Author Event: "I'd Rather Burn than Bloom" with Shannon C.F. Rogers and Yume Kitasei.

About the Book:

Packed with voice, this is a powerful coming-of-age YA novel about a Filipina-American teen who tries to figure out who she really is in the wake of her mother's death.

Some girls call their mother their best friend. Marisol? She could never relate. She and her mom were forever locked in an argument with no beginning and no end. But when her mother dies suddenly, Marisol is left with no one to fight against, haunted by all the things that she both said and didn’t say. And when Marisol sleeps with her best friend's boyfriend—and then punches said best friend in the face—she's left alone, with nothing but a burning anger. And Marisol is determined to stay angry. After all, there’s a lot to be angry about. But as a new friendship begins to develop, Marisol reluctantly starts to open up to her, and to the possibility there’s something else on the other side of that anger—something more to who she is, and who she could be.

About the Author:

Shannon C.F. Rogers is a writer of young adult novels, short fiction, and plays. A former editor on Lunch Ticket, her work has appeared in Bodega Magazine and Newfound Journal as well as on stage with Tricklock Company and Lady Luck Productions. She earned her B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of New Mexico and her MFA in Writing For Young People at Antioch University Los Angeles. As an educator, Shannon has served school communities in Albuquerque, Chicago, and New York City. She is the author of I'd Rather Burn than Bloom. She is based in Brooklyn, NY.

About the Conversation Partner: 

Yume Kitasei is a writer of speculative fiction. She is half-Japanese and half-American and grew up in a space between two cultures—the same space where her stories reside. She lives in Brooklyn with two cats, Boondoggle and Filibuster. Her stories have appeared in publications including New England Review, Catapult, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Baltimore Review. The Deep Sky is her first novel. Visit her online at yumekitasei.com.