Today we are excited to welcome to Cynsations, Nora Shalaway Carpenter, contributing editor of Onward (Charlesbridge Teen, 2026) a collection of sixteen short stories published on Feb. 24. While reading Nora’s latest anthology, I was reminded of Amitav Ghosh’s words: “The climate crisis asks us to imagine other forms of human existence—a task to which fiction is the best suited of all cultural forms.” Kirkus Reviews called this book “A powerful look at a shifting world,” and in a starred review, Shelf Awareness, mentions Onward “is a distinct and intriguing collection.” Nora’s climate fiction or Cli-Fi anthology touches science, history, and deeply personal human experiences curated to ensure that each short story stands on its own while still contributing to a larger narrative about our relationship with the environment.
Onward, a one-word title is accompanied by a striking cover image of an organic shaped hourglass—water flows into an idyllic pool with fish and abundant plant life—promising, yet the dark background creates a sense of foreboding urgency. What was the journey of arriving at this title and illustrator Violeta Encarnación’s cover design? Who in publishing hierarchy decides on the visual package of the book that seals the reader’s attention on first look?
The original title of this anthology was “Everything Needs To Change,” a Greta Thunberg quote. But with the necessary subtitle, it became too much of a mouthful. We agreed that the main title needed to be super short, one word if possible. I thought about what the real purpose of the book was—to encourage and empower readers to keep going and to become climate activists at some level. That’s how we arrived at Onward.
Every publisher has a different process for letting their authors (or not letting them) have input in the cover. I’m so grateful Charlesbridge included me from the beginning. I was sent six possible illustrators, and the editors and I all decided Violeta was the artist for this cover. Thankfully, she agreed!
Can you share the germination of the Onward seed idea? Did your agent submit a themed proposal as with a nonfiction book and a sample story to the publisher? How did you select the various pieces, did you commission authors or have an open call? Take us behind the scenes—how do you curate an anthology from scratch?
Onward had a long gestation period due to a number of personal and market-related factors. I was in the middle of writing my second novel, Fault Lines (Hachette, 2023), with a plot that revolves around fracking (something my family has firsthand experience with due to where I grew up in rural West Virginia) when I first had the idea to develop a proposal for a climate fiction anthology specifically written for Generation Dread— Generation Dread (Knopf Canada, 2022)—which also included an accessible, practical resource section.
I pitched the idea to several author friends with whom I was teaching at the time—Erin Entrada Kelly and Sarah Aronson. Once they signed on, I reached out to other authors I knew who were interested in climate justice and climate fiction.
Open calls are much more common for nonfiction and scholarly anthologies. Most fiction publishers I know advise against them. Because so many authors want to be part of fiction anthologies, you usually need some kind of connection to the editor. Even then, the acquiring editor usually has some authors they want to work with, too, so they also have some say.
Onward is your fourth anthology since your first Rural Voices (Candlewick, 2020) was published. How different or similar was your creative approach to curating Onward compared with the anthologies that came before?
In one way, my work on Onward has most resembled my work on Rural Voices, namely because I had a wonderful co-editor, Rocky Callen, for AB(solutely) NORMAL: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes (Candlewick, 2023) to split the work!
I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with brilliant acquiring editors for each anthology: Kaylan Adair for Rural Voices and AB(solutely) NORMAL, Sean Petrie for Spinning Toward the Sun: Essays on Writing, Resilience, & the Creative Life (Burlwood Books, 2025) and Julie Bliven and Natalia Vázquez Torres for Onward.
Spinning Toward the Sun is a nonfiction essay collection benefitting the victims of Hurricane Helene, so it’s a completely different beast, but of my three fiction anthologies, my creative approach has been fairly consistent, I think. In each case, I started with a theme. I then reached out to authors I knew were also interested in that theme, and those authors recommended people they knew. The list filled quickly. I gave each author free reign to write in whatever genre they preferred. Each piece then went through a series of one-to-four edit rounds with me before moving on to the final edit with acquiring editors, Julie and Natalia.
