It has been an incredible few days with my fellow, awe-inspiring finalists, all of whom are so wildly talented. (Please swipe to see them read!!) My favorite moments: Meeting the incredible @tommiesmith68 and watching my son’s eyes widen when he realized he was chatting with a legend. Listening to @dawud_anyabwile talk about his artistic process and how he is always looking ahead to the next project. Hearing @authorderrickdbarnes talk about his first impressions of Dr. Smith, and how over the course of deep research and cogitation he started to pull the amazing story of Victory Stand together. Listening to the teen crowd at the press conference this morning go utterly bonkers for @sonora.reyes and their reading and hearing them talk about the drafting process for their book!!! Hearing @lisayee1 speak on how her entire life was in preparation for writing Maizy Chen, and how her experiences during the pandemic as an Asian woman fueled her desire to create such a hopeful story. Meeting the remarkable Kelly Barnhill hearing her talk about how she reads all her books to her dog and how this one came out of writing different short fairy stories every day. TL;DR: it has been an honor to share a stage with these wildly talented writers. I am so so grateful for it. Thank you to @nationalbookfoundation for a once in a lifetime experience. ❤️❤️❤️