Picture books for children are poems with pictures. They can be hysterically funny. They can bring a family memory to life. Maria Popova describes picture books as “stories that tackle with elegant simplicity such complexities as uncertainty, loneliness, loss, and the cycle of life.” What makes a story one that children will love? What are…
Pugs, Merengue, Dolce & Gabbana By Terry Farish In a first draft, the one that makes me cry over some truth I’ve finally seen, for a flashing moment, I am sun god. I am sloppy and haphazard in my journal keeping, but my journals are invaluable to me when I go…
I wrote this essay in appreciation for Jan Mark. Jan was a two-time winner of the Carnegie Medal, the award given to England’s most outstanding work of children’s literature. I studied with Jan in the early 1980s.
Everybody has a story and it’s made up of moments – this moment – of a story. These prompts are about a moment. Scribbles on a page. (I do mine really early in the morning, but if you’re a teen, you might do yours on the phone in the dark late at night.) These are…
He calls a poem a burble. A writing pad is a paperbag, or a newspaper, periodico, or whatever you want it to be. All that matters is that you hurry, hurry, hurry. And write down whatever you see in the world. What you hear, what you taste, What you love.