there’s an in depth discussion of this in Braiding Sweetgrass, but ramps in particular don’t have a good seed dispersal mechanism and can only move as far as their seed-bearing stems allow them. Wiping out a patch might be a millennia-long local extinction event

Upper Valley! Join me and other finalists for the Vermont Book Award tomorrow night (Thursday, April 30 at 7PM) at Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, VT. Fiction! Poetry! Young Adult! Graphic Novel! History! Middle Grade! Memoir! What more could you ask for?

I feel like I’ve been neglecting NIGHT SWIMMING as I focus on my newest book, but it’s up for the Vermont Award this weekend and it’s out in paperback tomorrow. Rumor is that bookstores will accept your money if you try to buy it!

Fast Five Interview: Aaron Starmer Author Aaron Starmer joins us to talk about his new book, YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS. teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2026/04/21/f... @tltkaren.bsky.social @aaronstarmer.bsky.social

When did a writing career become audience members yelling suggestions to an improv comedy troupe?

Join me and other finalists for the Vermont Book Award at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vermont this Saturday at 6pm. We'll be dropping knowledge and crumbs (which we will dutifully sweep up).

If you want your child to read books that they’ll forget in a month’s time, hand them pablum. If you want them to think, rethink, and return to a book for the rest of their life? This is what you give. I review @aaronstarmer.bsky.social #kidlit 📚👍 afuse8production.slj.com/2026/04/12/r...

It's basically the Super Bowl, the Oscars and the Tunbridge World's Fair all rolled into one. I'm talking, of course, about the Vermont Book Awards! Join the Green Mountain Glitterati on Saturday, May 2nd in Montpelier for food, drinks and bookishness. Tickets here www.eventbrite.com/e/the-vermon...

I am, and it is, and no, they don't

I have this fantasy/mystery hitting the world next week!

I made a podcast episode! This one is with @aaronstarmer.bsky.social talking about how the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 90s freaked us out. We also talk up his latest novels NIGHT SWIMMING and (the newly released) YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

There's wonderful writing going on in the middle grade sphere right now, but opportunities to promote these books are dwindling. Case in point: @katemilford.bsky.social's brilliant RIALTO, which comes out in exactly two weeks. An advance copy visited me in snowy Vermont and asked for a photo shoot!

The cover story for the latest issue of Vermont's favorite newspaper Seven Days is about good ol' Ben trying to buy back Ben & Jerry's from Unilever, but the biggest jump-scare is the appearance of my big old face! Thankfully, there's also a review to go with it. www.sevendaysvt.com/arts-culture...

Today is the day! YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS is here! Ask your local indie to order a copy...or ten. Give it to a kid. Or keep it for yourself. Spread the word but don't spoil it. And thank you for enduring my onslaught of promotion. It's part of this job I'm so lucky to have.

Enter to win a copy of YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS and read a short piece I wrote about AI and "The Middle" over at Literary Rambles: www.literaryrambles.com/2026/03/the-...

I never fully understood the huge success of the book (and now movie!) THE POUT-POUT FISH, but I have to admit that "kaleidoscope of mope" is one of the great turns of phrases in all of children's literature.

This was fun to see! afuse8production.slj.com/2026/03/17/n...

The lack of editorial oversight this book went through is disheartening. Traditional publishing needs to speed up its processes if it wants to compete with self publishing, but not the editorial part. That's where traditional should have the distinct advantage. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/b...

"Hot, sexy, dangerous boys—central to virtually all young adult romance novels—cannot be copyrighted."—Judge Colleen McMahon Glad we've got that settled, at least. lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/wp-content/u...

Am I the only one who thinks that 4 MILLION BOOKS per year is perhaps too many books? www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

ONE MORE WEEK...

How about this? NIGHT SWIMMING is a finalist for the Vermont Book Award, along with some other amazing books by Vermont authors. What an honor! www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2...

YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS comes out in exactly two weeks! I'm fairly confident that you're also old enough to preorder a copy. So ask your local bookmonger!

Why is it that women only get a day when vampires get an entire weekend?

I have a couple ARCs left of YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS. Want one? Lemme know!

1 month until YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS hits shelves, and yes, PRE-ORDERS matter. But what matters most is that the book is shared with the right readers and that it inspires a religion that transforms the lives of billions and echoes through human history until the Sun swallows the Earth.

It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It’s about oil and regime change. And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from his sinking under Epstein and skyrocketing healthcare costs.

Days 1 & 2 of my 7 Books in 7 Days New Years Challenge! One nonfiction about #wildlifeconservation specifically jaguars, and the other a magical middle grade fiction from local #vermont author @aaronstarmer.bsky.social. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for both. #booksky #bookrecommendations #bookseller #readingchallenge

If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, it appears SPONTANEOUS is now free for any Amazon Prime subscribers. Ring in the new year with some exploding teenagers! www.amazon.com/gp/video/det...

If this turns out to be true it's perhaps the greatest true crime scoop in history: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/crime-d...

I saw someone posting about how they wrote nearly 20 books this year. Not read. Wrote. I don't think this included short things like picture books. I guess I can see the financial strategy from a self-publishing perspective (crank 'em out, charge low prices). But what other point is there to this?

I was lucky enough to receive a few blurbs for YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS. The first comes from the incomparable Anne Ursu, author of classics like BREADCRUMBS and THE REAL BOY. Anne is a tireless advocate for authors and young readers and I'm so honored to have her words appear on my book.

Is art subjective? Well, I came across these adjacent Letterboxd reviews for the SPONTANEOUS movie…

★ Aaron Starmer sets up a “unsettlingly strange and seemingly disjointed journey” featuring illustrations by Jaime Zollars in his “genuinely touching” middle grade novel YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS

It's another STAR! This one is from Publishers Weekly. They call the book "genuinely touching." But I have a soft spot for the "unrepentant weirdness of the setting." Ha! I'll take it.

forest foot

Appears that THE RIVERMAN is only 4 bits on Kindle (aka 50 cents). Don't know why, but that's a nice price. Get yourself an ebook copy...or 10: www.amazon.com/Riverman-Tri...

Can't wait to write my latest book exclusively with AI, so I can focus on the part of the process that all authors truly love: self-promotion.

Maybe nobody in the great big world cares about this. But the public libraries in tiny Jefferson County in Northern Appalachia were in danger of losing their tax funding thanks to right-wing book banners. And we won. The library's funding is safe!!!!!

Apparently it's International Wombat Day, so I suppose I should plug my wombat book. Yes, he's wearing a bow tie. He's also phosphorescent...and immortal.

This week marks the 5-year anniversary of the SPONTANEOUS movie. Due to it being, um, 2020, it didn't get the theatrical run it deserved, but it's built up a lovely following since and maintains its 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. I only wrote the book, but I'm still very proud of the film.

Horrifying

This is a fucking crisis.

So many authors have already shared this, but it's a fantastic distillation of how the industry works for those who don't know.

Friendly reminder that I block people who post some variant of "it won't matter because nothing matters" on sight. Not even because they're wrong, but because I find this habit of saying the most tedious and predictable thing as if that makes you an edgy truth teller incredibly grating.

I'm sorry but you can't just call a movie STEVE. Especially one with Cillian Murphy starring in it.

Found this old Landlord Certificate from 1999. Monthly rent in Colchester was $234. Minimum wage was $5.15/hour, so someone could rent an apartment with a week of work at minimum wage. Wild. I don’t know what Colchester was like then, but it’s very nice now.

New Hemingway story just dropped…

The Newbery committee dropped the ball when they failed to recognize this one…

While it’s sad that people have come to expect censorship in states like Florida, it’s also worrying that some people feel so confident that it could never happen in their state. It can happen anywhere. Pay attention and speak out.