A Poem for a Poetry Man

I’m winding down from the 2009 Annual NCTE Convention in Philadelphia and Thanksgiving. I attended the NCTE Convention for the first time ever because I wanted to be there for the Poetry Party in honor of Lee Bennett Hopkins, the 2009 recipient of the NCTE Excellence in Poetry for Children Award.

Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong compiled a special book of poems, Dear One, as a tribute to Lee. I was thrilled to be asked to contribute a poem to Dear One.

Here's a picture of me with some of the children's poets who attended the Poetry Party for Lee Bennett Hopkins.

L to R: Janet Wong, J. Patrick Lewis, Kristine O'Connell George,

Moi, Rebecca Kai Dotlich

Here’s the poem I wrote for Dear One. The words in italics are titles and a subtitle of poetry books that Lee has published.

Eating Poetry
by Elaine Drabik Magliaro

Here we are
sitting side by side,
eating through a day
full of poems,
chewing on wonderful words,
delicious words
full of surprises—
words that flit, flutter, fly
from our tongues,
words that taste of
April, bubbles, chocolate,
words with the scent of sky magic.

Here we are
sitting side by side
savoring similes,
munching on metaphors,
rhymes dribbling down our chins,
licking rhythm from our lips.

Here we are
sitting side by side
in the city I love
eating poetry
a l l d a y l o n g…
Yummy!

********************

At Wild Rose Reader: Party for a Poetry Man.

At Political Verses: Who's the Turkey?: A Poem about Sarah Palin

The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Becky’s Book Reviews.

Fay

I just finished Fay Weldon's bracing and cheerful autobiography, AUTO DA FAY. Listen to this (from the last chapter, "A Career is Born"):

"I put the play into the envelope -- I feel the same awe of it as I did of the atory I wrote about a railway station when I was eleven, and about Pompei when I was 15. I know it has an existence outside myself: I simply deliver it as a midwife delivers a baby. I call the doctor who is startled to find I haven't given birth yet and says I really have to go to into hospital to have the baby induced, now. It's been too long.

"I go to the hospital in a taxi. I can't get hold of Ron who's meant to be decorating a house...and has left me his number in case I go into labour, but they say he hasn't come back from lunch. This is a bit worrying because his painting partner is his best friend's girlfriend, blonde, a proper artist's moll, and I am now counted as a wife, and she is unhappy, but I am in no state to worry. I know he loves me.

"Karen [new step-daughter who has been threatening to run away] seems to be secretly packing, but I can't go into that now. I get the taxi to stop on the way to University Hospital where my father trained, and where I am to have the baby, put A Catching Complaint through the letterbox on the corner of Regent's Park Road and Primrose Hill Road where later I was to kill poor disagreeable Angie in The Hearts and Lives of Men [really fun book, read it], and three hours later Daniel has burst flailing into the world.

"And I am now thoroughly Weldon....what I do from now on, all that early stuff digested and out of the way, is write, and let living take a minor role."

The "early stuff" -- her life before this play which was the first of many, many sales--to TV (she wrote the script for UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS and for the 60s/70s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, which *I* think did better with Darcy/Elizabeth than the Colin Firth version: but then I always found him totally wrong for the role -- too fat and puffy-looking, not tall enough,and not nearly arrogant enough!), movies, publishers -- 24 novels, some children's books, and nonfiction, and short stories too)-- is the subject of the book. Throughout it, though, there are references to her (later) writing. I found the lack of fuss she made about her writing very different from the way I usually talk about mine, and thoroughly inspiring.

She was in advertising before the "new career" was born; one of her slogans, alas rejected, was "Vodka--get drunker quicker."

Thank you Fay Weldon, for this autobiography and all the other books of yours I've read that have made me laugh -- and think!

super-extravaganza book give-away!

Are you looking for some great gifts? Enter the Enchanted Inkpot's Annual Inkies Giveaway Extravaganza! All you have to do is answer one of the following questions HERE: What MG/YA fantasy would you like to read over the holiday break? What fantasy book most reminds you of the Holiday or New Year season?

