StoryForce

Rockin' on The Prophet's Birthday

2010-08-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

When traveling in Syria my friend Janet and I visited the town of Ma'loula, a village cut into rock about an hour from Damascas known for its preservation of the Aramaic language, the language Christ spoke. The place has a long history, which includes the refuge of Thecla, a woman who led people to Chrisitanity as a follower of St. Paul. A larger-than-life statue of The Virgin Mary overlooks the valley and a monastery on the mountaintop celebrates Mass every morning in Aramaic. Please see my website for a video of the local priest reciting the Lord's Prayer in this ancient language.

The day we arrived in Ma'loula, the townspeople were busy setting up chairs, shade tarps and mega speakers. Soon, rocked-up versions of Sufi music echoed off the bluffs. As we passed by the crowd, men waved to us to join them, handing us small cups of hot tea and bags of roasted nuts. They directed Janet and I to the women's side of the space. Women covered in veils and others wearing black chadors stood up to greet us, kissing us on both cheeks, and others reached out to squeeze our hands. We could hardly hear their greetings over the music. We soon learned that we were in the midst of a birthday celebration for The Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. "We're celebrating about a month late," someone with English told us. "because of the weather."

The mix of religions coexisting in this town felt mirrored in Damascas and every other town we visited in Syria, as if everyone is equally appreciative and proud of a shared rich cultural heritage.

For more information visit: www.MeghanNuttallSayres.com

Shrines of Damascas, An Interfaith Experience

2010-06-09T16:16:00.000-07:00

When traveling in Iran, Turkey and Syria I have witnessed the convivial atmosphere of people of different faiths living together. In Damascas, my friend Janet and I came upon this shrine in the old Jewish Quarter for Say'yeda Roqayya, The Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter. It would be one of many Muslim, Christian or Jewish shrines we would visit during our travels in Syria, including those of St. Paul, Saint Thecla (a convert of Paul), John the Baptist, Ibn Arabi, among others. I was told that the neighborhood of Roqayya's shrine is home to many Shiite Muslims from Iran.

After borrowing proper robes and head covering, my friend and I were welcomed into the mosque and the women's sanctuary beside Roqayya's tomb. Here pilgrims chatted and wept together as they paid homage to this revered saint. The women were delighted that we took the time to visit with them. Many hugged us, kissed us on both of our cheeks and asked to take photos with us. The video below will give you a feel for the mood of this moment.

Walking in the footsteps of these holy people was a treat for me as I have written characters based on some of them in a collection of stories Daughters of the Desert: Tales Of Remarkable Women From the Christian, Jewish and Muslim Traditions, which I coauthored with Storyforce authors Claire Rudolf Murpy and Mary Cronk Farrell. For more information and images about the interfaith aspects of my trip, please visit the pages on my website for this book as well as the Middle East section.
www.MeghanNuttallSayres.com

Storyteller of Damascas

2010-05-10T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from Turkey and Syria, the setting of my novel-in-progress. While in Damascas I met Abu Shadi, a storyteller who has been carrying on the tradition in the Coffee Shop Ainfora beside the Ummayid Mosque. (Among other things, this mosque houses a shrine for John the Baptist.) Since time immemorial Arab men gathered in tea houses to drink tea, smoke waterpipes and talk. Even under Ottoman rule they continued to maintain this aspect of their culture though the cafes were subject to scrutiny by their new rulers. Men whose wives were giving birth waited in the tea house among friends who would congratulate or console them, should the baby or mother die.

Storytellers, like series writers today, always ended their tales with a cliff hanger, so people would return to the coffee house the next night. Check out the Middle Eastern pages on my website in the coming weeks for more photos of this most expressive and conversant storyteller as well as to view a video of Abu Shadi telling his story.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres
www.meghannuttallsayres.com

Good book night

2010-02-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Another First Friday book discussion. Among the books we liked this month:

Going Bovine - Libba Bray
Jumped - Rita Williams-Garcia
Rapunzel's Revenge - Shannon Hale
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel - Siena Cherson Siegel
Princess Ben - Catherine Murdoch
Charles & Emma - Deborah Heiligman
When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - Grace Lin
Rock 'n Roll Soldier - Dean Ellis Kohler

Thanks, Claire, for hosting.

The Timekeeper's Moon

2010-01-16T14:22:00.000-08:00

I will have to stop saying I never win anything. Recently, I won a Native American dinner prepared from authentic recipes and ingredients. It was delicious and interesting! The same could be said of The Timekeeper’s Moon, by Joni Sensel. I won an advance copy of the book in a contest over at Joan Stradling’s blog .
I loved it! I did not want to put it down and I stayed up late to finish it. A sequel to Sensel’s The Farwalker’s Quest, Timekeeper’s Moon, is set in a world far in the future when all technology has vanished from the world. The people developed innate talents to survive after “the Blinding” a war that left everyone blind.
Ariel, the only remaining one with “Farwalker” talent is a wonderful character. She hears the moon calling her and feels compelled to follow. With a mysterious map and her feet to guide her, Ariel sets out on a dangerous journey to save the vault of knowledge she discovered in the first book.
The writing is beautiful, original and suspenseful. The world is fascinating and well-crafted. It’s hard for me to say which of the books I like best, but if I had to choose, I would say the relationships between the characters in Timekeeper’s Moon tips the balance. They feel so real they practically thrum off the page.
Another thing I will have to stop saying, is that I don’t like fantasy. Joni Sensel, you captured my heart with this one.

Kidlit Contest

2010-01-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Associate agent Mary Kole, from Andrea Brown Literary Agency, is offering a chance to submit the first 500 words of your completed MG or YA novel over at her blog’s “Novel Beginnings” contest!

The prize?

Grand Prize Winner: A 15 page critique
First Place: A 10 page critique
Second Place: A 5 page critique
Third Place: A 2 page critique
Honorable Mention(s): A critique of the first page of your novel

Deadline for entries: Sunday, January 31st at 11:59 p.m., Pacific Time.

Read the details of the contest and submit at Kidlit Contest

Talking Books

2010-01-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to Mary Cronk Farrell for organizing a monthly book-talk group. Last Friday, a congenial mix of teachers, librarians and writers gathered to chat about recently read books we loved. Among those discussed:

Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg, YA

Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, HS/adult

The White Giraffe by Jill St. John, MG

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, MG, YA

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, MG, YA

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, YA

Pagan's Crusade by Catherine Jinks, YA

Columbine by Dave Cullen, HS/adult

A Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, HS/adult

Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberg, adult

The Help by Katheryn Stockett, adult

--cross-posted to Under the Covers

India's Children's Book Trust

2009-11-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

Seated with me is Ira Saxena, Secretary of the Associaition of Writiers and Illustrators for Children in New Delhi. She is also a volunteer for India's Children's Book Trust, an organization that publishes books for children in hundreds of local dialects and sponsors literacy programs along with IBBY through out India.

Manorama Jafa, the Vice President of AWIC invited me via email before coming to India to participate in their monthly meeting in which twenty or more writers attended. On this particular day, they celebrated their first Hindi dictionary for children, a book the Trust had published many years ago, but had been bought by a major publisher. Royalty checks were distributed to several of the authors who were present.

On a second visit to the Children's Book Trust, Ira Sazxena interviewed me for an article she will write for Indian IBBY Journal. Our discussion roamed from the craft of writing to the underlying theme of Sufism in my novel Anahita's Woven Riddle and our favorite translations of Persian poetry, which Ira grew up reading. Her mother translated the Sufi poetry of Omar Khayyam into Hindi. Ira, a child psychologist and children's book author is presently at work on a novel set in 1800's India with an environmental theme. "Did you know the world's first tree hugger was in India?" she said. I had never given much thought to the origins of this kind of activism and assumed it may have been in the California redwoods. I look forward to reading this novel. For more details about the Children's Book Trust, its volunteers, and my trip to India, please check out the Central Asian pages on my website www.meghannuttallsayres.com

Making it Work

2009-11-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

I am secretly (maybe not so secretly) addicted to Project Runway. Sometimes, watching the show, I've thought, what if there was such a contest for writers? Would I get to the writers' equivalent of fashion week if required to produce a well constructed, cleverly plotted tale in a genre outside my comfort zone?

Last weekend, I attended Weekend on the Water, a three day writing retreat hosted by the Western Washington SCBWI region. During the course of "Going Deeper" into plot, character, setting and voice, we attendees did a lot of writing exercises. In one, we wrote a description of a gothic cemetery, then were asked to re-write that description, adding a teenage girl who had just been asked on her dream date.

It was as if Ruta Rimas morphed into Heidi Klum, asking me to make a red-carpet ballgown from plastic grocery sacks.

But the point of that exercise, and everything else presented by Ruta, assistant editor with Balzar+Bray/HarperCollins, and Cheryl Klein, senior editor at Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, was to explore our writing more deeply. How well do we know our characters? How does setting affect their behavior? Does the voice we've chosen bring the reader close enough to the story?

The two extraordinary editors presented for a total of five and a half hours each during the weekend, as well as providing first page intensives for everyone. And retreat organizers Joni Sensel, Laurie Thompson and Jolie Stekly did an outstanding job keeping us on time and comfortable. I left with a new feeling of energy for revising my novel, and deeper insights into the creative process.

--cross-posted from Under the Covers

Wake up

2009-11-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed hardly anyone pays attention anymore?

So many conversations resemble narcissists passing in the park, each chatting so busily about themselves they don’t notice the other isn’t listening. And the dialogues that consist of periodically posting links on Facebook to “Check out my latest blog".

It's the writer’s job to pay attention. But today anybody can be a writer. Anybody with a computer, internet hook-up and some tech knowledge can post a blog. Anyone with the gumption and money can self-publish a book. With the explosion of information on the web, we don’t even have to think for ourselves. We can cut and paste other people’s arguments and opinions into e-mails and send them to all our friends and relatives. None of this requires paying attention.

Good writing requires not only paying attention, but the time and facility to step back from what we see and hear to get a bigger picture. We need the patience to wait for corollaries to appear and the courage to also pay attention with the inner eye. For it is the synthesis of the world without and the world within that gives our words the weight of truth.

We can be blinded by busyness, deafened by the minutia of a day’s distractions. If we keep moving fast enough we can outrun the demons. If we have enough difficulties to worry about, we needn’t pay attention to the simple, the beautiful, or that which we know to be real and true, but can approximate only through story.

It’s a noble journey to pay attention, a great trust to name oneself a writer.

Readers Humble Writer

2009-10-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

A writer is often humbled. An honest critique from a writing group bites, but helps improve craft. A rejection by an editor hurts, but offers a chance to decide: Have faith and stand by one's story? Or re-think and revise?

Then one day, without warning, a book you have sent out into the world goes somewhere unexpected and drops a pebble in a pond radiating ripples far beyond your expectations. This humbles in an entirely different way. It takes all the humility out of humble and replaces it with gratitude.

My middle-grade historical novel Fire in the Hole! found a home with some very unique college students. At Gonzaga University, better known for its Zags basketball team, a thriving English as a Second Language program caters to students from all corners of the globe. The department chose my novel for reading comprehension class. Instructors like the book because it has an accessible reading level for students learning English, but introduces new and varied vocabulary and a compelling story.

The novel details events in Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Silver Mining District, where labor war exploded in the 1890’s. Students from China, Ukraine, Iran, Columbia, and Korea learned American history as well as English words like dynamite, ciders, foothill, canyon, mineshaft, pincushion, seize and surrender.

Invited to the class, I expected their curiosity about time and place. I was surprised by their many questions about my characters, and how much they cared about them. One student wrote a song, with verses to cover the plot from beginning to end. While the class sang, small groups of students acted out the scenes.

I joined their fun and laughter, while wiping tears from my eyes.

Books, Music, Sun!

2009-10-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Galway, Ireland! I am here to participate in Children's Books Ireland's Book Festival. I will read at the Westside Library at 10am and the Ballybane Library at 11:30 on Thursday Oct 15th. I am looking forward to these events and excited to meet local readers.

