Events › Meet Colorado Young Adult Authors

Join us to meet local young adult authors Olivia Abtahi, Byron Graves, Crystal J. Bell and Meg Long. The authors will share their books and writing journeys plus much more! Books will be available for purchase from The Bookies Bookstore and a book signing will follow the panel presentation

Author Bios: 

Olivia Abtahi Growing up in the DC area, Olivia devoured books and hid in empty classrooms during school to finish them. Her debut novel, Perfectly Parvin, was published in 2021, receiving the SCBWI Golden Kite Honor, YALSA Odyssey Honor, and numerous starred reviews. Her sophomore novel, Azar on Fire, was published in August 2022 and a SLJ pick. Olivia's third novel, Twin Flames, is a New Visions Award winner publishing in August of 2024. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and daughter.

Byron Graves is Ojibwe and Lakota. He was born and raised on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, where he played high school basketball. When he isn’t writing, he can be found playing retro video games, skateboarding, or cleaning up after his cats. Rez Ball, his debut novel won the William C Morris Young Adult debut award, the American Indian Youth Literature award for Best Young Adult novel, the 34th annual Reading the West best Young Adult award, was a 2024 Boston Globe Horn Book Fiction Honors Book, and won the Colorado Book Awards best Young Adult novel.

Crystal J. Bell A Colorado native, Crystal lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with her husband and fur babies. Her debut novel, The Lamplighter, was published Spring 2024 by Flux Books. When not writing or filming weddings, her hobbies include SFX makeup, stand-up paddle boarding, and gardening.

Meg Long is the award-winning author of sci-fi novels for young adults, including Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves and it's sequel. When not writing, she’s kicking things at her Muay Thai gym with her partner, playing video games, or working at her day job as a content designer for Netflix. She can be found online at meglongbooks.com and across socials as @heeeyitsmeg.

DISCOVER MORE

Check out this list of Teen Books by these and other Colorado YA authors.

Writing a book? Check out our Writers’ Resources page for free resources on writing, research and formatting and to submit your original work for publishing. 

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