Not too far off the beaten track in Austin, visitors are welcomed to The Writing Barn retreat center, a place where deer wander the meadows, the buildings are air conditioned and rooms are filled with bookshelves. There, thirteen Native participants gathered the weekend of Aug. 4 to Aug.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Patricia Morris Buckley on the We Need Diverse Books Native Intensive »
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!
Continue Reading New Voices: Jacquetta Nammar Feldman & Sean Petrie: From Poetry to MG Novels »
Above image: downtown Austin from Lady Bird Lake, photo by Ron Rabakukk
Today I’m chatting with two debut Austin authors with very different books, but both feature strong female protagonists who were envisioned by creators dedicated to letting readers see themselves in stories.
Evan Griffith‘s picture book biography Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power,
Continue Reading New Voices: Evan Griffith & Sajni Patel on Reflecting Strength in Stories »
We writers know well the lessons of perseverance.
Neil Gaiman said: “This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy. And that hard.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe said: “Never give up,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Michele Weber Hurwitz on Being Pushed to Persevere »
There are craft books on writing and parenting books galore, but nothing on how to be a “Writer Mama.”
I’ve watched many friends make the transition, somehow blurry-eyed making it to the page in between breast feeding and diaper changes.
I’ve witnessed my friends with kids in elementary school put in longer hours, Continue Reading Guest Post: Bethany Hegedus on Writer Mama Survival Guide »
Roberto Penas
Lee & Low Books recently announced Roberto Penas of Olathe, Kansas won the 17th annual New Voices Award.
His manuscript, “Pedro Flores: The Toymaker,” is a biography of the inventor of the modern yo-yo.
In the early 1900s,
Continue Reading Interview: Lee & Low New Voices Award Winners »
In early 1999, I was a graduate student in the children’s literature program at Simmons College in Boston.
I had a work study job at the Simmons social work school, mailing out applications and entering information into a computer, and that’s where I was on the morning of February 16th—sitting at someone else’s desk,
Cynthia Leitich Smith & Jean Reidy at The Writing Barn
By Jean Reidy
I’ve been tackling a new genre – the middle grade novel. And after hammering out the latest draft of a novel-in-progress and getting solid feedback, I was excited to put the “work” into a workshop.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Jean Reidy on Choosing a Writer’s Workshop »
