KRISTEN CICCARELLI
Internationally Bestselling Author of Fantasy Books for Teens

About

ABOUT

 
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Kristen Ciccarelli is an internationally bestselling author of fantasy fiction. Her first novel, The Last Namsara, debuted on the UK’s Children & YA chart, was named one of Indigo’s Best Books for Teens, and has been translated into 12 languages. Before writing books for a living, Kristen was an artisanal baker, an indie bookseller, and a ceramic artist. She resides in a blustery seaside cove on Newfoundland's Northern Peninsula with her blacksmith and her rescue dog.

 

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Okay, travelling friends (travelling writers especially): starting Sunday, I’ll be travelling across three continents over 2.5 weeks for tour and I’m only bringing my 7L mini Fjällräven backpack + a cross body bag. See photo #2. (Am I out of my mind? It’s possible!☺️) This is my dilemma: should I bring my laptop??? I have an 11 inch MacBook Air that I do all my writing on, and tend to use it most in airports/on red eye flights (since I can never sleep on these). However: it and its cord take up a lot of space. Plus there’s the added downside of always worrying about it. So I’m contemplating leaving it behind and doing my writing on a notebook instead. 🤔 What do you guys think? Bring the laptop, or leave it at home? . #authorlife #minimalisttravel #packandgo #starttheadventure #fjallravenkanken #passportready #backpacking
ICYMI ... in just one week I fly to England for my UK tour and am SO excited to be back! Here are all the places you can find me. 💛 If you’re interested in any of these events, head to the link in my profile for tickets/info. 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻 Also: I have 3 days of rest in Edinburgh (Old Town) afterwards, so if you have any Edinburgh recommendations, I’d love to hear them! ☺️😘
WRITERS: let’s talk about feedback. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback over the years, and something I’ve learned that might be helpful for others out there is that there are essentially two types: . 1. The first type lights a fire in your soul. It can be 40 pages of notes, ripping your manuscript to shreds. But if, after those 40 pages, you feel inspired and excited and hungry to get down to work, then this is the best kind of feedback (and you should keep the person who gave it to you close). It is a rare and precious gift. . 2. The second type of feedback is the opposite: it makes you feel dead inside. Personally, I know I’ve received this kind of feedback if, after reading it, the thought of my book, or revising my book (or of writing in general) makes me feel physically ill. You need to be very careful with this kind. You shouldn’t necessarily disregard it, because there may be true things within it that you should consider. Personally, if I’ve received feedback that has sucked the joy out of me/my writing/my love for a book, it means I need to tread carefully. It means I need to suit up—pull on all my armour—before wading in and parsing out what is helpful vs what is not. . Some tips for dealing with this second kind of feedback: let the notes sit for a day or two (or even a week) to see if the feeling wears off. Show it to a friend (one who’s familiar with your work or even the manuscript in question) asking for their thoughts. Write out what you love most about the book or what you feel it’s heart is. Once you’re armed with these things, ask yourself: Does this person “get” my work? Do they love the things I love about it? Do they understand what I’m trying to accomplish? . If the answer is no, then it’s perfectly okay (and recommended!) to take what is helpful (if anything) and disregard the rest. Because the fact is, we all come from different places. We have different ways of seeing the world. And art is subjective: what resonates deeply with one person might be the very thing that makes the next person put a book down. And that’s okay. . WRITERS: if you have any tips for dealing with/sifting through feedback, feel free to share in the comments!
Okay, yes, all of my attempts at #bookface turn out horribly. 😂😂 But I couldn’t think of a sillier way to announce something I’m happy about: THE SKY WEAVER audiobook is now available for pre-order, and the narrator is actress Rosie Jones (you might recognize her voice if you’ve listened to The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton). I really love the thoughtful consideration Orion puts into these audio books. Paul and his team decided to go with 3 distinct voice actors for all 3 books, since each story centres around a different character. And just like their first two choices, I love the choice of Rosie Jones for Safire & Eris’s book and I can’t wait for you to read it! ⚓️⚔️🌊 I’ll put the preorder link up in my profile, as well as an audio sample from The Last Namsara (it’s an old story narrated by Pearl Mackie, and she does SUCH a glorious job❤️). ⬆️ . #theskyweaver #iskari #audiobook #audiobookstagram #thecagedqueen #thelastnamsara #yafantasy #ireadya #tbr #kristenciccarelli #authorlife #authorsofig
🇬🇧EVENTS🇬🇧 Okay friends, it’s officially official! In just a few weeks I’ll be in England (❤️) where you can find me at the following places: . July 23: Leeds @waterstonesleeds 6:30-8:30pm YA Fantasy Panel with Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, and Kristina Pérez. . July 24: Liverpool @waterstonesliverpool 6-8pm YA Fantasy Panel with Dhonielle Clayton, Justina Ireland, and Kristina Pérez. . July 25: London @forbiddenplanet 6-7pm Mega Signing with Dhonielle Clayton, Eoin Colfer, Sharon Dogar, John Tarrow, Melinda Salisbury, and Mary Watson. . July 28: London @yalc_uk (Sunday only) 3pm: signing 4pm: “Monsters & their Makers” panel with Justina Ireland, Natasha Ngan, Samantha Shannon, and Taran Matharu 5:pm signing . I can’t wait to be back! Hopefully I’ll see you there! ❤️🇬🇧❤️ . #thelastnamsara #thecagedqueen #kristenciccarelli #iskari #yalc #yalc2019 #authorlife #yafantasy
I’m completely in love with this fan art of Asha, created by @pri.sart. Thank you, Priscila. She’s beautiful! 💙💙💙 . Posted @withrepost • @pri.sart Demorei mais do que esperava nesse, espero que gostem 🐉
Brazilian readers! Guess what? I’ll be coming to São Paulo this summer for FLIPOP! I’ll be signing on Saturday, August 3rd and doing a panel + signing on Sunday, August 4th. For more details, head on over to @editoraseguinteoficial’s account. I can’t wait to meet you!!! ❤️🇧🇷❤️ . #acacadoradedragoes #arainhaaprisionada #iskari #thelastnamsara #thecagedqueen #kristenciccarelli #flipop #flipop2019 #authorlife
(⬆️That’s my husband.🙈) Every year, @parks.canada hosts a historical smelt over at the L’anse aux Meadows Viking site. The process is long and arduous: it begins by collecting bog iron from the bogs, and then constantly pumping air into a furnace for 12+ hours (the “furnace” is a nothing more than a contained fire burning at 1200 degrees Celsius). When the iron bloom is ready to be extracted, the furnace is torn down and the bloom is removed (while sparks fly everywhere) and then, as quickly as possible, the bloom is hammered down to consolidate the iron so it can be worked with (ie. made into nails, hooks, etc). As you can imagine, the process takes a whole crew and this year my husband is one of them. (Hence my stories earlier this week where we dressed him up as a Viking!😂) So if you’re on Newfoundland’s northern peninsula this weekend, the smelt runs all day at the UNESCO site (roughly 7am-7pm this Saturday, July 6th) and if you come, they might even let you pump the bellows! 💪🏻 For those of you who are too far away, I’ll make sure to document the day in my stories. So keep an eye out. 😁 . #vikingsnl #vikings #smelting #smelt #blacksmith #lanseauxmeadows #lam #parkscanada #grosmorne #grosmornenationalpark #newfoundlandandlabrador #explorenl #springtideknives