Atlas Obscura writer to moderate “Everyone Has An Animal Inside” Panel at BookExpo, featuring Cathleen (C. D.) Davitt Bell, Jon McGoran, and Sayantani Dasgupta.

Chooseco Announces Author Panel at BookExpo Featuring WEREGIRL

Chooseco, publisher of the WEREGIRL TRILOGY is pleased to announce an author panel discussing the overlap between animal and human behavior in young adult literature moderated by Atlas Obscura editor Sarah Laskow, and featuring Cathleen (C. D.) Davitt Bell, Jon McGoran, and Sayantani Dasgupta at the upcoming BookExpo. 

The panel will take place on the Midtown (Ingram) Stage at Javits Center at 11 AM on Thursday May 31st

Author Cathleen (C. D.) Bell (WEREGIRL: TYPHON, Chooseco, November 2018) will be joined by Jon McGoran (SPLICED, Holiday House, September 2017) and Sayantani Dasgputa (THE SERPENT’S SECRET, Scholastic, February 2018) to discuss the power and importance of using an animal avatar in literature. Atlas Obscura staff writer and editor Sarah Laskow (whose interests include climate change, and intriguing people and species) will be moderating.

“Stories about humans taking animal forms date back almost to the Caves of Lascaux,” says Chooseco Marketing Manager Elizabeth Adelman, who helped develop the panel. “Our panelists ask important questions about the desire to piece together a human-animal hybrid identity. What license and power does it give to the writer, and what effect does it have on readers, especially ones in the midst of identity transformations themselves?”

“As we advance in our understanding of genetics, identity politics—and as we come to terms with climate change devastating our planet—the questions asked by these writers are especially timely and compelling,” adds Chooseco Publisher Shannon Gilligan. “Chooseco is proud to publish books that speak to these important questions, and to offer a platform for this conversation.”

About the Moderator

Sarah Laskow is a senior writer at Atlas Obscura, an online magazine that covers the world's hidden wonders. She writes about books, cities, plants, obscure histories, and much more. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, NPR's All Things Considered, and many other fine print and online publications. 

About the Authors

Cathleen (C. D.) Davitt Bell is the author of the novels Weregirl, Weregirl: Chimera, Slipping, Little Blog on the Prairie, I Remember You, and a co-author of The Amanda Project. Bell’s third and final book in the WEREGIRL TRILOGY, Weregirl: Typhon, will be released in November 2018.

Jon McGoran is the author of the novel Spliced, a near-future science fiction thriller from Holiday House Books. He has also published eight novels including the ecological thrillers Drift, Deadout, Dust Up, and Down to Zero from Tor/Forge Books. He is the author of the novella, After Effects from Amazon’s StoryFront imprint, and The Dead Ring, based on TV’s The Blacklist, from Titan Books. 

Sayantani Dasgupta grew up hearing stories about brave princesses, bloodthirsty rakkhosh, and flying pakkhiraj horses. She is a pediatrician by training but now teaches at Columbia University. Sayantani Dasgupta is the author of The Serpent’s Secret and The Demon Slayers and other stories. She has also contributed to multiple children’s book anthologies. 

About Chooseco
Chooseco publishes the Choose Your Own Adventure series. Widely commended for its appeal to reluctant readers, the interactive, multiple-choice multiple-ending series is the 4th-bestselling series for children ever published, with more than 265 million copies sold in 38 languages. Chooseco has sold over 10 million copies since the series re-launch in 2006. Each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character’s actions in response to the plot and its outcome.

To find out more, please contact Elizabeth Adelman at webmail(at)chooseco(dot)com or by telephone at 802-496-2598.