Meanwhile, I am at work on a new novel. But given the stellar weather, I am a little distracted and want to share the moment with you in this video. The music is by Luka Bloom. He gave a fantastic performance in the Town Hall last week. Look for his new cd Eleven Songs....

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Children's Lit in Ireland and India

2009-09-19T10:31:00.000-07:00

In October I will be visiting Ireland and particiapting in their Children's Books Ireland Book Festival 2009. Please check back here for more details. I am also off to India in November where I will be meeting with children's book authors connected with IBBY India. I look forward to introducing you to them on my blog in the near future!

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Weaver's Perspective on Iran

2009-09-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Friends of the Moscow Library invited me to speak on Iran this August about my recent experience weaving on Iran's First World Peace Carpet and my novel set in Iran Anahita's Woven Riddle. To learn more about the Peace Carpet, a project sponsored by UNESCO, please check out the Iran or Weaving pages on my website.

Modeling this Iranian Qashqa'i nomadic headpiece is Homa Assefi, who attended my talk. Many thanks to Homa! This three-pieced covering evolved over many generations. The blue beanie has been worn for centuries along with the black sequined veil. In the 1960's teenagers added the tie-dye like scarves.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Celebrating Wetlands in Moscow, Idaho

2009-09-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

This August I was invited to the Palouse-Clearwater Environmental Institute in Moscow, Idaho, to read from my children's book The Shape of Betts Meadow: A Wetlands Story. Shown here is Anika reading from Betts Meadow. Check out the video of her and other listeners' spirited participation, puppets and all, on my Betts Meadow pages.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Another great conference!

2009-09-12T23:26:00.001-07:00

Many thanks to the organizers of the Washington-Idaho region for putting on another great conference. Mary Kate Castellani, Assoc. Editor of Walker Books, YA novelist Terry Trueman, Author/Illustrator Richard Jesse Watson and middle grade novelist Judy Gregerson all shared their expertise on the craft and business of writing. All of us who attended appreciate the time and generosity of these great presenters. See you next year! --Mari

Author Interview

2009-08-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Check out a recent blogger interview with StoryForce author Meghan Nuttall Sayres on Books and Movies' Literary Road Trip.

Interview submitted by Carrie Kitzmiller

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as a writer? Was it something you always wanted to do?

Meghan: “Writing was not something I went to school for or even thought about until after graduate school. However, while taking courses in political science my papers tended to morph toward qualitative essays. The first piece I ever published was about a rock art restoration project in Castle Dale, Utah. The article was so long, and unedited, that the newspaper there had to publish it in two parts. But, that project led to a children’s book on rock art, which was bought by the press that published my picture book The Shape of Betts Meadow: A Wetland’s Story.”

Where do you get the ideas for your writing?

Meghan: “From all the exploring and stumbling around I do in life. My ideas might come from people I meet, a far away place or time, even an unusual artifact that seems to find me.”

Read more at: http://booksandmovies.colvilleblogger.com/2009/08/27/literary-road-trip-author-meghan-nuttall-sayres/

Upcoming Events

2009-08-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Monday Aug 24rth, 10:30am, Clear Water Institute Books in the Park, Moscow, Idaho. I will read from my book The Shape of Betts Meadow: A Wetlands Story.

Tuesday Aug 25th, 7pm, Moscow Library (sponsored also by Book People, an independent bookstore in Moscow, Idaho), Iran: A Weaver's Perspective about my recent trip to Iran to weave on a World Peace Carpet and discussion on Anahita's Woven Riddle, my novel about a nomadic carpet weaver.

Monday September 14th, 6:30-9pm, University of Utah Life Long Learning Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. Iran Experiential Class.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Contest at Eye Feathers

2009-08-06T08:41:00.000-07:00

I'm on the verge of finishing a major revision of my MG novel. Despite temperatures in the high 90's for the last week, I have persevered at my keyboard with no air conditioning. I've been writing seven-days a week since the beginning of July and making great progress. However, this morning the procrastination bug bite me.

That's how I stumbled upon this contest over at Tara McClendon's blog Eye Feathers. Tara is a freelance writer currently working on a young adult novel about fairies. She also works as an editor for InspirationForWriters.com. Here's what she says about her first contest: "I’m giving away a 10,000 word edit, which equates to a $300 value. I’m going to host this for an entire month, so I’ll draw a winner on September 1, 2009."

I will have my revision complete by September 1st. Just in time to win an edit from Tara! See, procrastination isn't so bad after all.

Writing Fiction About the Prophet Muhammad, continued...

2009-06-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

Here is a view into one of my personal hurdles while working on this collection. I had initially set out to write a story about how the Prophet Muhammad’s wife Khadijeh supported him both financially and spiritually. I found the makings of the plot in one of the hadith’s (an historic account of the Prophet’s life), which explained how difficult of a time Muhammad had when he was receiving his revelations. He lost sleep and questioned himself. From this premise, I wrote a story full of detail and tension. Months slipped by as I worked hard at pulling quotes of the Prophet from the Qur’an and using them for his dialogue. When finished I sent my draft to our Muslim proof readers with much anticipation. Their response was less enthusiastic than I had hoped for. “You cannot not describe the Prophet as having ‘walnut brown hair,’” my consultant said. “You should not imply that Muhammad suffered any strife, and, it is disrespectful to put words into the Prophet’s mouth.”

Hmm, I thought, dropping my pen. Now what? How do I write a story without the conflict that is needed to move a story as well as keep it appealing for the reader? And how am I to write a story about a couple, if I cannot let one of them speak? There has been much written and said in the news, Publishers Weekly and the blogs about recent books and cartoons that have insulted Islam. The debates rage for and against the notion that the world deserves free expression. In my case, I chose to withhold my particular interpretation of this event in Muslim history and scrap my story out of respect. I then set out to write another one. In my view, the point of pulling this collection together was to remind those of the monotheistic faiths that we have common stories we can build upon, which can help bring our people in a closer communion of spirit. Why thwart that possibility by publishing something that might likely offend?

I learned much from the stories of my co-writers Claire Rudolph Murphy, Mary Cronk Farrell, Sarah Conover and Betsy Wharton. This project continues to feed and inform my spiritual life and creative impulses. To my delight, I have since discovered on my travels to the Middle East and Central Asia that women (more so than men) throughout history have been weaving their own interpretations of scriptural stories into carpets, long before they knew how to read and write. I have literally found new and actual threads of these ancient parables to explore. Perhaps a nonfiction story of the richness of monotheistic and other spiritual cultures is on my horizon---illustrated, of course, with rugs.

Photo: I found this image on an Iranian rug of Moses in the reed basket in the Tehran Carpet Bazaar.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Writing Fiction About the Prophet Muhammad

2009-06-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

President Barack Hossein Obama’s recent speech on Cairo was an inspiration on a great many of levels, including its literary aspects in which he quoted from the Qur’an, the Talmud and the Bible. Obama called for a need to educate America about Middle Eastern cultures and Islam. As an author of a novel set in Iran, which celebrates the beauty of Islam, the depth of Sufi poetry, and the splendor of hand woven and naturally-dyed carpets from that region, I have long been on the path of offering young readers a window into the Muslim world that delights rather than fosters fear.

In 2003, I joined four other children’s authors at Aunties Bookstore in Spokane, Washington, to launch our collection of short stories Daughters of the Desert: Tales of Remarkable Women From the Christian, Jewish and Muslim Traditions. We introduced our visions of women such as the Judeao-Persian Queen Esther who saved her people; the Jewish prophetess and older sister of Moses, Miriam, who danced with women in praise of God; the unnamed, Christian Canaanite women Eleni, who pleaded with Jesus to heal non Jews; Lydia the purple dye master who supported St. Paul during his stay in Philippi and was his first Christian convert on the continent of Europe; Khadijeh, the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife, employer, and convert to Islam.

As a community of writers we nudged, challenged and supported one another while drafting these stories. We worried that we might not represent these women in the best possible light, particularly the Muslim women since we were all writing out of our own faith traditions. Differences of opinion arose within our group as well as without, such as with our respective Christian, Muslim and Jewish consultants and even our copy editors who felt the need to inject their religious points of views just before going to press. Everyone’s input and interpretations pushed us beyond our assumptions and biases.

Next week I will share one of my personal hurdles while working on this collection.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

2009-05-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

Eliot Rosewater Award

Anahita's Woven Riddle was among 20 books considered for the 2008-2009 Eliot Rosewater Award, named after the fictional character in books by the Indiana-born author, Kurt Vonnegut, including probably the best known, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. The Award was established to honor Vonnegut and other Hoosier writers while at the same encouraging Indiana high school to read for fun and enjoyment.

High School students (grades 9-12) throughout Indiana vote each year on approximately 20 nominated books for the book they enjoy the most. Congratulations to Laurie Halse Anderson who won first place for her novel Twisted.

For more information and the nominee list:

http://www.ilfonline.org/Programs/eliotrosewaterprogram.htm

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Weaving Peace In Tehran

2009-05-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Easter Sunday I awoke to Tehran traffic outside my hotel window. Some wrestled the tangle of cars and pedestrians on their way to mass at the nearby Orthodox Church. I prepared for my own spiritual journey, the reason I had traveled through eleven time zones and half way around the world: to weave a knot on Iran’s World Peace Carpet, a project sponsored by UNESCO and the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicraft Organization of Iran. For a tapestry weaver and author (my first novel was inspired by an Afshar tribal rug), tying a goodwill knot on this carpet, along with 700 others from 89 nations, seemed every bit as reverent as attending Easter Mass.

My desire to participate in the Peace Carpet stemmed from a long-held appreciation for Iranian culture, in particular its carpets and poetry, which are often literately woven together. On a visit to the carpet dealers’ bazaar in Tehran I discovered several carpets with phrases of Hafez, Ferdowsi and Sa’adi or pictorial images of these poets incorporated into the design.

I have always admired, if not romanticized, the lives of nomadic peoples and, like Iranian nomads, I learned to raise sheep, spin and dye wool with natural materials, and weave tapestries that are much like Persian gelims. I discovered that colors have meanings and rugs contain amulets against the evil eye. Themes such as these inspired my novel about a young nomadic carpet weaver, which in turn led to an invitation in 2005 to participate in Iran’s First International Children’s Book Festival. I remember how elated I had felt that February morning when my plane touched down on Iranian soil. In love with Iranian culture, I could hardly wait to meet its people, with whom I bonded readily during that trip, often more easily than with people of my own culture.

Thus, when I heard about this UNESCO peace project, I couldn’t think of a more perfect excuse to revisit these friends. It was also a way to release my long-held frustrations over the poor foreign relations between our countries and the palpable mistrust of Iranians among many Americans. I wanted to weave peace in Tehran.

Read more at: www.MeghanNuttallSayres.com

Victory for Kids, Librarians and Authors, too.

2009-04-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

Librarians Basic to Education

For the first time in history Teacher-Librarians will be included in "Basic Education" in Washington State. What? Haven't librarians always been basic to education? You would think so. Only now, it's written into state law.

That means the state must pay for a Teacher-Librarian in every school, instead of each district scrambling to pass levies and come up with the money on its own.

Of course, in this time of billion dollar state budget cuts, kids won’t see this change immediately. But progress is progress.

The rest of the good news—this boost for libraries sprang from the bottom up. Three moms started a petition drive 18-months ago and spurred a grassroots movement that resulted in this change. Details, plus photos have been written up in the current issue of School Library Journal.

Thank you, Lisa, Susan and Denette! Your hard work and dedication to our children’s education shows all of us how to step up and make a difference.

