. Cobell, Safia Elhillo, Carolina Ixta & @kimjohnson.bsky.social. 📚 Congratulations to all the finalists & a huge thank you to LA Times & the judges for this honor! www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

The Children's Literature Legacy Award winner is Carole Boston Weatherford.

#alayma

Winner of the 2025 Newbery Medal: The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly

#alayma

#alayma #ala #yma #corettascottking

#alayma #ala #yma

Excellence in Nonfiction Award goes to:
Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles 1992

#alaayma #yalsa

Congratulations Stonewall Book Award Honoree Gabe Cole Novoa! Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa is a Stonewall Honor Book

😭😭😭😭😭

Congratulations to "Everything We Never Had" for winning the Asian/Pacific American Award - Young Adult Literature! #alayma

Congratulations!!

A colorful graphich announces "$1.99 ebook sale!" An image of THE SALVATION GAMBIT book cover on an iPad accompanied by two illustrations of the main characters, Murdock and Fitz. Murdock is a white woman with brownish-red short hair dressed in a jumpsuit that's been stripped to the waist and wielding a dagger. Fitz is a white woman with long pale white hair dressed in a jumpsuit. Murdock is grinning. Fitz looks imperious.

Hey #BookSky 💙📚, the ebook of my sci-fi thriller is currently on sale, but only for the next 24 hours! If punchy hackers, diabolical warship AIs with god complexes, and conwomen are your flavor, don't miss out on THE SALVATION GAMBIT!

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708770...

Four photos of a vintage brown pill bottle and several transparent pill capsules filled with strips of paper and red and white sprinkles. On the left: close on the label of the bottle, which reads, "Pure unmodified doubts; for the immediate reduction of self-worth, indispensible to the working writer; a sure cure for optimism and vitality; DIRECTIONS--Adults, one capsule by mouth three times daily. Proportionally more for children; prepared by Traci Chee, druggist, San Francisco, Calif." Top right: pill bottle on its side with the metal lid nearby, pill capsules spilling out. Middle right: open pill capsule with a strip of paper unfurling out of it; text reads "Dear author... impossible to correspond... we thank you". Bottom right: pile of pile capsules in a white dish

Top: open pill capsule with red and white sprinkles strewn about and a strip of paper reading, "Ms. Chee, we regret we cannot publish..." Middle: closed pill capsules with red and white sprinkles and coiled strips of paper inside; in the center is a strip of paper reading "07.16.09 | We are honored that you considered... time. Please consider the numerical reality:... work. We hope you will keep in touch, and we..." Bottom: a mosaic of strips of paper, each of them featuring the word "unfortunately"

When in doubt, make more art. 💪 Half of this month's newsletter is from 2015, on rejection & a book art project called DOUBTS. Half of it is a reflection, ten years later, on what I've since learned about coping with feelings of inadequacy & failure. 🎨

tracichee.substack.com/p/when-in-do...

Happy 2025! If you're thinking about making some writing resolutions this year, I've got some thoughts about both dreams and goals. Check them out at my Substack:

To celebrate KINDLING’s first year in the world, I made a pretty little thing. Huge thanks to the team at Harper for making this book possible and to all the readers who found, loved, and shared it this year. ❤️‍🔥

A light green promotional graphic that has a square border made up of repeating text that says, “Native Writing Intensive.” At the center of the graphic is a multi-colored square with a white circle in the middle that says, “WNDB Native Writing Intensive 2025,” followed by a dark blue bubble that says, “Apply today!”

🔔 Apply for WNDB’s 2025 Native Writing Intensive!

The Native Writing Intensive offers an opportunity for reflection, conversation, celebration, & manuscript/career development. Open to Native/First Nation/Indigenous creators!

💻 bit.ly/NativeIntensive2025
⌛ Applications close February 14th, 2025

Photo of Traci Chee on a mountaintop overlooking a pastel-colored lake and a sunrise over the distant mountains; text reads "Concern & Control Part II: Goals: On climbing the mountain, step by step" and "tracichee.substack.com"

New Substack! 🏔️ Last time I wrote about publishing dreams and why they're valuable, even if they're out of your hands:

tracichee.substack.com/p/concern-an...

And today I'm talking about the importance of writing goals and goal-setting, no matter how small:

tracichee.substack.com/p/concern-an...