Trees are symbolic of life and longevity—the opening story titled, “The Care and Feeding of Mother” by Erin Entrada Kelly and the last one titled, “The Stealth Arborist” by Rachel Hylton deal with this primal human connection to trees and create a narrative circle. How did you pick these two intriguing bookends for your anthology?
I love this question! As I mentioned earlier, the authors had free reign to choose their genre and specific environmental story idea. As soon as I read Erin’s piece, I knew I wanted the book to open with it. Rachel’s piece felt like the perfect, hopeful story to bookend the collection. Another anthologist once told me that putting together the story order is like putting together a playlist. There are multiple ways you could arrange the pieces, but you keep shuffling them until you get an order that just feels right.
I enjoyed reading your piece of contemporary realistic fiction “Armadillo by Morning” which is written in close third person point of view, interwoven with stretches of effective dialogue as well as revealing monologue. What sort of revision process did this story entail? Do you have any craft tips for writing dialogue that rings true for YA audiences?
I’m so glad you enjoyed “Armadillo by Morning.” I think one of the reasons I have enjoyed anthologies so much is that the short story form is not my most comfortable structure. I am much more confident in and comfortable with the novel form, so short stories challenge me creatively. “Armadillo by Morning” was no exception.
In my writer brain, I see so many threads and subplots, and short stories don’t allow for nearly as many threads as novels, simply due to space. So at first I struggled for a while to figure out what the story was really about. Sure, there was an armadillo in a state it wasn’t supposed to be and yes, it was because of climate change. But what then? What was the meat of the piece? What did this mean for the main character? What else was she dealing with, and how could the climate piece parallel that? Julie really pushed me to get rid of any extraneous material and to keep tightening the narrative.
Regarding dialogue, the best thing to remember is that story dialogue is not the same as real life dialogue. Story dialogue should mimic real life dialogue, but with all the boring parts removed. Story dialogue should also be doing multiple things at once—conveying subtext, illuminating character or setting, or forwarding plot. It doesn’t need to do everything at once, but the best dialogue is always doing more than one thing at any given moment. This is something to be addressed in revision.
First, figure out what your characters need to say to one another, then keep tightening and revising until only the essential and interesting parts remain. And then, revise again to make sure your characters are also communicating through subtext.
Can you share with our readers the scope of work for a contributing anthology editor i.e. you versus that of an acquiring editor such as Julie Bliven responsible for this book? How do you navigate creative tension when you and an editor see things differently?
Ooh, this is another great question. From speaking to other anthologists, this seems to vary vastly depending on publishing house and acquiring editor, but I can certainly tell readers about my experience. I always tell people interested in putting together an anthology that they need to be prepared to spend as much time on it as they would on a novel. Your time will be spent differently, of course, mostly in helping bring out the best versions of other authors’ pieces, but it nonetheless requires a lot of time.
Plus, instead of working solely on your own schedule, you’ve got to accommodate the schedules of all the other contributors as well, most of whom will be working on other projects at the same time, too.
I’ve been fortunate to have had wonderful experiences with my acquiring editors. Most communication happened by email, but for any especially challenging parts of the compilation, we hopped on a phone call to figure out exactly what a particular story needed and how we could best convey that to the author. Regarding specific responsibilities, I worked directly with each contributor on revisions until I felt the piece was ready for Julie, who then sent back her own notes for a final revision.
As an author, what social media platforms do you use to promote your writing? How do you balance time spent online and time to craft stories? What would be your advice to a debut author in this matter?
Oof. I think everyone is aware that things are a bit of a mess in the industry right now, and that huge structural changes are happening.
In all honestly, social media doesn’t sell books.
My first novel The Edge of Anything (Hachette, 2020) ended up on a viral TikTok reel—over a million views—and I think it moved like twenty copies? Sure, if your book is repeatedly featured on BookTok for weeks, that will probably really help you out.
