{"id":75242,"date":"2026-09-30T17:43:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/?p=75242"},"modified":"2026-09-30T18:29:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T22:29:52","slug":"oct-24-prose-poetry-six-local-ya-authors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/2026\/09\/30\/oct-24-prose-poetry-six-local-ya-authors\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct 24: Prose &#038; Poetry: Six Local YA Authors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-75243\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/YA-event.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"371\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/YA-event.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/YA-event-768x285.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Prose &amp; Poetry from Six Local YA Authors<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Saturday, October 24 at 6:30 PM<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Book Beat Bookstore<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Calling all <strong>teachers, librarians, teens, parents, and adult readers!<\/strong> Join us for an evening of prose, poetry, conversation, and books with <strong>six local YA authors<\/strong>. Call us at 248.978.1190 for more info.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Each author will give a <strong>five-minute reading<\/strong>, followed by Q&amp;A, book signing, and more.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Free Educator Guide<\/strong> with ideas for classroom and book-club discussions<\/li>\n<li>Learn how to use <strong>Metaphor Dice<\/strong> to spark a poem or story<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>limited supply of free ARCs<\/strong> of a forthcoming 2027 YA novel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h3>Meet the Authors<\/h3>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75247 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kristin-Lenz-e1790803987157.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"161\"><strong>Kristin Bartley Lenz<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Kristin Bartley Lenz is a Royal Oak-based writer and social worker. She is celebrating the 10th Anniversary Edition of her first YA novel, <em>The Art of Holding On and Letting Go<\/em>, a Junior Library Guild Selection and Great Lakes Great Books Award honor title.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\">\n<h3>&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75248 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Patrick-Flores-Scott-e1790804088918.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"169\"><strong>Patrick Flores-Scott<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Patrick Flores-Scott is an Ann Arbor-based author of the award-winning YA novels <em>Jumped In<\/em>, <em>American Road Trip<\/em>, and <em>No Going Back<\/em>, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"clear: both;\">&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<h3><!-- HEATHER SMITH MELOCHE --><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75246 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Heather-Smith-Meloche-e1790804188920.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"158\">Heather Smith Meloche<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Heather Smith Meloche is a Pushcart-nominated poet and fiction writer whose work has appeared in literary journals and anthologies, including Taylor Mali&#8217;s <em>Poetry By Chance<\/em>. Her debut YA novel, <em>Ripple<\/em>, was published by Penguin Putnam. She is currently earning an MFA in Creative Writing through Emerson College.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"clear: both;\">&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<h3><!-- TRACY BILEN --><\/h3>\n<h3><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75249 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Tracy-Bilen-e1790804252568.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"159\">Tracy Bilen<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Tracy Bilen teaches high school French and Spanish and writes romantic thrillers for teens. She is the author of <em>What She Left Behind, Whisper,<\/em> and <em>Thirty Seconds at a Time.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"clear: both;\">&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<h3><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75245 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Darren-Cools-e1790804432520.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"127\">Darren Cools<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Darren Cools is a Ypsilanti-based author, illustrator, designer, and social work graduate student. His first YA novel, <em>Light in the Canyon<\/em>, was published in June.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"clear: both;\">&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<h3><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75244 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Anthony-Fink-e1790804315341.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"127\" height=\"159\">Anthony Fink<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>For the past 25 years, Anthony Fink has taught art to students of all ages while developing an intricate fantasy series incorporating art, music, and history\u2014the subjects closest to his heart. <em>The Consequences of Drawing Dragons<\/em> was published in September.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"clear: both;\">&nbsp;<\/h3>\n<hr>\n<h3><strong>Saturday, October 24 \u2022 6:30 PM<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Book Beat Bookstore<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Free and open to all.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-75221\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/A_srreal_divider-light.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"57\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/A_srreal_divider-light.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/A_srreal_divider-light-768x55.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>oin us for an evening of prose, poetry, conversation, and books with six local YA authors.at Book Beat: Oct. 24 at 6:30-8 PM.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[814,219,659,175],"tags":[1069],"class_list":["post-75242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-signings-lectures","category-children-books-signings","category-detroit-writer","category-ya-books","tag-ya-author-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebookbeat.com\/backroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}