YA writers find it's a small world

Last update: August 15, 2009 - 11:05 PM

Lara Zielin and Sarah Quigley never met when they were students at Carleton College, even though they both graduated in 1998. And they never met after they moved to Minneapolis, even though they lived just about a mile apart, in Uptown. Eventually, they both moved away -- Sarah to New York and then California, and Lara to Michigan.

And then they met.

Zielin and Quigley both started writing books for young adults, and both landed contracts with Penguin, and both ended up with the same publicist. While reading a books blog, Quigley noticed Zielin's name and a reference to Carleton, and looked her up. They've become great online friends and joined the same online writers group.

"It becomes a small world very quickly," Zielin said. She calls their relationship "a series of fortunate events," a twist on the Lemony Snicket books.

Quigley's book, "TMI," about a girl who reveals too much on her blog, came out in April. Zielin's book, "Donut Days," about a girl who hopes to win a scholarship by writing about a doughnut franchise, comes out this month. And the coincidences continue. Both novels take place in Minnesota, in fictional small towns named for trees -- Pine Prairie and Birch Lake. Both novels feature cold weather (how could they not, being set in Minnesota?). And both make reference to Northfield. Says Zielin, "It's a little weird, even for me."

Oh, and there's one more coincidence. "Lara and I have something else in common now," Quigley said. "I just signed on with her agent."

Also ...

• "Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered," by Peter S. Wells, is out in paperback this month with W.W. Norton. Wells, who lives in St. Paul, is professor of archaeology at the University of Minnesota.

• Ann Bauer, author of the novel "A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards," and Mitch Omer, owner of the Minneapolis restaurant Hell's Kitchen, have teamed up to write "Damn Good Food," to be published in October by Borealis Books. Part memoir, part cookbook, it tells the story of Omer's tumultuous life, and includes 157 of his incredible recipes.

• Tim Compton, who translated the novel "Yankee Invasion," by Ignacio Solares (co-published by Scarletta Press and Aliform Publishing, both of Minneapolis), will be interviewed on KFAI's "Write-On! Radio" at 11 a.m. Thursday. 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul, and on the Web at www.kfai.org