Social media can be super bad for a creator’s mental health and self esteem, so I recommend spending as little time as possible on there. Maybe set a timer for five minutes or something. It’s good to have at least one online presence so that people can find you—I use Instagram—but please post more than “buy my book” posts. No one wants to hear it, but how your book sells is outside of your control.
It depends mostly on 1) the publisher’s marketing, 2) on social events—what’s happening in the world the day your book releases? Are current events lining up with your book’s theme? Do most people have money to spend on books? Is a huge author also releasing their book on the same day, etc. and the biggest 3) plain old luck. Does a big influencer or film producer happen to read your book and fall in love with it? Does it hit certain lists, a type of luck in itself because the people making those lists have subjective tastes. Does it find the right people who spread it by word of mouth? Etc.
My best advice is to try really hard not to judge yourself by external factors. Celebrate every win, including the fact that you have a published book! Then focus on writing your next book.
Authors today rarely rely on just book sales—they stack multiple income streams. You and I have spoken about the side hustles from speaking engagements at conferences, workshops to being a writing coach, can you tell us about how you configured this jigsaw and what your current schedule holds?
[Deep Sigh]. The first thing to recognize is that “making a living” as an artist means different things to different people, depending on your cost of living, whether you have dependents or a financially contributing partner, etc. In my opinion, it’s disingenuous to suggest to aspiring authors that most writers can be financial independent on book publication alone.
When I was in graduate school, my advisors told me they make most of their income from teaching and speaking engagements, and that’s true for me as well. At the same time, the more of those events you do, the less time you have to write creatively, so you need to be incredibly mindful about what your goals are. For instance, someone who is writing to pay rent is in a much different situation that someone who has a partner to pay rent.
Last year I ended up traveling so much my creative writing time suffered, so this year I’m being much more mindful and selective about what non-writing opportunities I take on. My current patchwork quilt of income is comprised of 1) invited speaking events, 2) teaching events, 3) creative writing, 4) voice work.
My next teaching opportunity is during the August Whole Novel Workshop at Boyds Mills, which you can learn about here.
Anytime a student asks me for “writing life advice,” I tell them what I wish someone had told me way back when I was an undergraduate English major: take some business and marketing classes. Artists of all mediums are essentially small business owners, and it’s a folly not to prepare for that. Even now, I take as many webinars and classes about business strategies for artists as I can; that advice is really helpful.
It’s also about finding the kind of work that feeds you creatively that can also pay the bills. For example, I really enjoy public speaking and the energy exchange at those kinds of events, so teaching and speaking engagements are a natural fit for me. If public speaking doesn’t feed you, then don’t incorporate those into your revenue streams.
I’ve also had to pivot a lot and try new things. For example, after a number of people told me how good of a reader I was, I decided to take a shot at audio book narration. That has opened up in a way I never expected: I ended up voicing the main character in Diana Renn’s seven episode nature mystery audio series Rambling Roads, and am in the process of recording Nancy Werlin’s titles. It’s not writing, but it allows me to be creative in a different way, and I love it! Voice work, like anthology editing, was never something I imagined I’d be doing when I was in school, but both stemmed from opportunities that arose and I seized.
I think a lot of us long for color-by-number career advice, but for those of us who follow a creative career path, I truly think the best advice I can offer is to be open to pivoting. Take opportunities when they come. Not all will pan out, but some may change your life in the best ways.
A QR code to access resources at the end of this book—that fluid touch allows back matter to be updated in real time. Is this standard practice for most books being published now? How long will Charlesbridge review and maintain this database?
Different parts of the back matter were composed by different people, and it’s my understanding that the resources will remain on Charlesbridge’s website indefinitely. They also live on my website. The incredible discussion guide was created by Charlesbridge’s in-house education specialist, but the Climate Action Resources were pulled together by me. Several of the contributors and the acquiring editor Julie Bliven gave me wonderful resources that connected with their specific stories, and the Charlesbridge team made it look great on the website, but for the most part, that section was on me.
