Meet our New Intern: Shayanna!

Hi everyone! My name is Shayanna, and I am BookThug’s newest intern for the next two months! I’m super excited to be working with Jay, Hazel, and the rest of the BookThug gang. To tell you a bit about myself, I just finished classes at Centennial College in the Publishing program. Yay! I found it to be a very rewarding program that taught me lots of practical skills that I am able to use effectively in the Publishing industry. The reason I took this program was actually by chance. Since High School my dream career has been to become an author, and after I finished my Associates Degree, I realized that I could potentially make that dream into a reality. So I applied for a creative writing course at the University of South Florida (USF) and I got accepted, but I couldn’t pay for it with only one scholarship. So I had to defer my acceptance and I took a year off and started dog walking (which is an amazing job!) After my year off I decided to go back to school and because I lived so close to Centennial, I thought that it would be a great place to further my education. So, I applied for the Journalism program and with a last minute push to keep my options open from my aunt, I also applied to the Publishing program. After doing the assessments for both programs I realized that Publishing is where I fit best, and it would be great to learn how to publish a book if I was ever going to write one.

My favourite book to date would have to be a Young Adult novel by Jandy Nelson called I’ll Give You the Sun. It was the kind of book that makes you think that writing well wasn’t in the cards for you, because you could never create anything as beautiful as the words in that book. After reading it I wanted to be someone more well-intentioned, or just change the world in a way that makes it better. That book made me crazy, it still makes me crazy, but in a good way. In a way that inspire me to be a better me.

Along with that, my favourite genre to read would be contemporary or fantasy in Young-Adult or Middle grade. I am a very nostalgic person, I love re-living old memories and feelings, so that’s probably why there are some middle grade books–––like Percy Jackson, and The Series of Unfortunate Events–––that I can’t let go of. There is something about the innocence and good-naturedness of books like these. Reading was a key factor in making my childhood more enjoyable and I would like it to be a safe-haven for all children who need it.

BookThug is amazing. They constantly advocate for their authors, making sure they have the best publicity––through social media, events, and online campaigning. They also champion the book through design and editing in the best possible way: ensuring that the author is pleased with their finished project. They try to push the limits with literature looking more towards the content of the book rather than trying to fit it into a specific market or branding. While working for Jay and Hazel I’d love to use all the skills I learned in my program and put them to good use. I appreciate that I get to work for a company that is on the smaller side, because I will be able to do so many different things in various departments. So far I’ve been to a sales conference and I’ve written a newsletter! Being able to learn all the ins and outs of what a publishing company does as a whole to produce a finished product is something I am very much looking forward to. I’m sure it will give me a wide range of skills to which I can bring to a potential job in the future.

So this is my warm hello to the BookThug Nation. I will thoroughly enjoy being in communication with all of you.