Please go to Firefly Creative Writing to see if any of our cozy writing workshops are for you. The Fall schedule will be on the website for July 11th. For $50 off, use code: FATJOY

Crystal Maldonado (she/her) is a young adult author with a lot of feelings that she’s channeled into romcoms for fat, brown girls. She shares what it was like to write the stories she wished she’d had when she was growing up, the gatekeeping she had to overcome to get published, and her ‘glimmers’ writing practice that connects her to joy each day.

Crystal has written several books, including The Fall of Whit Rivera, which People Magazine called a “pumpkin-spice-latte-flavored treat”; Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, which was a New England Book Award winner, a Cosmopolitan Best New Book, and a Kirkus Best YA Fiction of 2021; and No Filter and Other Lies, which was named a POPSUGAR and Seventeen Best New YA. Her middle grade debut, Camp Sylvania: Moon Madness—a paranormal summer camp story featuring two fat besties, co-written with #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy—releases in spring 2024.

Please connect with through her website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and tiktok.

This episode’s poem is called “My friends got married today…” by Yesika Salgado.

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Our thanks to Chris Jones and AR Media for keeping this podcast looking and sounding joyful.