The Resources section was a critical piece of the book from the very beginning proposal stage. Stories are essential to inspire and empower readers, but taking that next action step of doing something is crucial to saving our planet. I wanted readers to have immediate, accessible resources not matter where they are in their journey.
A lot of us want to do more, but the climate crisis is so vast and overwhelming, it can be difficult to know where to begin. The point of the Climate Action Resources is to give you a “start here” helping hand. Initially, the Resources were going to be printed back matter, but the book would have been unwieldy! Plus, like you mentioned, the online version is easy to update and expand as needed.
Is there a particular story in this anthology that you would want every young person to read? And why?
This is like picking one of my children as my favorite, so it’s an impossible question that I can’t answer. Besides, I really think you need to read the collection as a whole to get the main effect; each story is sort of like a freshwater stream, lovely and nourishing in its own way. But when read together, they become a beautiful, gushing river that can erode even the fiercest stone.
As we talk today, the world is under the shadow of war and an ensuing destruction of the environment. What would you say to the non-believers who think there is no climate crisis unfolding around us?
You know, I wrote the story “Armadillo By Morning” partly to process the frustration I felt with the kind of people you’re describing. The character named Audrey is a high school senior who takes AP science classes and yet doesn’t believe in climate change. This enrages and flabbergasts main character Emaline, who at one point starts to insult Audrey. Emaline shares my attitude; sometimes I just want to shout at people: look at the evidence! How can you not believe in the truth happening around us? And yet, as another character points out to Emaline, no one ever changes their mind about a deeply held belief because someone made them feel stupid or yelled at them. On the contrary, psychology research has proven the very opposite: people will buckle down on their beliefs in those cases despite evidence.
Stories and connections change hearts and minds. Although I wish I was that magical, I don’t think there’s anything I (or anyone, for that matter) could say in one conversation that would reverse the opinion of someone who has been fed false news for years. Instead, it will take many conversations, many stories, many interactions with people who do believe in climate change. That’s why, as frustrating as it may sometimes be, we cannot simply write off everyone who doesn’t see the world as we see it. In certain extreme cases, perhaps that’s the only option, but in many instances, those of us who recognize climate change as a reality will be more effective if we continue to connect with climate deniers and relate to them as people.
You have to gain someone’s trust before what you believe or show them has any impact, so we need to start there: connecting to people on the human level. Ultimately, I guess, “Armadillo By Morning” is what I’d say to them. Hopefully, other stories (both published and those of their friends or neighbors) will pile up and begin to change their hearts.
Nora Shalaway Carpenter is the award-winning author of the novels Fault Lines and The Edge of Anything, the picture book Yoga Frog, and contributing editor of four anthologies. Her fiction has been named to NPR’s and Kirkus Reviews‘ Best of the Year lists, praised in the New York Times and People, and won the Green Earth Book Award, the Whippoorwill Award, and the Nautilus Book Award. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches at Boyds Mills’ (formerly the Highlights Foundation) Whole Novel Workshop. When not writing her own books, Shalaway Carpenter works as a voice actor and serves on the executive team of Kindling Words. Learn more at noracarpenterwrites.com.
Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She has been recognized as a Lee & Low New Visions Award finalist, winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature, and with scholarships from Boyds Mills/Highlights Foundation, Tin House, and a Djerassi Program writing residency. Her short story “Toxins” is part of ELA curriculum and her writing has appeared in Hunger Mountain, Thin Air Magazine and elsewhere. In previous avatars, Mitu was a textile and fashion designer, and has taught in India, the Middle East and the US. Mitu is an active member of CBIG (Children’s Book Illustrators Group, NYC) and SCBWI, New Jersey. When not writing or drawing, Mitu can be found cooking, upcycling clothes and sewing memory kimonos or building miniature doll houses from salvaged materials. Website: www.mitumalhotra.com Instagram: @mituart Bluesky: @mitumalhotra.bsky.social