Each week, an accomplished published author takes over the YEM Twitter account. Each week, the YA author will answer questions, tell stories, and give advice on our social media. This week young adult author Julia Watts will be taking over our Twitter account.

Julia Watts is the author of over a dozen novels, including “Finding H.F.” for which she won the 2001 Lambda Literary Award in the children/young adult category. She holds a B.A. in English from The University of Tennessee, an M.A. in English from the University of Louisville, and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University. She lives in Knoxville and is a Professor of English at South College and a faculty mentor in Murray State University’s low-residency MFA in Writing program. Her last two publications have been collaborative, the novel Rufus + Syd, co-written with Robin Lippincott, and the anthology Unbroken Circle: Stories of Cultural Diversity in the South, co-edited with Larry Smith. She was recently inducted into the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame.

Her 2018 novel, Quiver was awarded a Perfect Tens Award by VOYA and the Fall 2018 OKRA Pick by Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. Set in rural Tennessee, Quiver focuses on the unlikely friendship between two teens from opposite sides of the culture wars. Libby is the oldest child of six, going on seven, in a family that adheres to the “quiverfull” lifestyle: strict evangelical Christians who believe that they should have as many children as God allows because children are like arrows in the quiver of “God’s righteous warriors.” Meanwhile, Zo is the gender fluid offspring of Libby’s new neighbors who have moved to the country from Knoxville in hopes of living a slower-paced, more natural life.

To follow along with this week’s Twitter takeover, follow our Twitter account @YoungEntmag and follow the hashtag #YAAUTHORTAKEOVER.