Jane Austen - A Literary Lion

2009-04-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

After attending the Jane Austen panel discussion at this year's Get Lit! I came home and found this:

--cross-posted to Under the Covers by Mari

Non-Fiction Monday: A trip to the North Pole

2009-03-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

I, Matthew Henson, Polar Explorer
By Carole Boston Weatherford
Illustrated by Eric Velasquez

Two men made history in 1909, the first men ever to stand on the North Pole. Admiral Robert Peary is the one you’ve probably heard about. Matthew Henson? Maybe not. Twice on the polar ice cap, Henson saved Peary’s life. The two men faced “sudden storms, frozen peaks and ridges and shifting iceberg castles,” on their perilous journey. Patches of open water and faulty instruments made more trouble before they reached the Pole. The achievement had been both men’s life ambition. But when they returned home some dismissed their accomplishment because Henson was a black man, and Peary downplayed Henson’s contribution to the expedition.

I love everything about the illustrations in this biography. The colors, the shapes, the varied scenes. The emotional resonance and the beauty of the art makes this a powerful and stunning book. The text is unique. You will have to read it for yourself to see how this author shows Henson’s determination and strength of purpose through the sentence structure she chose. Fabulous book!

Go, Zags - Mid-major Team Inspires Spokane Author

2009-03-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight my beloved hometown basketball team, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, plays North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen. Our son Conor will be sitting behind the Gonzaga bench with his two cousins and Uncle John. Lucky guy. The Zags are the tie that binds the Rudolf and Murphy clans with every victory, every loss dissected over the long distance and email. My dad was the first Zag fan and like my ninety-year-old mom likes to say, they attended games when the Zags were poor relations. My dad's been gone four years now. But Big Kerm loved the Zags and he loved that I am a writer.

So what do the Zags have to do with writing? Everything, including that right now I am writing this blog instead of working on my novel.

Gonzaga's run ten years ago into the Elite Eight sparked a flame that has kept flickering through good times and bad. This season has been a roller coaster, too. A great start with victories against nationally ranked teams into December. But after a loss to UConn and the February drubbing by Memphis, the team had to find their soul again. And they have, running the table in the West Coast Conference and now two NCAA tourney victories, with a different hero every night. And how about the women's team? They were within inches of making it into the Sweet Sixteen, too, while entering the tournament as a twelve seed. So enough basketball until 7p.m. PCT tonight.

We have to find our souls as writers, too, after a dry spell or rejection. So I want to write like the Zag men and women play basketball. Writing from Alaska and later Spokane, I've been insecure at times in dealing with East Coast editors, especially early in my career. But if the Zags from Spokaloo can play in the big leagues, shedding their perennial underdog moniker, so can we mid-list writers. We can survive the rejections, the days with little writing output, the bad reviews by just sawing wood, as Coach Mark Few likes to say. Dribbling out those words, nailing a three-pointer with a great metaphor, and cheering at the end of the day when we given our writing our best shot.

Only one difference between us writers and the Zags. We have to be the whole team of players. We have coaches in our editors, agents and fellow writers. But when the clock is running, it's just us. We have to be Matt Bouldin with a sense for the whole court action, the scope of our book. We have to be Micah Downs who turned his potential into reality when he finally listened to himself first. We have to block shots like Austin Daye and Josh Heyfelt, tough defenders when it comes to revising our work. WE have to light up our story with our passion like Demetri Goodson and Ira Brown. We have to keep shooting, keep writing like Steven Gray until the three-pointers, the words on the page start lighting it up again. Like Will Foster, we have to take the chances we get, even when they don't seem like enough. WE have to play like Heather Bowman even with a shoulder injury or writers' block. We have to tear up court, the page, like floor leaders Courtney Vandersloot and Jeremy Pargo.

Okay - have I beaten this metaphor to death yet? One more shot.

March Madness comes but once a year. Book acceptances and publication days, less often. But like the Zags who play summer and winter, we must write every day, even when it seems like we're fouling out. Playing well, writing well, that's in our hands - every morning. And we win, when we attach the seat of our pants to the seat of chair, as Hemingway advised. Go, Zags.

Non-Fiction Monday: Aliens from Earth

2009-03-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Aliens from Earth: When Animals and Plants Invade Other Ecosystems

Written by Mary Batten

Illustrated by Beverly J. Doyle

Peachtree Publishers

Izaak Walton League of Conservation Book of the Year

This thirty-two page picture book packs quite a wallop. It's on a subject that I've been concerned about, but understood very little. And I wondered how it could be be presented for young readers Through illustrations and text, it traces the history of alien plant and animal invaders arriving on our shores along with new ones that threaten our lives today. In a clear, readable manner it presents these plants and animals who have taken over our oceans and even our backyards. It’s a tough, complex subject for any age to understand. But the text and detailed illustrations invite readers, grades four and up, to explore its dangers to our quality of life. And the final spread offers suggestions on what regular citizens, young and old, can do to prevent their arrival.
~~Claire

Non-Fiction Monday: Listen to the Wind

2009-03-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Three Cups of Tea

Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth have collaborated on a picture book for children based on Mortenson's bestselling Three Cups of Tea. Their book Listen to the Wind is sure to be a bestseller, too. I admire the simplicity with which the story is told of Greg's adventure into the mountains of Pakistan as well as the school-building project that followed. Roth's use of paper collage is stunning and fitting for the rugged setting of the book. The use of narrative and nonfiction backmatter with photos works well together. Of particular interest is the spread in which Roth talks about how her work was influenced by artifacts from the regional culture.This book offers substance and heart. Greg's work demonstrates the good that results when compassion does not stop at our respective countries' borders. It is a book I will be giving to young friends for years to come.
~~Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Students on Strike: Jim Crow, Civil Rights, Brown and Me

2009-03-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

This memoir by John A. Stokes, with Lois Wolfe, Ph.D., published by National Geographic in 2008, knocked my socks off. John Stokes was a teenager in 1951, one of several students leaders who led a strike of their segregated black school, Moton High school in Farmville, Virginia. Sick of inferior conditions and shacks for a building, these young people inspired the entire student body to walk out of school, refusing to return until a new high school was built. When national NCAAP leaders arrived to help, they were so impressed that they begged the young leaders to join the Brown vs. the Board of Education lawsuit, rather than fight for a segregated school. The students agreed. Their case was the only one in the Brown lawsuit initiated by students. When the U.S. Supreme tore down Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1954 in support of the Brown lawsuit, these students were long out of school. But they remain proud of what they did to this day.

But this 126 page book is much more than a retelling of the dramatic days of the strike. It reads like a novel. The young voice of Stokes rings through on every page and vividly reveals life growing up in the Jim Crow South, before and after the student strike. Published in a small novel-like format with eighteen çhapters and photos, it holds appeal for readers ages ten through adult. It is one of those terrific nonfiction stories that pulls you in on the first page and propels you into the future on the last page. As a reader, it makes you wish you had been brave like those students. With great details leading up to the climax of the strike, helps us understand how the students' courage grew out of despair and frustration with "separate but equal" schools, public transportation, swimming pools, movie theaters and drinking fountains. Stokes is a retired educator who speaks around the country about this case and the continued need to fight for justice and equality in America today. Though this book was co-written, it is clearly Stokes' story and an uplifting one it is. Young readers will connect to the boy who grew into a teen, so sad and depressed that he had to risk his life to make a difference.

What Keeps Me Writing

2009-02-27T07:15:00.000-08:00

Organizers of Spokane’s terrific April 2009 literary festival Get Lit! have encouraged local writers to post a blog on or about March 4th on what keeps us writing. So here goes.
Americans who have fought for equal rights throughout history, that’s who keeps me writing and researching. Activists like Harvey Milk in1970’s in San Francisco who led the charge for gay rights, so well portrayed by Oscar winner Sean Pean in the 20087 movie Milk. Unfortunately that battle still needs to be waged.
During Black History month, I’d like to honor Octavius Catto, a brilliant orator, educator and athlete who stood up for equal rights a hundred years before Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. President Obama has often said he stands on the shoulders of civil rights’ leaders who have gone before him. One of them is Catto, who in 1871 was murdered on the streets of Philadelphia by Democrat party bosses because of his dynamic community organizing of new black male voters. I discovered Catto during research for a book on civil rights activists.
And every day Octavius Valentine Catto inspires me to keep writing, no matter the economy or fewer readers every year. I love this man and will do my best to honor his story and other American activists by sitting down to the computer every morning. Claire Rudolf Murphy

Money for Libraries

2009-02-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

Wouldn’t it be terrific if libraries became a priority in our national consciousness? Just think of the impact that would make on our children and how it would ripple out across the culture.

Now is the time to make it happen.

President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package provides a great opportunity for more library dollars and more vitality in both school and public libraries.

The bill gives $53.6 billion in to state block grants that must be spent primarily on education. The rest of the money will be spent as the governor sees fit.

We know libraries should be a top priority. It’s up to us to speak up, take action and believe that we can make a difference, that we can change the national agenda. The door is open, and it won’t stay that way for long. Find out what’s happening your state and make your voice heard.

The American Library Association (ALA) has launched a Know Your Stimulus Web site, calling it a one-stop-shop for all things related to the new law. The Web site offers advice on how to apply for library grants, has important links to other sites, and has a complete breakdown of what each state will receive under the new law.

An extra $2 billion of the stimulus package will go to Head Start, the federal early childhood development program. This money, too, could help pump life into libraries and the children’s book business. Head Start is required to collaborate with local libraries, providing storytimes and other literacy events, and promoting library cards.

2009-02-18T16:30:00.001-08:00

Every now and then I am reminded of why I write. A recent review of my book Weaving Tapestry in Rural Ireland gave me pause and joy. Although it was written some time ago, I had not seen it until last night, nearly two years after the book's publication. This review brought me much gratification as the project spanned roughly ten years. It is nice to know that the book is considered worthy of study, even by the scholars upon whose turf I did roam. My warmest thanks go to the author of this review Meglena Z. Miltcheva, College of Charleston, S.C., and to Dr.Eileen Moore Quinn, who undoubtedly suggested that Meglena read it...

"THE APPEARANCE OF THIS BOOK owes as much to the author's interest in weaving, harvesting and dyeing yam as to her desire to explore how an ancient craft could be employed in an innovative way to bring fulfillment and renewal to a rural community. With the assistance of local mentors, a group of Irish tapestry weavers most of whom were Irish speakers--came together in 1993 to form a cooperative called Taipeis Gael (Gaelic Tapestries). The author's account of the cooperative and its work can stand on its own as an excellent documentary and instructional source, but it is also our good fortune that Sayres has taken what could have easily been a mundane academic treatise and produced an artistically stunning volume as socially compelling as it is historically meticulous." Read the full review

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Scholastic Book 'n Toy Clubs?

2009-02-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

An organization called Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood has recently charged Scholastic, Inc with overpopulating its monthly book club fliers with toys instead of books. By the campaign's count, 14% of the book club's products are not books, and another 19% were books packaged with something else, like stickers.

While I respect the goal of CCFC, I feel that should they succeed in eliminating toy sales from the book clubs and fairs, they'll likely eliminate the book clubs and fairs themselves. My school has tried working with local bookstores to create books-only book fairs. The resulting events have been miserable failures. Further, Scholastic is able to offer huge amounts of book credits to schools providing much needed classroom and library books. Our school uses those book credits, in part, to give books away, helping kids who may not have been able to purchase any. No other book sale I've been involved with has the net result of putting so many books in the school.

The real problem here, is that schools are in a position to have to sell books in the first place. The only reason schools offer Scholastic clubs is to supplement their woefully underfunded book budgets. Washington State, where I live, provides schools $5 per student per year for library books, and about $40 per student per year for textbooks. That's absurd. Personally, I think the CCFC would do a great deal more good if they focused their efforts on lobbying congress for adequate basic education funding. Scholastic is a publisher that, despite all the furry pens and sparkly stickers, is doing a decent job getting books into kids' hands.

Cross-posted to Under the Covers

Who Needs 4-years of Science & Math?

