Episode 90: Nina LaCour on writing slowly, first novels & writing partnerships

Nina LaCour

Today we are so excited to have Nina LaCour on our show. We have been HUGE fans of Nina’s for a long time. Nina is the bestselling and Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of five critically acclaimed young adult novels published by Dutton Books. Her latest book is called Watch Over Me, a spooky atmospheric but also kind and warm book that we both devoured recently and loved.

Her earlier books are We Are Okay, Hold Still, The Disenchantments, and Everything Leads to You.

Her novels have been Junior Library Guild selections, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, and have been named among the best books of the year by numerous publications and organizations – there are really too many of these to list here.

Nina is from San Francisco and received an MFA in Creative Writing at Mills College. Her graduate thesis became her first novel, Hold Still, which received a William C. Morris honor from the American Library Association.

After taking a few years off to stay home with her young daughter, Nina is teaching again with Hamline University’s MFAC program as well as with independent students.

She’s also a fellow podcaster, and we really recommend her podcast Keeping a Notebook, on which she did briefly a series of podcasts about her lockdown experiences, and which we briefly discuss in this interview.

She also runs the fantastic Slow Novel Lab. She thrives on lesson planning and lecture writing, classroom discussions, guiding students through their short story and novel drafts, and offering interactive lectures on craft and creativity. That’s how she describes herself, and we think you’ll agree after you hear this interview – she is so passionate and generous about working to develop writers.

Check our her work, her workshops, listen to her podcast, and sign up for her newsletter. We know you’ll love them.

You can listen right here on this page, or get Marginally on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever get your podcasts.

As always, we’d love for you to take a minute to rate and review us in your podcast app, as this helps other listeners find the show. 

Find us on Instagram @marginallypodcast. Meghan’s occasionally on Twitter @meghanembee, and Olivia’s @roamingolivia.

Theme music is “It’s Time” by Scaricá Ricascá. 

Have a question you’d like us to try to answer, or a topic you’d love to have us cover? Interested in being a guest? Contact us here.  Thanks for listening, and get to work!

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