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Three Balls of Wool, Maker Spaces, and Cultural Differences
A review of Three Balls of Wool (Can Change the World) recently appeared in American Craft magazine, the first review I’ve received in a publication not normally devoted to books. I’m pleased because...
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I Join Storystorm 2018
In fall 2015 I was busy attending conferences to promote my just-published Surviving Santiago, and when November and NaNoWriMo rolled around, I knew I didn’t have the time to produce 50,000 words of a...
View ArticleWriting for the Market, or A Bad Volunteer Job
I have thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the response to Laurie Morrison’s guest post, “Persisting in the Writing Life.” Along with comments on my blog and on Facebook, I’ve had several face-to-face...
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The 2018 We’re the People Summer Reading List: Filled With Great Books for...
For the past four years, I’ve been part of a team to select books for the We’re the People Summer Reading list. This list features recommended titles by indigenous authors and authors and/or...
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Olive the Sheep’s U.S. Tour!
Eighteen months ago, I got an email from Karen Boss, an editor at Charlesbridge Publishing, inviting me to work on an exciting new project. It was a book for young children, originally published in...
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I Take My Turn for Translation
When I moved to New York City full-time in winter 2015, I began attending meetings of the PEN Translation Committee. I had already participated in the activities of the PEN Children’s Committee for...
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Fresh Perspectives in Indie Picture Books: The Silent Nightingale
Although I didn’t sign up for the Winter Conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators last year in New York City, I made my way to the Midtown Manhattan conference hotel one...
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Lisbon’s Book Fair Expands
Yesterday I returned from a month in Portugal, and my shorter trip — we usually stay closer to two months and take side trips within Europe — meant that I only had one day at the Feira do Livro this...
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Films for the Resistance: The Edge of Democracy
“Brazilian democracy and I are almost the same age. And I thought that in our thirties we would both be standing on solid ground.” So begins Brazilian director Petra Costa’s newest documentary, The...
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Another Star for Translation, and a Bookends Panel
Ever since I moved to New York City in 2015, I’ve looked forward to the Brooklyn Book Festival, held each year on a weekend at the end of September. I presented on a translation panel my first year in...
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Translators of Children’s Books Take Center Stage
This Tuesday, June 2 at 1:30 pm ET, the “Translating the Future” conference turns to children’s books, with a conversation between Lawrence Schimel and Daniel Hahn that I am moderating, titled...
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We Are KidLit 2020 Summer Reading List: Now More Than Ever
The police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and the murder of Ahmaud Aubery by racist vigilantes in Brunswick, Georgia, have galvanized a nation to protest not...
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A Change of Course (with Writing Advice)
I didn’t always write fiction. After losing a contract for a YA novel many years ago, I decided to take a sure thing — an offer on a nonfiction proposal — instead of trying to revise and submit to...
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Despite Challenges, the 2021 We Are Kid Lit Summer Reading List is Here!
It has been a challenging year for everyone, including us educators. Last year’s release of the We Are Kid Lit Summer Reading List took place amid protests over the police killings of unarmed Black...
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Triple Threat!
My little blog has become a bit dusty over the past two weeks, mainly because I’ve been in the revision cave with the first round edits for TORCH, due on August 6. I was planning to talk a little bit...
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The One That Got Away
Like many writers, I have agent friends who are not my agent. (In fact, not representing an author is often a good thing for a friendship.) As the friend of several agents, I sometimes hear about “the...
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Pulling My Characters Together
In less than two months two of my books — my first since 2015 — will launch. In past years I’ve organized Lego book launches for my own and others’ books as well as presenting at an in person launch...
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Runaway Bunny
Though best known for her bedtime story Goodnight Moon, Margaret Wise Brown wrote many other popular children’s books, including the one that would become the guiding story of my family, The Runaway...
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Stellar News for a Picture Book Debut
I’ve had to wait to add this post with great news — as I’ve written in the past, much of publishing consists of having to wait to announce news — but today is the day! My debut picture book, Ways to...
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Geeking Out at nErDcampPA
Now that it’s summer, school’s out and camp is in session. It’s not just for children either! For teachers and school librarians, many states offer nErDcamp, and because most of these are now hybrid or...
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