2009-02-04T00:00:00.001-08:00

I’ve been tipped-off to a great e-zine for teachers, by teachers, but of interest to anyone thoughtful about our young people’s education.
teachersnet Gazette
In the current issue Alfie Kohn asks the question: Are we all to enamored with teaching children self-discipline? Awe come on…read it before you make a judgment. Could it be we just want kids to take care of themselves so that we don’t have to be bothered? Does education that focuses too heavily on self-discipline train students to see studying as a means to an end rather than to help them enjoy learning. Secure, healthy people can be playful, flexible, open to new experiences and self-discovery, deriving satisfaction from the process rather than always focused on the product. An extremely self-disciplined student, by contrast, may see reading or problem-solving purely as a means to the end of a good test score or a high grade. I find this idea quite thought-provoking. What do you think?

Another article immediately grabbed my attention: Who Really Needs Four Years of Math and Science? by Steve A. Davidson. I started asking this question in about sophomore year of high school, when I decided: not me. And I’ve survived just fine thank you. I can’t help my kids with the algebra homework, but, hey, I read them lots of books when they were growing up. I’ve heard that counts for a lot. Check out what this guy says. He taught school for 32-years!

A Valentine for Children in Need

2009-01-29T00:01:00.001-08:00

Save the Children, with the help of seven prominent children's book illustrators, has created this lovely set of Valentine's Day cards. Perfect for classroom distribution, the proceeds go to aid children living in poverty in the United States. A nice way for kids to lend a hand.

2009-01-25T11:34:00.000-08:00

For the past two years I have been at work editing a book of essays on Iran. While in Istanbul this fall I had the pleasure of meeting Iason Athanasiadis, a photojournalist who has lived in Iran. This weekend he opens an exhibition of his work at the California Fine Arts Museum in Los Angeles. The show will run through March 29 at 5814 Wilshire Blvd.
www.cafam.org/Exploring_the_Other.html

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

There is enough time

2009-01-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

This morning frustration is tempting. I sit at my keyboard to face another day of revision on the fourth draft of my current novel-in-progress. The fifth self-imposed deadline for finishing it passed two days ago.

Maybe frustration isn’t the right word. Discouraged? Depressed? A writer two generations ago might open the scotch. A writer one generation ago might trip out. A writer last millennium might pop Prozac. What is my vice of choice in 2009?

Espresso & Enlightenment.

I’ve concocted my Double Mocha W/ 2oz. Half & Half, 2 Tlbs Belgium Dark Sipping Chocolate. I’ve practiced yoga and meditated. I breathe.

“There is enough time.”

“A writer is frustrated, not because things come together slowly, but because she imagines that they will move quickly.”

I've taped these quotes to my computer monitor. I see them every day. I don’t remember who said them or where I read them. But in my experience, they are true.

I have not become enlightened yet. But consciousness is coming to our world. Writers and other artists lead the way. Let’s not give in to our temptations to wish things were different in our writing life.

A New Day for School Libraries

2009-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

As if there isn't enough good news on this Inauguration Day! Looks like school children in Washington State may soon have some of the most progressive school libraries in the nation. Legislators will take up a bill guaranteeing a full-time teacher-librarian in every school.

The bill would give schools $155 per student to spend on textbooks and library books, plus $200 per students for technology.

We've told you before about the Three Spokane Moms. Their kids' schools shut down libraries half-time and teacher librarians seemed doomed to extinction because of budget cuts. These women made it their personal agenda to raise H-E-double toothpicks with the state legislature.

Here's their announcement today:

"Last spring your letters and phone calls helped secure $4MM in emergency funds. Well … you've done it again! The Basic Education Finance Task Force (charged with redefining basic
education) submitted its report, and thanks to you, it contains some of the most progressive language in the country pertaining to school library programs. It's part of a bigger vision to reform Washington's system of education and ensure all children are fully prepared for the challenges of a new economy and a new era."

Newly-elected State School Superintendent Terry Dorn says his number one priority is to push these recommendations into law.

Indeed: "Change has come to America."

Want to help? Click here.

~~Mary

Harvey Milk and Civil Rights Today

2009-01-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

Hands down my favorite 2008 movie is Milk, starring Sean Penn. His performance is riveting. But what has stayed with me for two weeks now is the civil rights' aspect. I write nonfiction books for young adults. And this story is for them, too. For all those gay teens who experience prejudice at school or teens who are put them down out of fear or ignorance. It is for all of us.

It’s been thirty years since Harvey Milk died fighting for the right to be treated like every other American. And yet in California this past November, Proposition Eight, the initiative against gay marriage, garnered more ink, more discussion than the presidential election. No matter what our moral feelings are about homosexuality, the United States has stated time and time again in our Constitution, in our laws and in our courts that Americans must not be discriminated against according to gender, race, religion or sexual preference. Yet all of the civil rights battles in our country have taken decades, even centuries to resolve. What are we so afraid of? As Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere, is injustice everywhere.”
In January 2009, we don’t have that kind of time to fritter. We don’t have the seventy-eight years that women publicly battled for the vote or two hundred years for people of color to gain fair access to the ballot box. Our country has too many serious problems - war around the world, the economy, the environment, health insurance, better schools for our young people - to waste it fighting against a group of people who only want what all American citizens deserve - justice - to live and love in freedom. What are we so afraid? How much better for all Americans if all the time, effort and money spent fighting for the rights of gay people could be used instead to work for peace, better schools, and a cleaner environment.
I wish that every young person in this country could see and discuss the movie Milk with their parents. It won't turn them into a gay person if they aren’t one already. Who would choose that life style with all the discrimination and prejudice it holds?
Milk is such a hopeful movie, in spite of its ending. Harvey fought his heart out for what he believed in and his passion inspired thousands during his lifetime and millions more after his death. We honor him and al those who have fought for civil rights by making sure all Americans have them. My brother and sister-in-law in San Francisco were part of that the candlelight parade, real footage featured at the end of the movie. It made the movie even more special to me. But I didn’t need their connection to cause me to think about Harvey Milk’s legacy every day since I saw the movie. The 14th amendment promises equal protection under the law. It is time that gay Americans gained that promise. What are so afraid of?
~~Claire

Movies for the Snow Bound

2009-01-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

What happens when unthinkable quantities of snow keep you home bound for the better part of two weeks? After shoveling the walks, the drives, the roof (and roof shoveling, we learned, is double-shoveling. Once off the roof, then again when the resulting heaps block doors), we caught up on movies. We see fewer in theaters all the time these days, because they seldom seem worth a $30 night out -- for another $10-15 we can go to the community theater, which feels more like a night out than a movie. But I digress. Over the holidays we saw:

Mamma Mia -- Like squirting whip cream from a can directly into your mouth. Tasty, but not something you want to admit having done.
Journey to the Center of the Earth -- We sat in the dark with our 3-D glasses on, jumping back from the screen. Very silly, but good clean fun.
Wall-E -- Trivia Question: Who sings "Put on Your Sunday Clothes?" in the Hello Dolly video Wall-E watches? Michael Crawford, the future Phantom of the Opera! (Well, my daughter was thrilled by that factoid anyway.) Good flick.
Dark Knight -- I used to love action movies, but ever since I had children I've found all the gratuitous violence off-putting. But Dark Knight was a wonder. Poor Heath Ledger. What a shame.
West Wing, Season 1 -- I needed a fix.

--cross-posted to Under the Covers

2009-01-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year from all of us at Storyforce in snowy Washington State.

Peace on Earth

2008-12-24T00:01:00.001-08:00

Writing Friends, Near and Far

2008-12-20T17:04:00.000-08:00

I think this will be my favorite Christmas "card" of the year, and it comes from illustrator Jay Stephens in Canada. Jay created THE SECRET SATURDAYS for the Cartoon Network, and used my book TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS for inspiration. Today, he sent me this fantabulous holiday greeting, so who can blame me for wanting to share? Gotta love the fun folks we get to meet writing away. : )

Ho, Ho, Ho!

Kelly

Shout Out to Shannon

2008-12-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a shout out our fellow native Northwesterner David Shannon (though he now calls SoCal home). His Too Many Toys, was named a Top Ten Children's Book of the Year by Time Magazine. Mr. Shannon was recently here in Spokane, for Whitworth University's annual Writing Rally. He never fails to entertain. Congratulations!

--Under the Covers

Writing Place/Creative Space

2008-12-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

I've been in basically two places the last two days, out shoveling a record snowfall from my driveway or in my study writing. I'm not complaining about either. I love a snow day! The whole town practically closed down and it feels like a vacation. Except that I work at home in my study, so no excuse to skip writing.

At HipWriterMama Vivian posted a photo of her writing space yesterday, and links to several other writers who also posted theirs. The voyeur in me loved seeing them. The show off in me wanted to post my own. So here it is. All that white you see out the window is snow. Don't miss the coffee cup. I can't write without my double mocha.

Having my own space with my own clutter all around me is important to my writing process. My study is a sun porch off my bedroom, so my kids have to go through two doors to get to me. My husband makes me clean up my piles of books and papers in the rest of the house, but in my study I can pile all I want to. It's cold in winter, especially now when the temperature is falling below zero, so I have a little space heater under my desk, and I put heated rice bags in my lap. They are fabulous, if you need a way to keep warm. Also good for those pains in the neck and shoulders. What's the best thing about your writing space?

Cave Church Frescoes

2008-12-18T22:55:00.000-08:00

An interior image of a Cappadocian cave church, which I wrote about in the Dec 18th entry below...

Cappadocia Cave Churches

2008-12-18T22:21:00.000-08:00

While researching a current novel I spent this fall in Turkey, following in the footsteps of St. Paul. I took this photo in one of the cave churches in Cappadocia. I couldn’t believe how vivid the colors of the frescoes remained after so many centuries. Something about the utter simplicity of these caves, including the caches of mineral pigments I saw in the soil on the trails leading to these places---left me awestruck in a way in which no European cathedral has. There is something so much more raw, unadorned and unself-conscious about these sacred spaces. Remembering them helps brings me closer to the spirit of Christmas during this busy time of year.

---Meghan Nuttall Sayres

Why an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults in a Tight Economy?

2008-12-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

In 1987 I earned an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Twenty years later I have the great gift of teaching in a program tailored just for children's writers. Claire Rudolf Murphy

The following two articles were first published in the Western Washington SCBWI newsletter in August 2008. Since then the economy has nosedived and like the rest of America, publishers are facing hard times.

Why Hamline?
By Hannah Trierweiler, January 2009 Hamline MFA graduate

True confession: I began the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program in writing for children at Hamline University with some reluctance. For months prior to sending in that deposit check, I debated whether or not an MFA would be worth the time — several writers told me I’d learn just as much from working on my own — or the money — not a small sum, considering that if and when I ever get published, my advance will likely be less than one semester’s tuition. But ultimately, I leapt, and now, a year later and well into my third semester, I’m absolutely thrilled that I did.

Hamline is a new program. The first class will graduate in January 2009. But from the beginning, it has operated without the roadblocks you’d expect from a program in its infancy. In part, this is because core faculty members, including Jane Resh Thomas, Phyllis Root, Ron Koertge, and Liza Ketchum, are veteran instructors from the Vermont College MFA program. But the Hamline program also owes much of its success to Dean Mary Rockcastle, who is a writer herself and deeply invested in the program. Mary attends every lecture during residencies, sits with students at meals, and is unfailingly open to discussing questions and concerns. I’ve never met another administrator like her, and I know she’s determined to make the program the best it can be.

Hamline functions much like other low-residency MFA programs. There are two eleven-day residencies per year, one in January and one in July, each followed by a semester of working one-on-one with a faculty advisor. In addition to those listed above, the faculty includes Jacqueline Briggs-Martin, Kate DiCamillo, Kelly Easton, Lisa Jahn-Clough, Ron Koertge, Alexandria LaFaye, Mary Logue, Alison McGhee, Marsha Qualey, Claire Rudolf Murphy, Gary D. Schmidt, and Marsha Wilson Chall.

This group is overwhelmingly open and generous. Faculty members make a point of getting to know all of the students—not just those they advise or who attended their own workshops during residencies. While each faculty member tends to specialize in one or two genres, most are open to working on projects outside their direct area of expertise, and there’s a good balance between those focusing on fiction and nonfiction for picture-book, middle-grade, and young-adult readers.

