Cynsations

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Gareth Hinds by Jules from Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. Peek: “…you realize what you wrote is awful and you have to fix it — and that can be quite difficult and time-consuming and is something that continues to give me a hard time. Hence my lack of original projects. Adapting a text is easy for me and also exciting, because I can’t wait to illustrate it.”

Driving Book Trailers by New Locations — at Libraries by Linda Johns at From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors. Peek: “…a great place to put a book trailer, whether you’re an author, a teacher, a parent, a young reader (or any age reader). All you need is a library card…”

12 Fundamentals of Writing The Other (and The Self) by Daniel José Older from BuzzFeed. Peek: “…even as adults, we’re barely figuring how to deal with negative imagery. Kids haven’t been given any of the tools we have and they see it more than anyone else.”

National Picture Book Writing Week: “…guests who will be discussing the art and craft of writing/illustrating picture books, from debut to veteran authors plus a prominent agent and editor with their industry advice!”

Poetry in the Lives of Children & Young Adults by Dr. Sonia Alejandra Rodriguez from Latinxs in Kid Lit. Peek: “…at first, youth are very hesitant about reading and writing poetry because it’s
‘too hard’ to understand or there are ‘too many rules’ to follow, but they are then surprised and even excited when we read poems by the likes of Francisco X. Alarcón, Pat Mora, or Juan Felipe Herrera.”

How to Write a Poem in 10 Easy Steps by Skila Brown from Middle Grade Ninja. Peek: “It’s National Poetry Month! Which is very exciting if you’re a poet or a lover of poetry. And probably doesn’t interest you at all if you consider yourself to be neither. But if you’re a reader…and certainly a writer…you should be celebrating too!”

Change, Compromise, Dig Your Heels In: Dealing with the Editorial Report by Juliet Mariellier from Writer Unboxed. Peek: “Your editor may make suggestions you’re not sure about. Maybe you agree that there’s a problem, but you don’t like the solution she’s suggested.”

Cao Wenxuan: Chinese Author Wins Hans Christian Anderson Award from BBC News. Peek: “…his 2005 work Bronze and Sunflower, set during the Cultural Revolution. It tells the tale of a young city girl, Sunflower, who accompanies her artist father when he is forcibly sent to the countryside to labour among peasants, as millions of Chinese were in the 1960s and 70s.” See also Helen Wang (his translator) on Children’s Book Translation from Cynsations.

This Week at Cynsations

SCBWI Bologna at Cynsations

More Personally

I love spring in Austin and so look forward to this writing weekend. The third round of VCFA packets will appear next week (go, advisees, go!), so it’s a window to focus on my own manuscript. I have two North Texas SCBWI critiques to tackle first, but I’m enjoying them, too.

Have I mentioned how much I love being an author-teacher?

Thanks to everyone who sent in questions for me to answer. They were thoughtful and fierce. (What’s going on out there, readers?) I’ll pick, say, 10 or 12 to post soon.

Link of the Week: An Open Letter to Our North Carolina Readers from School Library Journal. Peek: “We will spread kindness and inspire compassion and hope, as we believe books, in their best moments, always have and always will.” See also 269 Children’s Book Authors & Illustrators Oppose North Carolina’s Anti-LGBT Law from The Charlotte Observer.

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