Newbery Medal-winning author Tae Keller spoke at the Bellevue branch of the King County Library System on Sunday, Sept. 20.

She discussed "When Tomorrow Burns," her middle-grade novel set in Seattle during wildfire season.

The Washington Center for the Book selected Keller's novel to represent Washington state at the 2026 National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

The Bellevue appearance was part of the festival's "Festival Near You" program, held in person and online via Zoom.

Keller, who lives in Seattle, told the audience the book grew from her own experience moving to the Pacific Northwest.

"The first year I moved to Seattle, the wildfire smoke was terrible," Keller said at the event, as reported by the Northwest Asian Weekly.

"The experience stuck with me, and I knew I wanted to write a book set during wildfire season."

The novel follows three middle school students on a quest to find a mysterious book of prophecies as wildfires pollute their hometown. Random House Books for Young Readers published it.

The novel earned more national recognition on Sept. 15, when it was longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It was one of 10 titles chosen from 290 submissions.

Finalists will be announced Oct. 6, with winners revealed at the 77th National Book Awards ceremony on Nov. 18.

The Washington Center for the Book, a program of the Office of the Secretary of State and the Washington State Library, also selected "Positively Uncivilized" by Rena Priest as the adult book representing the state. Keller called her selection "an honor" in a statement on the center's website.

Keller grew up in Waipahu, outside Honolulu, and is part Korean and part white. She moved to Seattle in 2020 after living in Philadelphia and New York City.

Her mother, novelist Nora Okja Keller, wrote the adult novels "Comfort Woman" and "Fox Girl." Keller told the Bellevue audience she wasn't allowed to read her mother's books as a child but watched her write and learned from her. Nora Okja Keller still reads her daughter's drafts.

Tae Keller won the Newbery Medal for her 2020 novel "When You Trap a Tiger." Her first book, "The Science of Breakable Things," came out in 2018.

She told the audience she is working on her next middle-grade book, with a first draft due to her editor the week after the Bellevue event.