Thus far I’ve worked with Jane, Gary, and Phyllis. Each has made me feel as if I’ve won a writer’s lottery. Every packet of work that I’ve sent in has been returned with a detailed cover letter and line edits, and I’ve heard similar reports from my classmates.

Going to the residencies is a bit like going to summer camp. It is my busiest 22 days out of the year, as well as the most inspirational. Workshops have made me rethink and re-imagine my novel, making it much stronger in the process. Lectures about the challenges of the writing life have made me cry (in a good way). I’ve gotten a sneak peek of works-in-progress from some of my favorite authors. And I’ve met some of my heroes, including visiting writers M.T. Anderson, Lois Lowry, and Emily Jenkins (E. Lockhart). And I can’t forget the late-night, wine-and-cheese bonding sessions I’ve had with fellow classmates.

You wouldn’t think I’d be thrilled to go to Minneapolis in the dead of winter or during the hot, muggy summers. But the Minneapolis/St. Paul area offers a wealth of resources for children’s writers, including the Children’s Literature Network and the Kerlan collection at the University of Minnesota, which has archived original manuscripts and editorial correspondence from hundreds of children’s authors. There are also several outstanding bookstores a stone’s throw from Hamline. While I live in New York City, the heart of the publishing world, I’ve loved having the opportunity to become involved in another community that cares so much about children’s literature. And I’m excited to see how Hamline—and my fellow classmates—will be a part of enriching that community in the future.

Why Teach in a MFA Creative Writing Program?

Faculty member Claire Rudolf Murphy
I love being part of Hamline’s MFA program. I believe low-residency creative writing programs have taken off because manuscripts today need to be almost publication ready before a contract is offered. With sales driving the bottom line, editors must devote more time to marketing and less to editing. Skills developed through students’ creative and critical writing in the program can lead not only to publication, but to editorial, teaching and book review opportunities. Since an MFA is a terminal graduate degree, it gives a writer the needed credentials to teach at the collegiate and graduate level.

At my first Hamline residency in January 2008, I told the students I had longed for a program like this while earning my MFA twenty years ago. Back then I wanted to jumpstart my writing career, but since none of the faculty wrote children’s books I was instructed not to include YA characters in my stories. I studied the craft of fiction and great literature, but had to learn about children’s books on my own.

At Hamline, students study all genres in children’s literature and are encouraged in write in every genre during their five-semester program. Mentored by a different writer each semester, they learn to how to work with varied editorial styles, an important skill for one’s career. Students send a packet of 20-80 pages four times a semester. The instructor responds with written comments and an editorial letter and occasional emails and phone calls, much like the editorial process with an editor. Mentoring writers has challenged me to articulate what I know about my craft and search out what I don’t. I recommend exemplary literature and craft books in their genre. This term my students all began working on shorter nonfiction projects, but some manuscripts evolved into historical fiction picture books, contemporary novels and longer nonfiction book proposals, as they explored the best way to tell their story. In every packet, I encouraged them to reflect about their own writing process and to identify their passion for each project, the enthusiasm needed to carry them through the rigorous revision process.

I have given talks on research, character in nonfiction and for this upcoming January 2009 residency, I will speak on plot in nonfiction and learned a great deal as I pore over the structure of my favorite nonfiction books. One of my students this term is publishing her second book and another has an editor interested in her nonfiction project. My students inspire me to work harder to respond to their work and improve my own craft. Their work has renewed my hope and re-ignited my own passion for writing.

Faculty and students hail from all over the country. Contact me any time with questions about the program: clairerudolfmurphy@gmail.com.

SCBWI NonFiction Grant

2008-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

James Cross Giblin Award

The phone rang as I tossed sautéed vegetables with pasta. My husband said, “It’s for you. It’s Sue Burgess.”

I thought of reminding him I never take phone calls when I’m cooking dinner. But Sue Burgess rang a bell. The name piqued my curiosity.

Sue told me she was calling to announce I had won this year's Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Nonfiction Work-in-Progress Award.

“You’re kidding,” I screamed. So much for original phrasing. She said she wasn’t.

“I can’t believe it,” I screamed. “I’m so excited.” My family stood in the kitchen staring at me. “Thank you. Thank you.” I kept screaming. Sue probably began to wonder if the $1500 shouldn’t go to someone with a few more words in their vocabulary. But she was very kind and said she loved making calls like this.

I don’t know if the pasta dish was finished, or if anybody ate it. I told my family the good news, and then phone all my writing buddies to tell them.

The grant money will fund research for a biography on Fannie Sellins, an early 20th Century labor activist. Sellins had a passionate belief that workers deserved better lives and the charisma to convince them to believe it too. She knew coal miners would not give up their paycheck and walk a picket because their children would starve, so she found food and clothing for their families.

A compelling speaker, she stirred wild applause, often evoked tears and inspired hope. Hats filled with money for the union cause wherever she spoke. Ordered by a West Virginia judge to stop speaking in public, she refused. And went to jail.

She was so successful unionizing miners in Western Pennsylvania that coal company operators threatened her life. She refused to be bullied into leaving and was shot to death on the picket line in 1919.

I am passionate about telling this woman’s story and it means so much to me that the awards committee believes it’s worth publishing. The grant is endowed by SCBWI Board member James Giblin. The noted author and editor named the Anna Cross Giblin award after his mother who enthusiastically supported his own non-fiction writing for young people.

“I can’t imagine anything that would have given her greater satisfaction—or be more appropriate tribute to her memory….” Giblin says, than indirectly helping encourage other nonfiction writers.

~~Mary Cronk Farrell

A Multifaith Stroll

2008-11-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

Days ago I set out to find a Christian Orthodox church with a living breathing community. I recently found this in a neighborhood along the Golden Horn called Fener, which refers to light. It is the home of the seat of Eastern Christian Orthodox Church and has been here in Istanbul since Byzantine times. The Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox church has been in this particular neighborhood since about 1601. I read that the present church of St George was built in 1720. There are relics inside of at least three saints and the throne supposedly dates to Byzantine times. What stuck me about this sanctuary is its modesty. I happened upon it on a Sunday when a Mass was underway. The chanting or hymns sung before the priest entered the church sounded like opera mixed with the type of hum one might hear from Buddhist monks. Tourists flooded in and out, snapping pictures and taking video recordings.

Walking the streets in Fener that surrounded this church revealed a multifaith community. Women wearing head scarves and women dressed in black chadors—the covering more often seen in Iran—went about their errands. In this part of the city the homes maintain an old-style charm, colorful with bay windows and situated on steep cobble stone streets. Apparently, UNESCO is investing in restoring this area and another nearby neighborhood of Balak. To me, it had the atmosphere of an inner-city village of decades past. Quiet and few cars. There are other churches here as well. The one whose name caught my interest was St. Mary of the Mongols, if only because I’ve never heard the word saint associated with the word Mongol. St Mary’s story is a fascinating tale of a Christian who was sent to wed a Mongol khan in Persia. She converted many to Christianity and after the death and assassination of her two subsequent husbands, she went back to Istanbul and started a convent. As an aside, after reading Jack Weatherford’s book Genghis Khan, little would surprise me further about Mongols. Weatherford reported that Genghis held interfaith debates, they were like festivals and lasted days. He allowed freedom of religion across his vast empire.

Further up the Golden Horn I visited the neighborhood of Eyup and its mosque, which after Mecca and Jerusalem it is likely one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage in the Islamic world. The burial place of Eyup (Job) Ensari, the friend and standard-bearer of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon them. I hadn’t known this about the mosque the afternoon I covered my hair with a scarf and entered, but it became evident that this holy site was of special significance. People flocked here on a Sunday, a day other than Friday. The courtyard had a celebratory air. People picnicked, fed pigeons and let their children run free. Inside the mosque itself, I sensed a cheerful feeling, more so than any other mosque I’ve visited. A large tree, perhaps hundreds of years old, bended toward the earth in the middle of the courtyard. Men and women lined up to touch the grill overlooking the site where I believe Eyup Ensari was buried. Blue and green tiles covered one wall of the inner courtyard. It is a mosque I wish to visit again. People seemed very welcoming of me and my American friend.

It is interesting that in Istanbul two of the most important sites belonging to both Christianity and the Muslim world have co-existed for centuries in neighborhoods that are nearly side by side.

One of my favorite moments in Istanbul was my second visit to the Kucuk Ayasofya mosque by the artist atelier that I mentioned in an earlier blog. I left my shoes at the door and walked inside to find an empty carpeted room. The quiet made my ears ring and it was then that I realized how much noise I had adapted to in the previous weeks. Several chandlers hung from the high domed ceiling, which was painted in delft blue hues on white. Sunshine streamed in through windows high up on the wall. It seemed much later before my hearing readjusted and I heard the random gleeful cry of a child outside and then the hum of traffic and the horrendous rush and roar of the tram that sprinted by. Its unnatural and frightening sound seemed a crime against this peaceful sanctuary.

My eyes fell on prayer beads that lay on a platform beside me, awaiting whoever may come to use them. Soon, two people walked in, a man and a woman without her hair covered. They sat on the platform besaide me and I soon heard the clicking of the glass beads as the man moved between his fingers in prayer.

Sometime later, a woman wearing a deep red scarf wandered in and sat on the platform that the man and woman vacated. Her soft murmurs, small utterances drifting my way. When she left, I found myself reciting the words, Hail Mary full of grace....

Hail Mary’s in a mosque. In a mosque that was once a church. St. Mary of the Mongols. The distinctions begin to blur. Blur so sweetly, peacefully.

Books For Sale Istanbul Style

2008-10-30T07:00:00.001-07:00

Sahafler Carsisi, Second Hand Booksellers Market

Wondering through the oldest market in the city, the Second Hand Booksellers courtyard is probably one of the most quiet and leafy and pleasant of all the markets in Istanbul. It has been located at this same spot since Byzantine times, where book makers and paper makers worked. Today, bookstalls and bookcases and tables covered with books spill onto the walkways together with sellers of pens, reading glasses and the perfect browsing snack, simit, Turkish pretzels. Everything seems available, such as antique miniatures taken from 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20^th century books, Korans in all sizes and colors, dictionarties, travel books as well as popular Turkish, Russian and Western writers works.

In a miniaturist’s stall I found images painted in shades of indigo of Noah’s Ark, and Jonah and the Whale, both Noah and Jonah wearing turbans. I also saw 17^th century paintings of astronomers and alchemists in the Topkapi Palace as well as my favorite, a miniature done in red and gold and black and white of a writer at work. He sat in front of a desk that looked liked a three-dimensional triangular box, which served as an easle-like desk. The author painted his words in calligraphy.

While strolling I stopped at a stall that happened to have the translation of a novel by Michael Gurian Turkiye De Bir Amerikali Mistik, American Mystic in Turkey, a writer from my hometown Spokane, Washington. The book was situated just outside the door of a bookshop, at eye level. The world shrank in that instant and I marveled at the odds that I had stumbled on Gurian’s work.

When the call to prayer permeated the market from the nearby mosque, men clogged the foot traffic as they stopped to wash their hands and feet—the ritual cleansing before entering the mosque—in the marble sinks that line one of the main lane of the market. In the Sahaflar Carsisi —as in a good novel—life and work and prayer are one seamless story.

Claire's Guest Editorial

2008-10-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

Claire has a great guest editorial in the Spokane Spokesman-Review today. It's all about listening more and ranting less when other people's political views differ from our own. Awesome job Claire!

Cats, Rabbits and Good Fortunes -- Part 1

2008-10-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

Kediler. Istanbul is a city of cats. They crawl between your legs beneath restaurant tables. Cry outside your window day and night. They melt men’s hearts. Or at least in most instances, I see the men in this neighborhood feeding the cats. Engin, the carpet artisan I had mentioned in an earlier blog when discussing Wall Street, poured a bowl of milk today for a mother and two kittens. "I will have to move them somewhere, perhaps to the camii, the mosque, where they won’t get hit by cars." A ney or reed flute master, whom I met a few days ago, only after I waited for him to spoon cat food from a can into two bowls, one for each cat, that lived by his studio in the quiet medressah beside the Kucuk Ayasofya—a church, now mosque. Lastly, the waiter who took away my left over eggplant and lamb kabob, who said he had alti or six kediler to feed.

