New Voices: Shachi Kaushik & Susan Johnston Taylor Share Picture Book Advice

By Gayleen Rabakukk

Spotlight image: Shachi Kaushik celebrating Diwali with her new book.

I love sharing the success stories of Austin authors with Cynsations readers. Today I’m interviewing two debut picture book authors, Shachi Kaushik and Susan Johnston Taylor, about their paths to publication and advice for aspiring writers.

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Wearing Two Hats: Editors & Agents Who Write: Editor Irene Vázquez & Agent James McGowan

By Helen Kampion

Spotlight image: Irene Vázquez & Levine Querido Marketing Director Antonio Gonzalez Cerna

Most of us think that agents and editors just do agenting or editing. But what if they are also writers? Does this make a difference how our work is viewed? Evaluated? This three-part series asks agents and editors to share their thoughts and experiences on wearing two hats.

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New Voices: Jacquetta Nammar Feldman & Sean Petrie: From Poetry to MG Novels

By Gayleen Rabakukk

I’m thrilled to welcome two Austin/VCFA authors with debut middle grade novels. I met Jacquetta Nammar Feldman at an intensive at The Writing Barn, and Sean Petrie and I were Vermont College of Fine Arts students at the same time. It’s very exciting when passages you’ve read in a workshop become a published book!

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The Power of Poetry: Carol McAfee Talks to A.S. King About How Poems Are “The Truest Thing”

By Carol McAfee

I am excited to speak today with author A.S. King whose books about trauma and resilience are so powerful, they hit you like a lightning bolt.

Welcome here today, Amy. Please tell us about you as a writer. Your aesthetic.

I write weird-to-surrealist novels about young adults in order to help readers of all ages face and heal from their trauma.

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The Power of Poetry: Carol McAfee Talks to Jasmine Warga About How Poetry Can Heighten Emotion

By Carol McAfee

I am delighted today to speak with author Jasmine Warga, whose books have always deeply moved me, from her very first book, My Heart and Other Black Holes (HarperCollins, 2015) to her recent Other Words For Home (HarperCollins, 2021). As recent events unfold and we feel we swim in a choppy and dehumanizing sea,

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The Power of Poetry: Carol McAfee Talks to Martine Leavitt About How Poetry Can Improve Our Prose

By Carol McAfee

I am delighted today to speak with author Martine Leavitt whose books always make me cry in the way a sunset can make you cry, for the sheer beauty of it.

Martine, please tell us about you as a writer. Your aesthetic. What do you care most about that you want to share with the world?  

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In Memory: Arnold Adoff

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

Arnold Adoff—noted anthologist, poet, and author—died on May 7 at home in Yellow Springs, Ohio surrounded by family after a brief illness. He was 85.

Obituary: Arnold Adoff from Publishers Weekly by Shannon Maughan. Peek: “Children’s poet, author, and anthologist Arnold Adoff, widely noted for his inventive poetry style and for depicting African American experiences in his work,

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Guest Post: Mark Karlins & Nicole Wong on the Creation of Kiyoshi’s Walk

 

By Mark Karlins and Nicole Wong

Kiyoshi’s Walk, written by Mark Karlins and illustrated by Nicole Wong (Lee & Low, March 2021) is the story of a Japanese-American boy who wants to learn how to write poetry and of his relationship with his grandfather.

Both of us found great joy in creating this book.

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Guest Post: Janet Wong & Sylvia Vardell Take Us Behind the Scenes of their New Poetry Anthology

By Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

Janet: More than a year ago, back in February 2020 (although it seems like 2010…) we had an open call for poems for HOP TO IT: Poems to Get You Moving (Pomelo Books, 2020). Our plan was to curate an anthology of 75 poems that encourage movement—short poems to help “get the wiggles out.”

We first thought about doing a movement-themed book at the end of 2015,

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