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“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”

 Anne Frank

young writers
around the world

In 1942, Anne Frank received a blank journal for her thirteenth birthday, which she used to cope with World War II. Two years later, the Nazis imprisoned her family in the Bergen-Belson concentration camp. Anne died from typhus in 1945.

Young Writers

Besides Mary Shelley and Frankenstein (written at age 19), Jane Austin was another young trailblazing author in the early 19th century. She wrote and published Lady Susan by age 21.

We’ve identified additional Young Writers, which are shown by age group.

  • Kid Writers: 4-12 years old

  • Teen Writers: 13-19 years old

  • Young Adult Writers: 20-25 years old

Self Publishing

The launch of Amazon shopping, handheld devices, print-on-demand, rapid worldwide logistics, etc. are fostering a paradigm shift from traditional Big Publishing to Independent Publishing. 

 

There are also a plethora of global freelancers and service providers to help indie authors, many of whom once worked at publishing corporations.

Self Publishing Made Simple

In the past five years, April Cox and her global team of experts have helped writers to develop and publish more than 400 children’s books, some of which Amazon designated as best sellers. 

 

More than a dozen of April’s debut authors have been Young Writers, either working alone or with parental support. She has interviewed six of them in the Rise of the Kid Authors series on her YouTube Channel:

Zahra Brown

Black Girl Magic: A Book about Loving Yourself Just the Way You Are

Tanmoy and Rudra Chakrabarti

Moonstruck Dad series, e.g., Monster Hunting, The Chocolate Monster, and Monster at the Cemetery

Michelle and Laiya Davey

My Voice Is My Superpower

Adam Musselmani

VIP Fruits and a Beautiful Christmas

Reya and Ari Halper

Feliz Navidog: The Story of How Santa’s Pet Saved Christmas

Annabelle and Krystal Wallick

My Feelings Are a Hurricane

Marz Starchild is the latest book in The Rise of Kid-Authors series. This illustrated short novel is close to my heart. Besides being an excellent debut book by Sofia Segarra-Orenstein, a sixteen-year-old author from Puerta Rico, I had the honor of being in the same Self-Publishing Made Simple class with her mother, Aida, in the summer of 2022. I am happy to see someone else’s indie book progress from story development to commercialization. Also, Aida used the same illustrator—Prayan Animation—that worked on Star Life Keepers. Another stellar effort by our Indian artist collaborators!

 

I enjoyed reading Marz Starchild, a fun “magical sci-fi realism book” for midgrade readers. Here’s an excerpt from Sofia’s Amazon description:

 

In this mesmerizing debut chapter book, Marz Starchild, an intrepid-science-minded teen, becomes the key to bridging two worlds when she is contacted by an alien civilization. As their fates hang in the balance, Marz must navigate the cosmic unknown and discover the power within herself.


Like our Dragon & Dinosaur Chronicles series, Sophia combines star-traveling adventures with the same “importance-of-family-and-close-friends” theme.