Lunch with Hannah

One of my favorite jobs is editing the Louder Than Words series of teen-authored memoirs. I love reading over the interesting submissions, finding the authors, making the phone calls to tell a hopeful author she’s been selected, and ultimately editing the books. But my favorite part of editing this series, without a doubt, is that I get to connect with truly inspirational and incredible young women.

If I’m really lucky, I get to meet them in person. On Monday, I hopped on the Amtrak train and headed south from Seattle for Vancouver, Washington, where I spent three wonderful hours with upcoming Louder Than Words author Hannah Westberg. Hannah is in revision mode for her forthcoming memoir, entitled Hannah, and we spent our time eating Indian food and talking about her manuscript, life after high school, and the joys of five year olds (she babysits one, I have one).

Hannah’s book is an extremely personal, and powerful, account of her struggles with mental illness, drug abuse, and suicidal tendencies. I am so excited to share Hannah’s writing talent and important story with the world! Hannah will be out in August 2010, along with Rae by Chelsea Rae Swiggett of The Pageflipper fame and Alexis by Alexis Papalia. And while Alexis and Rae live too far away for an impromptu lunch, I’ll be sharing more details about their memoirs in the coming weeks.