Cats, Rabbits and Good Fortunes -- Part 2

2008-10-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

There are rabbits in Istanbul too, but as far as I can tell, there are only iki—two—and they tell your fortune. People stop and pet them and some, like me, ask for a fortune. The rabbit fortune teller offers them in English or Turkish. His rabbits sniff out a fortune for you from a board that is stuffed with tiny pieces of paper, inside which are morsels of lettuce. I chose a fortune written in Turkish, which my Turkish teacher read but unfortunately would not translate for me during class time. After much anticipation, and much trouble while using my oversized Turkish-English sozluk, I showed my slip of paper with the fortune typed on it to the clerk at my hotel. Ufuk, who studied English for two years in New York. relayed the good news...Whatever problems I may have had with my work in the past, after taking a respite (which, coincidentally, I am doing just now, in Istanbul), will be gone when I return and/or I will bring back new insight with which to deal with these problems. I understand this fortune to mean that after my stay in Turkey I will discover exactly how to revise my current novel, and that the manuscripts my agent is presently trying to sell, will be sold by the time I return! A guzel fortune indeed. Cats and all.

Stumbling Upon an Artists' Colony

2008-10-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

have an interest in studying and exploring and writing about places where different cultures and religions come together and Istanbul's past and present seems a perfect fit. Two days ago I went looking for a Christian church, curious to see how an Eastern Orthodox community tucks itself into this predominately Muslim city. As in keeping with most of my adventures, I found something other than what I had set out to find. At one point, on a street corner, a policeman, a taxi driver and an elderly man in a business suit all gathered round me to try to understand what I was looking for. The older man asked, "Agha Sophia? Agha Sophia?" Meaning the large Byzantine Cathedral built in the time of Constantine.

"Yok, kucuk, Agha Sophia" No, a small Agha Sophia, I explained, hoping he would understand that I meant church. My Turkisk-English dictionary, too heavy to carry, I had left in my room.

"Kucuk? Kucuk?" he asked, because undoubtedly I wasn't pronunciating correctly.

The policeman rested an arm on the machine gun strapped across his chest. "Small? Small Agha Sophia?"

"Yes!" I smiled and nodded.

The elder man walked at least a half of mile with me out of his way toward the church. Along our route he asked people of its exact location. "Dort cadsessi," the fourth street, a fruit vendor had told him. When we reached the correct street the old man waved good-bye but stood waiting for the traffic to pass and for me to cross the cobbled stone road. When he thought I was hesitating, he waved me on, pointing to the church. I dared not waste a second to look for a landmark so that I could retrace my steps in this knot of a village within the city, as I was afraid he would waste even more of his time by taking me by the hand and leading me the rest of the way there.

Down this lane, I first came across a pile of split wood, perhaps half of a cord, wondering how it got there as there were so few trees in sight. A few steps further, I received an answer to my question when I came upon a wood artist's studio. A man and women inside welcomed me. Munir Erboru offered me a seat and told that he has been wood-burning images for twenty years. His student Hasipekaya has been studying with Munir for two years. She is also a computer programing student at a university in Istanbul.

When I asked them about the church at the end of the alley, they smiled and said it was a mosque. It hasn't been a church since 1453. Stepping through the gates to the old church, now the Kucuk Agha Camii, or mosque, I could see remnants of what might have been a cloister wall, which later became part of a medresseh, a religious school, and now served as an artists colony. Ney, reed flute musicians, wood furniture restorers, jewelry makers and miniaturists gather here to work and teach.

This church-mosque-artists studio and street felt imbued with a creative spirit of no specific and yet all faiths.

Nobel Prize Winner on Historical Fiction

2008-10-19T19:48:00.000-07:00

Orhan Pamuk on Historical Fiction

I have yet to spot Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer and 2006 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, but found his latest essays Other Colours for sale in The Book Shop, a store devoted to English translations of everything having to do with Turkey and regional culture. Ali Tuysuz is the owner of this Sultanahmet establishment along with a twin store across the street. A busy tram cars runs between them every five minutes carrying commuters and tourists.

As I paid for Pamuk’s collection, soon to be released in the U.S., I asked one of the employees his opinion on historical fiction. Did he feel that it helps us understand the world today. "Of course!" Sener, said.

"Can you give me a specific example?" I said.

Sener smiled but clammed up. "Well...take a look at this book, for instance," he reached for the book Birds Without Wings, by Louis de Bernieres and opened it to the page full of blurbs. "Even the guide book for Turkey, Lonely Planet, says, ‘If you read one book about Turkey, make this it.’"

On the rooftop garden at my hotel, I pulled out Other Colours, choosing to read the essay where the book fell open. It was an essay on Dostoevsky novel Demons. This "greatest political novel of all time," according to Pamuk, explored "man’s will to power, his capacity for forgiveness, his ability to deceive himself and others...." What Pamuk said in this essay couldn't have been more pertinent to my quest for the truth about historical fiction. "And so, when as a young leftist I read Demons, it seemed to me that the story was not about Russia a hundred years earlier but about Turkey, which had succumb to a radical politics...I remember asking myself at the time why no one talked about the revelations in this book. It had so much to tell us about our own times."

Do you think historical fiction is relevant today? Do you agree with Sener and the Nobel Laureate or the Governor from Wasilla?

Books, The Orient Express and The Quest For Truth About Historical Fiction

2008-10-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

My walk today turned out to be a literary tour of sorts when I came upon the train station that was the terminus of the Orient Express. These days halls of the station evoke not the mysteries of Agatha Christie, but those of the whirling dervishes, who give performances in this elegant old building. The station faces the Golden Horn, the "inlet" that in some respects bisects part of Istanbul north and south. I cross this body of water by tram on the Galata Bridge en route to my language classes. This bridge, according to Wikipedia, has been referenced or depicted in theater, poetry and novels.

Near the Orient Express station is a warm book nook called Polat Kitabcilik Ticaret Ltd.

Children’s books covered the surface of a bookshelf, which stood in the center of the store. Hopeful to meet local children’s book writers, I asked the clerk, whose name is Ilkay, if there were any children’s authors living in Istanbul. We had trouble communicating, but I believe her answer was yok, no. Browsing among the titles were several from the late Turkish writer Omer Seyfettin, such as Diyet and Verman, who died in 1920. I kept searching, hoping to find a living Turkish author whom I could meet. But the other titles were translations of Harriet Beecher Stowe, R.L. Stevenson, Charles Dickins, and Alexander Dumas The Three Musketeers. I bought the latter, hoping that I might be able to read phrases or even whole sentences from this novel when I have finished my course.

Finding all these historical fiction books brought two thoughts to mind. One was Govenor Sarah Palin’s recent comment to Joe Biden during the vice presidential debate, "There you go again Joe, talking about the past." To which Senator Biden replied, "I like to think of history as prologue." My other memory was the discussion last spring on the Cooperative Children’s Book Center list serve. Someone made the comment that much of what is published in the U.S. for children that is set in the Middle East is historical fiction, which offers little help in understanding the region today.

As a writer of historical fiction I was surprised by this CCBC and Palin’s comment. Like Biden, I believe there is a direct relationship between past and present. Part of the solution to a current problem lies in knowing what caused it. Perhaps if Govenor Palin traveled to a city like Istanbul, she would see tangible evidence of how the past and present co-exist, particularly in the architecture, such as Christian cathedrals, turned mosques, turned museums. Or old Ottoman wood homes turned into souvenir or convenience stores. Istanbul is a palimpsest of traditions and eras all influencing each other. The city’s history of cultural intermingling has produced a positive outcome in everything from cuisine to music to the good-natured people themselves, who appear remarkably unstressed for a city of 10 million. It’s most evident on their subways, the place where one would expect to witness coldness or impatience or belligerence. This relaxed behavior seems everywhere. Men are often seen laughing with one another or relaxing and drinking tea outside their shops. I even saw a waiter inside a bank—just one week after the news of the Wall Street collapse—walking among the office desks serving cay to employees as they chatted quietly among each other.

I believe historical fiction has much to offer contemporary readers, particularly as a comfortable vantage point from which to learn about events and circumstances that happened long ago, which directly apply to issues today. Topics that have not gone away from century to century, such as war, abuse of women and children, love, loss, and discrimination. My novel Anahita’s Woven Riddle, a story about marriage customs in roughly 1900 Iran, is relevant to women around the world today. Muslim or not, the tension between tradition and progress, as well as the notion of choice are topics with which all nationalities struggle, including the United States. I was pleased to learn that Anahita helped a young woman I had taught in Doha, Qatar, when she was considering her predicament of wanting to attend college outside of Doha. She said that after reading the novel she began to think of ways in which she could respect her tradition and yet work out a solution with her parents about her education. "It’s never about throwing out all of the past," she said. "That won’t help change things, but only cause more resistence."

While exploring the bookstores of Istanbul, I decided to get the Turkish perspective on the matter of historical fiction. First, from Ilkay, an obvious booklover. It involved a bit of work. I sat on a on a stool and looked up each word I needed to say to her in my newly-purchased, OVERSIZED, Turkish-English dictionary. After about ten minutes, during which time dozens of people stopped in the store to talk with her and buy books, I had my words for her to decipher: Ben yokluk gorussme sen kakkinda tarihi roman. Bin soru. Bir gun sonra (Turkish punctuation and accents omitted). I want to interview you about historical fiction. One question, someday soon. She knew I meant with a translator from our previous attempt at conversing. Ilkay took my note pad and read it twice, consulting her co-worker. They furrowed their brows and scrunched up their faces. Then Ilkay looked up. "Does anyone speak English?" she asked. I knew this because I recognized the word Inglizce and was fairly certain I must have scribbled gibberish. After several inquiries, one highschool girl said yes. So, I said to her, "Back home some librarians feel that historical fiction offers little toward understanding issues of today. I would like to hear Ilkay’s opinion."

Through my young translator, Ilkay said, "Historical fiction is read here much, it is becoming a...a fashion."

Since I am not sure my question was put forth accurately, I plan to interview Ilkay and several other booksellers along this stretch of the cobble stone road beside the old Orient Express with a transaltor. For now, their thoughts on the matter must remain a mystery.

All Politics is Local

2008-10-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Merhaba!

My intensive Turkish language class is tough but fun. I’ve learned much in just two days but my jet lag kicks in during the fourth hour when I become worthless.

Just when I thought I had traveled far enough from home to leave behind the last several weeks of the presidential debates and the economic capriciousness, I met Engin. En route to the tram that takes me to Taksim Square, where the Tomer Language School, is, I have had the pleasure of visiting with this local rug artisan who refashions pieces of Oriental carpets and kilims into hand and travel bags. He has invited me to join him for tea to practice Turkish and I plan to take him up on his offer. Meanwhile, this is what he said to me when I ducked in to ask him where I could buy a fan for my room.

"For electrical appliances you must go to a part of town called Karakoy. It is like Wall Street in New York, with lots of banks. Only they have money."

I grinned. "Can you believe the mess the U.S. is in?"

"They are all stupid. It’s all about getting people in debt," Engin says, putting down his leather tools so that he can gesticulate better with his hands. "They spend 500, even 5,000 on a dinner in New York and yet people elsewhere feel lucky to have bread. Stupid! But there are people like them here in Turkey, too. Everywhere."

When I visit Engin again, I will ask him how he would deal with the Wall Street debacle and who he would like to see become the next president of the United States. Perhaps after that, I’ll leave politics behind...

--Meghan

Greetings from Turkey!

