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Welcome to the Tuesday Telegrams, a semimonthly newsletter from award-winning author Naseem Jamnia. You're currently reading a writing-related Telegram, where I update you on projects, offer behind-the-scenes looks, delve into craft, and other publishing and writing topics.

Today, my second book—my debut middle grade novel—is out in the world.

​Welcome to THE GLADE! Be careful what you dream for...

Everything about this process has been completely different than when The Bruising of Qilwa came out. S&S publicists say that unlike adult or even YA books, MG has a long tail—where the work really begins after the book releases.

So now that The Glade is out in the world, I look forward to seeing the way that my conversations around the book changes. I look forward to connecting with parents, librarians, and educators about why I think this book is important. And I look forward to seeing how kids respond now that they can read it!

News from The Glade: Launch Party!

On the 16th, we had a launch party at the Radical Cat, my local indie. It was phenomenal! I was in conversation with local poetry champion and educator Griffin Peralta, who asked me insightful questions about process, themes, and messages. They recorded it for their radio show on local channel KWNK, so keep an eye on that link for when the conversation goes live.

We had a great turnout (as you can see!), with fantastic Q&As after the conversation. Then we enjoyed some delicious, character-matched cupcakes. In case it is unclear from the photos, the favorite cupcakes are: chocolate mint for Pina, chai for Jo, red velvet for Arish, and vanilla raspberry for Eddy.

There is a local bakery that is very friendly toward food sensitivities, which means not only was I able to order all vegan cupcakes, I was also able to order my favorite cupcake flavor from them gluten free (chocolate mint!) and then freeze the remainder. This is very exciting to me. Having food sensitivities to cow's milk dairy, egg, and gluten is not fun! Whereas once I was a prolific stress baker, I have to completely relearn how to bake.

Anyway, that is neither here nor there, except that I have vegan, gluten-free chocolate mint cupcakes in my freezer!

Perhaps not as easy to see, but I got special dungarees for The Glade events—covered in mushrooms! Decorated dungarees have become my thing in the past year (including these, I have seven), and I was so psyched to break these out for the first time. It'll certainly not be the last!

Where I've Been

Did you know I love doing podcasts? I do! Here's where I've been lately, or places coming up:

I was on The Write Way of Life, chatting with my longtime friend and fellow writer Karis Rogerson about the many ways to think about audience. I did rant about publishing for a while, but Karis says it's interesting. That episode is out now!

I chatted with MENAarts News on their podcast, Mainstage, about The Glade, West Asian representation, and being Iranian diaspora. It should be out this week!

Two of my favorite people in the world are Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz. They happen to be the minds behind Our Opinions Are Correct, and they invited me back on the show to talk about public health in speculative fiction! That should drop early June. I also did a mini-segment about healers with them, too, which will probably be included in the mid-June episode.

Upcoming Events

If anyone is in the Bay Area, this year, I'm part of the Bay Area Book Fest! I'm doing Family Day, which is—as the name implies—targeted for all ages. I'm on a panel on Saturday, May 31, at 11am called Fantastical Worlds and Beings with Zetta Elliott, Gloria Huang, and Avione Lee, with moderator Isis Asare. Afterwards, I'm free and happy to hang!

If you're in Washoe County, SAVE THE DATE! On June 21, I'm teaming up with local bookstore Thistle & Nightshade to do a Summer Reading Shindig! This is serving as a kids launch for The Glade but will involve local authors and more!

Upcoming Classes

Did you know I teach? I do! And I'm very excited to announce THREE upcoming opportunities!

Cultural Storytelling: Unlocking SFFH's Potential for Revolution (with the Carl Brandon Society)

Are you a BIPOC writer tired of the same old stories being told in the same old ways—even when they're by authors of color? I have a workshop that tackles exactly this. By combining Matthew Salesses's argument that all craft is cultural with NK Jemisin's imperative of creating revolutionary speculative fiction, I teach the idea of cultural storytelling, where writers of color's unique opportunity to tap into our cultural backgrounds allows us to really create something new.

Come join me on July 19-20! Register here!

Autumn Online Workshop: Novel (with Tin House)

Have time in early October to listen to some craft lectures, take a week-long workshop, and listen to some readings? Apply for the Tin House Autumn Online Workshop! This entire workshop is dedicated to speculative fiction, and I am so honored to be on the faculty.

​Learn more here! Applications open now!

Revision Workshop: Turning Writing into Art Using the Annotated Reverse Outline (with Clarion West)

So many writers hate revision, but I truly believe that's because they don't know how to approach it. Good news—I have a method that has helped me level up my craft in exciting ways. By looking at our work from a critical craft perspective—the tools of which I will give you!—we can give ourselves a roadmap for revision and make it feel less daunting.

This will be sometime in November; exact date TBA! Registration will be available soon!

Solidarity Corner

If you have organizations or causes you'd like me to spotlight here, please send those links my way. We get through these things when we do so together.

• ​A list of charities grouped by recent events around the world
• ​Community-supported initiatives for recent events, courtesy of author Sarah Gailey's Stone Soup newsletter​
• ​CARE provides both ongoing recovery care for those impacted by Hurricane Helene
• A list of crowdfunding campaigns for displaced Black families, displaced Latine families, displaced Filipino families, and displaced disabled people from the LA fires.

To help Palestinians facing genocide (14,000 children are on the brink of death from starvation as the settler state burns them alive in their homes):

• Information from the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund on supporting Palestinians
• ​UN organizations helping Palestinians
• ​Gaza Funds spotlights current crowdfunding campaigns. Operation Olive Branch does similar work. (There have been some allegations against OOB, so definitely do your homework.)
• The BDS Movement calls for specific brands to be boycotted in order to be effective in their targeting, but we can also be discerning individually. Here is another list of companies profiting off genocide. The only ethical consumption under capitalism is when we trace where the money goes.
• A list of Palestinian-owned brands and Palestinian goods​

Other groups undergoing atrocities:

• Some resources to help Lebanese communities affected by Israel's bombings
• ​UNHCR's donation page to help Syrian refugees
• The International Rescue Committee's page on Sudan
• ​Oman Tigray and the IRC's page on Tigray
• ​IRC page on the DR Congo
• The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has pages for these various conflicts

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