KWL EP 125 – Courtney Summers

http://kobowritinglife.libsyn.com/kwl-ep-125-courtney-summers

In this episode, Stephanie and Marina sit down with New York Times best-selling author Courtney Summers. We talk to Courtney about her new novel Sadie and her inspiration for including a podcast in her narrative. Courtney also discusses murder podcasts that inspired her and gives advice to new writers. We also discuss some of our favourite tv shows and movies of the summer. SPOILER WARNING! There are some Sadie spoilers in this episode.

• Courtney’s beginnings in her career and writing journey. She talks about why she has chosen to write YA and her voice as a writer.
• The experience of being featured on the New York Times bestseller list for the first time.
• The podcast format as a part of the narrative, being inspired by the podcast Serial. We talk about how true crime has become binge-worthy content and what that means as readers.
• How a true podcast came out of Sadie, where we follow along the podcast host West during an investigative journey as he tries to locate Sadie.
• The best way to enjoy Sadie: read the book first or listen to the audiobook?
• Courtney’s favourite true crime stories.
• Courtney talks about how young women’s stories have become a commodity, and how this played into the story of Sadie.
• Courtney discusses the open ending of Sadie and the many interpretations that have come from it, from Stephanie and Marina, but also readers everywhere.
• We hear all about Courtney’s current favourites: books, tv shows, podcasts.
• Courtney, Stephanie and Marina dive into a pop culture dark hole, and end up talking about beauty, Youtube, tv shows and everything in between.
• Courtney gives us a teaser of her next project!

Sadie is available on the Kobo store as an ebook and audiobook.

Check out the first episode of The Girls podcast, based on the NY Times bestselling novel Sadie:

Courtney Summers was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada in 1986 and currently resides in a small town not far from there. At age 14, and with her parents’ blessing, Courtney dropped out of high school to pursue her education independently. At age 18, she wrote her first novel and never looked back. Her first book, Cracked Up to Be, was published in 2008, when she was 22. To date, she has authored six novels and is best known for her unapologetic, difficult female protagonists. In 2016, Courtney was named one of Flare Magazine’s 60 under 30.

You can check out her website, and follow her on twitter, Facebook and Instagram!