2008-10-07T07:56:00.001-07:00

I couldn't have dreamed of a more lovely and inspirational view from my Istanbul writing desk. I am here for two months of soaking up the local culture while I study theTurkish language. I awoke this am to the sound of a muezin, calling the city to prayer from this mosque, which is called the BLue Mosque. It stands opposite the Agha Sophia, once a Byzantine cathedral. Ships are floating alongside clusters of fishing boats in the Bosphorous behind. A sea breeze is sweeping across my keyboard. More to come when I am less jet lagged...

--Meghan

About Those Cinderella Stories...

2008-10-06T21:40:00.000-07:00

Check out Joanna Weiss's article, "Fear of Fairy Tales," in the Sep. 21, edition of the Boston Globe. In it, she writes that modern re-tellings of fairy tales are so sanitized, they're rendered impotent. Disney is, of course, an easy target when making this claim. Their "Little Mermaid," drifts so far from the Hans Christian Andersen's original that the only thing left in common between the two is a fin. Disney's heroine marries her prince; Andersen's sacrifices earthly love as well as her own life, but is rewarded with an eternal soul. I read the original to my own daughter when she was about four, skipping over the more violent descriptions. It was, still is, a favorite.

Weiss argues that bland characters sell more associated toys. Based on the number of mermaid dolls my daughter owns, I might disagree. Weiss notes that the original Rapunzel somehow got pregnant up in that tower, and what parent wants to buy her daughter a pregnant Rapunzel? (Well, Sarah Palin, maybe, but that's for another post...) I think there's more to it than marketing. Fairy tales get a bad rap, but they deal with some complex emotions. For the Little Mermaid, the story's subtle message is that sometimes love means letting go. Maybe we assume children can't understand nuance in a story because we struggle with nuance ourselves.

Watch the audience graph droop during the presidential debates when a candidate attempts to explain a complex issue. We grownups need our information in black and white, in bullet points, in sound bites. Save the gray areas for those wacky academic types! It's possible that by spending a little more time in some old-fashioned fairy tales, we'd all do a little better handling reality.

-- cross posted to Under the Covers...

Three Tough Moms Fight for Libraries

2008-09-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Efforts have kicked off in Oregon and Arizona to save school libraries. Other states may soon follow.

It all started with three “Tough Moms”—see them on the September cover of the national magazine, School Library Journal.

As reported before in this blog they started a grassroots effort that succeeded in getting Washington State legislators to commit $4-million in emergency money to school libraries for this year.

But they have only just begun. Stories keep coming in from districts where the school year started with more cutbacks in library programs.

Lisa Layera Brunkan e-mailed supporters: Perhaps the most heart-wrenching story has come from a Central Washington elementary school located on the Yakima Indian Reservation -- the school serves 1200 children, 96% of whom receive free or reduced lunch. In June, the teacher-librarians there purged 2,000 titles from the collection because the copyright was 1979 or prior.

There are no funds to replace these books. One of the librarians reported that, despite contributing $1,000 of her own money last year to purchase materials and prizes for the kids, still the most popular fiction paperbacks are scotch-taped together every 3 months. Many of these books don't make it through the year because the thickness of the
tape renders them unreadable.

The mom’s campaign, Fund Our Future Washington, continues to lobby the State Task Force on Basic Education, inform citizens on the issue and gather signatures. Last week their petition topped ten-thousand signatures.

Check out photos of the latest rally. As authors of children’s literature, we understand the importance of getting good books in the hands of students. Can a school succeed in preparing students for the 21^st Century without school libraries? NO.We’re joining this effort and we hope you will, too: take action.

~~Mary Cronk Farrell

SCBWI Washington/Idaho September Conference

2008-09-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

The September 13, conference, held in Spokane, was inspiring! Regional Advisor Deby Fredericks, and her assistants Jan St. George and Larry Telles put on a great event and deserve kudos for a job well done.

Ruta Rimas, Editorial Assistant with HarperCollins new imprint, Balzar and Bray, kicked things off with a talk on "Making Your Picture Book Work." She reminded authors that having a "story" means more than what happens in the book, but distilling the story to its core theme. A good lesson for writers in all categories.

Storyforce's own, Claire Rudolf Murphy, spoke about Setting in her talk, "Writing Your World." Claire first asked us to think about the setting where we do our writing every day, and whether or not that setting effectively helps us to have, "more pages at night than you had in the morning." Then she led the attendees through exercises that showed how setting reveals character, theme and plot.

Cherie Winner, who is the science writer for Washington State Magazine and has written 22 non-fiction books for children, spoke about "Finding the Angle" in your non-fiction writing. She instructed participants to pick a topic you love, because the road to publication is long and you need to stay passionate about the material.

Finally, Andrea Brown associate agent, Jamie Weiss Chilton, helped us understand how an agent benefits a writer's career. She noted that when an author gets into a sticky situation with an editor, the agent can play the bad cop. When selecting clients, she said she's not a stickler for mistakes in the format of a submission. However when a writer doesn't follow guidelines she sees a red flag in terms of how that author will work with an editor.

A Very Useful Conference! Thank you SCBWI Washington/Idaho!

-- cross posted to Under the Covers...

Turning the Little House Books into Classics

2008-08-25T22:09:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a research paper by Anita Clair Fellman, on the relationship between Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Lane. Fellner paints Laura's childhood in different strokes than Laura herself did, describing it as unstable due to their frequent moves, and filled with demanding responsibilities. As a devoted Little House fan, I must have read Big Woods through Golden Years at least a half dozen times, and never would have used Rose's words, "a hard, narrow, relentless life," to describe the journey.

When Rose, an established writer, convinced her mother to write stories based on her childhood, Laura produced "Pioneer Girl." First-person and written on a more adult level, it languished with publishers. As Rose worked the manuscript, complaining to her diary that her mother wanted, "prestige rather than money," she at last found a publisher interested in seeing one part of the manuscript expanded. This eventually became Little House in the Big Woods, but not without plenty of writer-editor, mother-daughter tension. At one point, Rose wrote to her mother, "you must listen to me…If you don't do what I tell you to, you must at least have good hard reasons for not doing it." Good advice from an editor, but the daughter continues, "Just because I was once three years old, you honestly oughtn't to think that I'm never going to know anything more than a three-year-old."

Fellner notes that through the books, Laura recast her family and her childhood with a "golden glow" that never really existed. Meanwhile, Rose, without whom the books might not have taken shape, never could take credit for work which became more celebrated than anything she produced under her own name.

--cross posted to Under the Covers...

Libraries Boom/Economy Bust

2008-08-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Librarians have seen it before. When the economy sours, free services become a sweet treat for families needing to cut spending. It's hard to beat free books, movies, music and internet service at the local public library.

In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a new library building opened last year has already recorded a 73-percent increase in library checkouts.

When I was a child I never visited a bookstore once, but Wednesday was Library Day, the one day our public library was open. My sister and I would walk a mile there and back with a stack of books every week. The librarian limited us to six each, but since we since shared we had enough. I can't imagine growing up without a library.

While public libraries are booming, parents and teachers worry school libraries may be an endangered species as school districts suffer funding shortfalls. I posted about this a few days ago and a parent e-mailed me with information on Washington States school library funding drive. They are near reaching ten-thousand signatures urging legislators to define basic education to include school libraries and librarians. Duh! Let me go on record: libraries are even more necessary than schools. Basic education? I think so.
Click here to help with the petition drive.

~~Mary Cronk Farrell

CRYPTIDS and the value of wonder.

2008-08-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, Darby Creek Publishing released TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS, a nonfiction look at the evidence for and the evidence against mysterious animals that may or may not be real. From Bigfoot to the Loch Ness Monster, dozens of urban legends are explored journalistically for kids 9 to 12 years old.

It was a book we all loved. I wrote the lion's share of the text, Rick illustrated and contributed many, many creative ideas, and Roxyanne Young was crucial when it came to constructing the cryptidictionary at the back of the book -- one of the most popular features.

Most good books sell briskly the first year they're available, then settle into a quiet place on the backlist. CRYPTIDS has been different. It hasn't slowed down, not even for a minute. More than 18,000 copies have been sold, it's in its third or fourth reprinting, and publicity has been on the slow but steady rise.

SECRET SATURDAYS, a new Cartoon Network series about a cryptid hunting family that will debut this fall, used the book as one of its research tools. They even interviewed Rick for a promotional trailer that will be in movie theaters across the nation in September. And when two Georgia men claimed they had found a Bigfoot carcuss -- press conference tomorrow, watch for it -- the Atlanta Journal Constitution called Rick for the straight story. The article should be syndicated in Knight-Rider papers all over the country.

Simply put, CRYPTIDS is a book with a life of its own. WHY?

Because we understood something about kids, and even people who used to be kids when we put it together. We understood that all people yearn for moments of wonder. And no subject should be off limits, even animals that might not be real. As long as the approach is honest, and responsible -- journalistic -- even high interest topics can be educationally valuable and FUN.

If I could make one point clear to my partners in crime -- teachers & librarians devoted to reaching out to kids -- it would be that one. Fun and education CAN go hand-in-hand, if we cling to our spirits of curiosity, if we never forget to wonder.

Thanks to all the readers who have made CRYPTIDS such a magical experience. Here's hoping it's follow-up, ALIEN ENCOUNTERS will be just as interesting and fun.

For more about the alleged Bigfoot discovery, follow this link:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Bigfoot-Remains-Found-In-Georgia-US-To-Be-Unveiled-At-Press-Conference/Article/200808215078470

For more about SECRET SATURDAYS, click here, and go to "New Shows," then "Secret Saturdays," then "Sizzle Reel":

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/promos/upfront/

Kelly Milner Halls

Money for School Libraries

2008-08-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

Q: How many people does it take to convince the Washington State Senate to request $12-million for school libraries?
A: Three moms who refused to give up.

In March 2008, the Senate voted 49-to-0 for the $12-million, but it was whittled to $4-million in emergency money to last only one year. Here’s what you can do: take action.

The moms, of course, told me they didn’t turn the light bulb alone. They created a website Fund Our Future to connect supporters, media, legislators and students, registering more than six-thousand signatures in favor of funding a teacher librarian in every public school in Washington State.

It all started when Spokane School District cut back teacher/librarians to solve funding problems. They couldn’t put one over on 7-year-old Isabel. She came home from school and told her mom, “It’s not a library anymore.”

Her mom Lisa Layera Brunkan investigated. “They literally turned out the lights, unplugged the computers and locked the door. The library was dark 2 ½ days a week,” she says. When the librarian was there, she had no time to help Isabel find suitable books.

Lisa joined two other concerned moms and began to speak out. “What were our chances?” says Lisa. “They told us, When pigs fly… We couldn’t wait until then. Our kids would be grown.”

They discovered they had to frame their message right for people to take action. “We know school libraries matter. We know test scores go up in schools with libraries, but saying that wasn’t enough,” says Susan McBurney. “We needed buzz words." What worked? Our kids deserve a 21^th century education.”

“Compared to some other states, Washington is in the dark ages,” Lisa says.

When they talked about preparing students for a global economy, about providing a relevant education that will keep them competitive, everybody started to listen, politicians, business people and voters alike.

Another talking point: Equity. A student in rural Steven’s county with no computer at home cannot compete with students at a Lake Washington school who take a camera on a field trip, then come back and create a podcast.

Next blog I’ll tell you how these moms set a fire now spreading to other states.

~~Mary Cronk Farrell

2008-07-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

PUTTING A FACE ON IRAN.

PHOTO CAPTION: Middle Schooler I met in Kerman, Iran. Girls asked their American and UK visitors in English, "Which would be better to study, electrical or mechanical engineering?"