Can't wait to read the answers!

giving thanks

Thanks everyone for helping me choose my TODAY Show outfit! Which one will I wear? Well, you'll just have to tune in to see! Ha ha. But, I will announce the jam winner next week--I want to wait until then as some might be too consumed by the holiday right now to claim their prize (though it's really good jam!).

And Thanksgiving is a very appropriate holiday. For those of you who have read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, you know that thankfulness is one of the themes. To me, knowing and remembering how truly lucky I am is perhaps my greatest fortune. And hopefully, yours too.

This Thanksgiving:

I am grateful for the the typical but very, very important: health(except for some bad teeth), great friends, and family.
I am grateful that the work that I have tried my best with has been well received.
I am grateful that I finally got to go to PEI
I am grateful for tolerant sasquatches
I am grateful that I finally learned how to make a frosting rose
I am grateful that Al Roker chose my book
I am grateful that my books have such lovely and supportive fans!

I have many more things than that to be thankful for, but those are some of the big ones. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

The Public Thinktank

Today I'm posting from St. Louis, where I'm visiting family for the week of Thanksgiving. Hope you are all gearing up for a great holiday!

Just a note to say today between 12:00 and 1:00 pm I will be interviewed on Public Thinktank Radio during their Lets Talk About Education show. It will be a live call-in show where I talk about recent projects and my new books. The station broadcasts in the Brooklyn College area, but if you feel like tuning in you can also listen online (there is a link at their web site) or check the archives in a few days.

More soon!

I'm ba-ack! Japan and Hong Kong trip

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog for the last few weeks--as some of you know, I was traveling internationally in Japan and Hong Kong. I had hoped to try to post from abroad, but the spotty internet access at hotels and the time difference made it difficult.

Right now, I'm in Philadelphia for the NCTE conference (National Council of Teachers of English). But that will be a post for another day. Today, I'd like to share my Asia trip in photos, focusing on everything children's book-related.

First up, Japan. I was there for the wedding of Little, Brown senior designer Saho Fujii--Saho is the designer of Wabi Sabi and Year of the Dog, to name just two of her amazing book designs. She is originally from Kyoto, and that was where the beautiful wedding was held:
In the two days after the wedding, Saho organized sightseeing in the area, including to Mt. Hiei, where the cat Wabi Sabi traveled:
We also checked out a bookstore, and found some of the books we publish, included Vampirates, which Senior Designer Alison Impey designed:

And of course we found Twilight, which they divide into parts so as to keep each individual book small, compact, and cute:
We also found Gossip Girl and Eggs:

Back in Tokyo, Alison Impey (of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and When the Moon Forgot design fame) and I visited Japanese children's book publisher Tokuma Shoten's offices, and had lunch with their editor-in-chief and senior editor, as well as SCBWI regional advisor for Japan, Holly Thompson.
And then the SCBWI Japan conference, which took place all day Saturday the 14th in Yokohama. I gave three talks solo:
And the Alison joined me to talk about how illustrators are chosen, as well as a Q&A:
Here are two group pictures with some of the attendees!
The next day I was off to Hong Kong for a whirlwind three days. On Monday, Regional Adviser Mio Debnam took me to lunch and then sightseeing to the Peak:
And then I gave my first of two evening talks:
And then a lovely dinner at the China Club with a great group of people!
The next day, I wandered around the city, and randomly came across an elaborate and beautiful Jimmy Liao exhibit in Hong Kong's Times Square!
(from Sound of Colors, with moons from When the Moon Forgot in the background...)

So beautiful.

I gave another talk Tuesday evening, and we went to another delicious dinner at the Quarterdeck Club:
Yum:
As usual, I was all about the food on my trip. For fun, here's an animoto video of some of my food highlights:



(If you can't view the video, try this link.)

