Ally Condie will be on tour with Margaret Stohl, appearing at The Kings English stop on May 14th.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

We finally have our answer, what happens after MATCHED. Ally Condie’s new book series has been announced, and it sounds amazing. According to GalleyCat this is what the book is about…

[The book] tells the story of Rio, who has waited her whole life for the opportunity to leave her safe, underwater city of Atlantia for life on the surface. But when her twin sister, Bay, shocks everyone and chooses Above first (only one family member may go), Rio is left with increasingly dangerous questions about the complex political and religious system constructed to govern the fragile divide between land and sea.

When is the book due out?

Matched trilogy author Ally Condie has inked a deal to publish two new novels with Dutton Children’s Books. The Penguin Young Readers Group imprint will release the first book in fall 2014.

From the Penguin Teen Facebook page: Ally Condie is taking fan questions about the Matched Trilogy, writing, books, etc. on Twitter at 8 PM EST! Tag them #allychat so Ally sees them! You can also use the hashtag to enter to win very cool exclusive Matched Trilogy swag!

The director is in negotiations to direct Matched, Disney’s adaptation of Ally Condie’s futuristic YA novel. Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot are producing via their Offspring Entertainment shingle.

Set in a future society where people are told what to read, what to watch, what to believe and who to love, the story centers on a young woman who rejects an arranged romance and chooses her own path.

For the rest, CLICK HERE.

It certainly seems that author Ally Condie is an overnight success. After all, she had publishers — and movie companies — bidding for her first mainstream novel for teens.

That’s not all: Foreign rights to Condie’s book, titled “Matched,” were sold to 30 countries before the book was even published — something that is extremely rare for an unknown author.

Published in 2010, “Matched” did, indeed, become an instant best-seller. Readers and critics alike raved about Condie’s elegant writing style and her ability to create both a darkly futuristic novel and compelling teenage characters — Cassia, Xander and Ky — who must figure out what to do when caught in the beginning of the breakdown of the controlled “Society” into which they had been born.

Buoyed by the success of “Matched,” Condie, the mother of four young children, wrote a sequel, “Crossed,” which was published in 2011 and also made the best-seller list. Now, Condie has just published the final book in her trilogy. Titled “Reached” (Dutton, $17.99, ages 12 up), the book currently is one of the top-selling children’s and teen novels in the nation.

So, with three best-selling books in three years, it appears that Condie, 34, has just suddenly hit the jackpot. In an interview before a recent program for teens in Bethesda, however, Condie is quick to correct the record, noting that she earlier had published five novels for teens with a small, religious-focused publisher, Deseret Book Company in her home state of Utah, before even beginning “Matched.”

For the rest of the article, CLICK HERE.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

There is not a day that has gone by that we are not thankful for all of you. It’s been a long year, but one of so many great experiences and a journey we can’t forget.

We hope that you are spending today with the people that you love and that you are having a great old time. Eat up, drink, be merry! 2013 is going to be amazing people, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Her favorite scene…

The opening scene of Matched was her favorite scene to write in the entire trilogy. She always knew what she wanted that scene to look like and it did not undergo a lot of changes between the first and final draft. (She describes is as “prom gone wrong.”)

On writing REACHED:

She would write a character until she could take the plot no further with that character, and then write the other two to catch up. Like, she would write Cassia, for example, and then write Xander and Ky up to that point in the story, then see from there who could move the plot forward and write that character until she could take the plot no further…

On writer’s block:

If she gets stuck or gets to a point where she is not having fun with the story she is writing, she will set it aside and work on a another story that she is writing — a story that is not for publication, just for her. Eventually she will be ready to get back to the main story. Or, she turns to the hamper she has in the room that’s full of socks, and tries to match them up until she is motivated and ready to continue  writing her story.

On shaping her characters:

One way she learns more about her characters is to step aside and write a scene for them where they are in real life. It helps the character to become clear when they are outside of the story and in a completely different setting.

And that’s just some of it! The crowd asked a lot of great questions and we really got some great insight into Ally. Afterwards, she signed books and took pictures with everyone who wanted to.

Now your turn: were you able to make it to any of the REACHED tour? Let us know about your experience in the comments or send us an email at thematcheddepartment@gmail.com.

Tour stop at Anderson’s in Chicago/Naperville. Photo credit: Cayt O’Neal.

I want to thank all of you wonderful readers for your supportive emails, comments, tweets, etc., this past week. They are always great, but this week they’ve been especially supportive, and I am so grateful. Being in the public eye is not an easy thing for me and you make it easier/less scary. You make it possible. I know it is a big investment of time to read a book/series, and I appreciate it more than I can say that you would be willing to give your time to these books and characters.

And for those of you taking the time to post reviews on your blogs, or on Goodreads, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc.–that’s an additional amount of time taken, and I am VERY grateful for that too.

Also, word-of-mouth cannot be overestimated–when you take the time to tell someone about a book you love (whether it’s mine or not!) that does the reading community and us as a culture a great deal of good. You’re letting people know that books and stories are worth their time.

THANK YOU.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and please know how grateful I am for each of you. It has been wonderful to have a chance to see some of you on tour last week, and I’m very excited to come to Houston, Miami, Bethesda/D.C., and Raleigh next week!

Love, Ally

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