A treat for me at ALA was an opportunity to speak with Greg Mortenson, co-author of Three Cups of Tea, and a mountaineer from Montana who built over fifty schools for women and girls in war torn and earthquake ridden villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I had not read his book, but have heard about his development work in this region from others who had met him. His lecture and slide show inspired me and I was thrilled to hear that a YA edition is forthcoming. It will help bring a humanistic view of this part of the world to young people, who are faced with primarily negative images of the Middle East in our mainstream media. Perhaps it will also encourage young readers to make a contribution of this nature to the world. Many schools are helping Greg through Pennies for Peace. /www.penniesforpeace.org/home.html

When I spoke with Greg, I thanked him for sharing with the audience Iran’s positive role in his work in Pakistan. During his talk Greg explained that in order to build schools in northern Pakistan, he needed permission of Iranian clerics, the Supreme Leaders, whom the local Shi’a mullas looked to for guidance. When word finally came, he was invited into the Imam Bara Mosque where he sat among eight members of the Council of Mullahs, who had gathered there to read the dispatch from Qom, Iran. “Dear Compassionate of the Poor,” it began, “our holy Koran tells us all children should receive education, including our daughters and sisters…you have our permission, blessings and prayers.”

So often during the talks I have given on Iran, the setting of my novel Anahita’s Woven Riddle, I am asked if women in Iran are permitted to work, drive cars or go to school. The answer is yes to all of these. Many hold advanced degrees and they work in every sector of society. I have been told that they are better represented in government than women in the U.S. The young women I met in Iran who lived in orphanages, attended middle schools or universities spoke more than one language, many knew two or three.

Thank you, Greg, for your good deeds, good words, good thoughts.

~~Meghan Nuttall Sayres

More from ALA

2008-07-09T10:48:00.001-07:00

Left to right:
Susan Van Metre, editor of ANAHITA'S WOVEN RIDDLE, Meghan Nuttall Sayres, Jason Wells, Director of Marketing, Abrams Books For Young Readers at ALA in Anaheim, CA on Saturday, June 28.

ALA, June 2008

2008-07-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

Both Meghan Nuttall Sayres and Kelly Milner Halls attended the American Library Association's annual conference in June of 2008 --in Anaheim, California this year. And what a whirlwind of activity that experience turned out to be.

Meghan signed for her publisher, Harry N. Abrahms/Amulet Books of course. But she also took part in a wonderful opportunity, the YALSA Coffee Klatch, Sunday morning, June 29. A ticketed event, YA librarians gathered at round tables with two empty chairs and enjoyed a "speed dating" experience with award winning authors, including Meghan, John Green, Sherman Alexie, Terry Trueman, A.M. Jenkins, and others. For five minutes, an author and her or his publicist joined a table to talk about writing for young adults. Once five minutes had passed, the whistle sounded, and the authors moved to a new table to repeat the discussion with a new group of fans. Meghan was terrific, of course.

Kelly (on the right in photo above with Crutcher fan, Mary) presented on a PLA (Public Library Association) panel about nonfiction for reluctant readers with photographer Nic Bishop on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm in the convention center. Not a seat was empty and people were standing at the doors as Kelly and Nic shared their passion for nonfiction and the kids that love it. Laughter and tears made it a special event because everyone in the room was there for the love of those kids. Kelly signed books for over an hour at the Lerner booth after her panel.

Why go to ALA? Because librarians are the gatekeepers when it comes to children's literature. We as storytellers work hard to create material worth reading. But the librarians bridge the gap between writers and readers. They work so hard and so selflessly to make themselves aware of the books and authors waiting for discovery, and they offer them up, often one-on-one, to the kids most likely to connect with them.

We owe librarians much more than our thanks. Attending ALA is one way to express our appreciation. Meghan and Kelly were both grateful to have that chance.

Resource List for Teachers

2008-04-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Fiction/Nonfiction Pairings: Powerful Ways to Connect Reading and Writing

As a writer of nonfiction and fiction and a teacher of writing, Claire Rudolf Murphy loves to explore how different genres can be brought together to help students better understands events and topics of history. She compiled this list for her presentation at the Illinois State Reading Conference in Springfield, March 2008.

"It has been a delight to put this together this list for teachers, librarians and students and to honor the terrific writers in children's literature," says Claire. "Please contact her with suggestions for further additions. The possibilities are endless."

To read more...

Women's History Resources/Suffrage Centennials

2008-03-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

March - Women's History Month, is a terrific time for young and old readers to learn more about the incredible women who have paved the way for us.

Some of Claire’s favorite women’s history resources:

(Books for young readers starred)

*Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World, by Cynthia Chin-Lee, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy.

*America in the Time of Susan B. Anthony by

America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines, Gail Collins.

*American Women: Their Lives in Their Words, Doreen Rappaport

* Fanny Lou Hamer and the Fight of the Vote, by Penny Colman

* Demanding Justice: A Story about Mary Ann Shadd Cary by Jeri Chase Ferris

*I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote, by Linda Arms White

*Jeanette Rankin: Political Pioneer, Gretchen Woelfle; Jeanette Rankin: First Lady of Congress by Trish Marx

Jeannette Rankin: America’s Conscience by Norma Smith

Iron-Jawed Angels, HBO movie, starring Hillary Swank, set in the 1916 suffrage battle. These incredible women were willing to die for the vote.

Living Voices: Brings Life to History – Seattle - 206-328-0798, www.livingvoices.org
livingvoices@livingvoices.org. Variety of live programs available for schools.

*Luba: The Angel of Bergen-Belsen by Luba Tryszysnska-Frederick, picture book set in Nazi POW camp

* Mama Went To Jail for the Vote, by Kathleen Karr, illustrated by Malene Laugesen

*Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference by Cheryl Harness

* Radical Red by James Duffy, out of print middle grade novel about suffrage

*Victoria Woodhull: Fearless Feminist by Kate Havelin (older nf)

*We the People: The 19th Amendment by Michael Burgan

Winning the Vote: The Triumph of the American Woman Suffrage Movement, P.J. Cooney, TERRIFIC RESOURCE - in collaboration with the National Women’s History Project www.nwhp.org.

*With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right To Vote, Ann Bausum

Women’s Voices form the Western Frontier, by Susan G. Butrille

Please
“Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices, 1910-2010” Washington Centennial Suffrage Commemoration

Commemorations around the state on February 25,2009 and November 8, 2010. Email or sign up with Claire Rudolf Murphy (clairerudolfmurphy@gmail.com) to help plan events for Spokane area.

For more information:
http://www.washingtonwomenshistory.org/
The Women's History Consortium, part of the Washington State Historical Society, dedicated to preserving and making available resources about Washington women's history.

email: sstevenson@wshs.wa.gov
211 21st Avenue SW
Olympia, WA 98501
Phone: 360-586-0171
Fax: 360-586-8322

A Force for Children

2008-03-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here at StoryForce our goal is to be a Force for children. Sometimes we meet or read about someone who inspires us through their own actions on behalf of children. Writer Lynn L. Caruso introduces us to one such a person in her latest book "Honoring Motherhood."

Gabriela Mistral:
First South American Woman to Win the Nobel Prize in Literature
Poet, Educator, Diplomat, Reformer

“We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer ‘Tomorrow,’ his name is Today.”

– Gabriela Mistral Su Nombre es Hoy (His Name is Today)

Gabriela Mistral:

Chilean 1889-1957, pseudonym for Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga
Often referred to as the “Mother of the Nation” because her poems often referenced children.
First Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1945)
Started her career as an elementary and secondary school teacher in Chile.
Later worked with government educational reform programs in Chile and Mexico and as a cultural minister and diplomat.
And later as a professor of Spanish literature in the U.S.

HER WRITING:

Mistral wrote on the dominant themes of motherhood, love, childhood, nature, and death. She was an advocate for children, particularly those living in poverty.
Mistral experienced many hardships in her life including the suicide of both her fiance' and her adopted son. The first collection of poems for which she received recognition addressed her lover's suicide.
Four of her poems are included in Honoring Motherhood (pp. 24, 35, 72, and 91).
- The Franciscan Order of Chile requested a monetary donation to “the impoverished children of Chile” as compensation for reprinting her poems in Honoring Motherhood. In this small way, her life’s work/legacy continues -- both her written work and her advocacy for children.

Support School Libraries

2008-03-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

Citizens across the state of Washington are calling on state leaders to ensure that all Washington elementary and secondary students have full-time access to school libraries and a certified teacher librarian.

It is our hope that Washington voices can help reverse the trend of serious reductions to our school library programs by calling on our leaders to ensure that teacher librarians, library programs and technology training are no longer at risk. It is our wish that our children and their teachers have full and equal access to the literacy and collaborative opportunities provided by our school libraries and certified teacher librarians. It is our belief that information literacy and the technology training facilitated in our school libraries are crucial to our children, and that the teacher librarian's knowledge of student ability allows them to place "just right books" into the hands of students, fostering a love of reading and life-long learning.

If you want more information or to contact your legislature:

http://gopetition.com/petitions/world-class-education-for-washington.html

Resources You Can Use: Women's History

2008-03-06T13:47:00.001-08:00

Web Links for Women's History Information

American Women's History: A Research Guide
Digital Collections of Primary Sources
http://frank.mtsu.edu/%7Ekmiddlet/history/women/wh-digcoll.html

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a national research library devoted to collecting, preserving and providing access to resources documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent throughout the world. This portion of their Web site has full text of biographies by or about African American women of the 19th century, arranged alphabetically by author.
Digital Schomburg: African American Women Writers of the 19th Century: Biographies and Autobiographies

A project of Brown University and Honors English Program at South Kingstown High School, RI. This site is mainly composed of twenty six oral history accounts of grandmothers by their granddaughters. It also includes a glossary, a brief WW II timeline and several articles on women and WW II.
What Did You Do in the War Grandma?

WWW Virtual Library Women's History
The main purposes of this virtual library are to list women's history institutions and organizations, locate archival and library collections, and provide links to Internet resources on women's history. In addition, also included are a list of women's studies journals and a few comprehensive link collections useful as a starting point for searching the Internet for women's studies in general.
http://www.iisg.nl/w3vlwomenshistory/unitedstates.html

Study on women looking at pages from Ladies Home Journal 1889.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ573385&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ573385

Women Working, 1800 - 1930 focuses on women's role in the United States economy and provides access to digitized historical, manuscript, and image resources selected from Harvard University's library and museum collections. The collection features approximately 500,000 digitized pages and images.
http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/

StoryForce in Spokane, Washington

2008-03-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

StoryForce Kicks Off Women’s History Month

March 3, 2008

3:30pm-4:30pm

Forza Coffee in the Lincoln Heights Mall right next to 2^nd Look Books.

Please join us for:

· Conversation

· Local authors Claire Rudolf Murphy, Kelly Milner Halls,

· Lynn Caruso, Mary Cronk Farrell

· The story of Spokane Foremother May Arkwright Hutton

· League of Women Voters

· Door Prizes

· Resources on Women’s History

· No host coffee bar

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

2008-03-05T13:36:00.000-08:00

Author Mary Cronk Farrell gets a wonderful, warm welcome at Harrington School on Dr. Suess' Birthday. Thanks Harrington!! Mary had a great time celebrating with you and honoring one of the best writers known to children. Her favorite part was reading "Sneetches" aloud to the students. She also appreciated the mining display and your interest in her historical novel "Fire in the Hole!" .

StoryForce in Salt Lake City

2008-03-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

Our First Event!

2008-02-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

Women's History Month

We plan to celebrate March 6th with a coffee social and program for local educators. Authors Claire Rudolf Murphy and Kelly Milner Halls will share about several interesting and important women in history. We'll feature the League of Women Voters, and hear the story of May Awkwright Hutton, a pioneer woman who fought for women's rights in the Inland Northwest and spoke out against the abuse of power by multi-national corporations and crooked politicians. And that was just in her spare time! She also cooked on a steamboat and was part-owner in a silver mine.

Check back here. We'll have more information about our gathering, as well as resources for use in the classroom during Women's History Month.

Welcome!

2008-02-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

We invite young people, authors, educators, librarians and parents to join us in celebrating the power of story in our lives. Together we will explore cultures near and far and listen for voices seldom heard or long forgotten. We will discover the wisdom of history that connects with young people today, and seek stories that help us grow in understanding ourselves and of our world.