I need to give a special thank you to Kathleen Ahrens, the SCBWI International Regional Advisor who extended the initial invitation to me to come to Asia, and also to Holly Thompson and Mio Debnan who were such gracious hosts, tour guides, and organizers. I had a wonderful time meeting everyone, and, of course, eating. ;)

And a special congratulations to Saho and Bob! May they have a wonderful marriage full of love.

about nonfiction

I want to talk about nonfiction for a moment... since that's what I do. I must wonder why I do it since it takes a lot more work than fiction. Anyway, when you get down to it, a lot of historical nonfiction is fiction in a way. When all the people you're writing about are dead it becomes a he said she said kind of thing. What is the truth? Even now, when things are videotaped (you'd presume it to be the truth) IS it?

The other day I was flipping through Palin's new book while at work. I know I know, but I was bored. Don't judge! Anyhow, she wrote about the video that went viral--the one where she was interviewed in front of a turkey being beheaded last thanksgiving. She said she didn't know that there was a turkey behind her and that they turned the camera to an odd angle to catch it. I thought--how awful! What a terrible thing for a camera man to do! I felt bad for Palin. So, of course, when I got home I promptly hunted down the video on YouTube. Boy did my opinion change! It was not shot at an angle. The scene was shot with her straight on and the turkey directly behind her. Yes, the camera man knew what was going on but she should have as well! It did not look like they were trying to one up her at all. So what's the truth? Did she or did she not know about the turkey? There was a lot of noise going on, too--cries for help via the turkey and that sort of thing.

When I did research for Strong Man I got all sorts of conflicting information about when exactly Atlas died. Was he 79 or 80? His grave stone said one thing, his official website said another... and his obits were all over the place.

Now that I'm working on a book about a dog. Was he black or brown? All the kids' book covers illustrate him as brown but it turns out that he's stuffed i a museum (odd, I know) and he's brown. Did he age and turn brown or was he always brown? Perhaps the old news articles made him look black because they were in black and white.

So what I must conclude is that there is no one truth for anything. It's all a matter of perspective. Nonfiction writing is a job of taking what people say and then making your best educated guess as to what the truth really is. Perhaps if I were writing about math then things would be different... but I can promise you all now that me and math are like fire and ice. We don't get along. So I will continue to make educated guesses and hope that kids can learn to do the same as well.

meghan

SATURDAY

Hello all,

I will be doing a signing from 12 - 4 at the Brooklyn Museum this saturday. Many of my lovely fellow authors/illustrators will be there as well. So, if you're in the area, stop on by!

meghan

choose my Today Show outfit!

Sooo, my search for the red dress and my Today show outfit is winding down. While there were many, many gorgeous (and expensive) red dress/top combos I have narrowed it down to 2! Yes, 2! Aren't you proud of me?

But I can't decide between the 2...and this is where YOU come in! Tell me which one you think I should wear, PLEASE:

outfit A (an ebay found anthropologie dress):
or B (a preloved--my favorite store--sweater and gray skirt):

Both have been chosen for their color (you know how I insisted on lucky red) and appropriateness (I looked at what other authors wore and tried not to go toooo overboard) in mind.

Let me know what you think! Leave a comment at my gracenotes blog with your choice and your reason why! To one random commenter I will send a jar of Very Berry Cherry PEI preserves, fresh from my recent PEI vacation (it's really good jam, you HAVE to try it. soooo yummy!).

Books with flair!

I've joined Books with flair; a program that partners me with my closest independent bookseller, the Porter Square Bookstore, to offer personally autographed books for the holidays! How does it work?

Simply call the Porter Square Bookstore at 617-491-2220 and ask for a signed or personalized copy of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

You pay for the book(s), shipping, and handling, and the bookstore will ship signed stock in time for the occasion, even gift-wrapped if requested. If you want the books personalized, provide the name of recipient to bookseller. I will be going in to sign once a week until Dec. 21st, so this is a great opportunity to get books specially signed for the holidays!


Books with Flair (dreamed up by the marketing genius Mitali Perkins--remember she was the one who helped me plan my online launch?) is a wonderful way to get unique and meaningful gifts for the people on your holiday list! Since this year I'm not able to offer free autographed bookplates (so sorry!), this still enables those of you who were looking to give my books as gifts a personalized touch.

If you are an author or illustrator, you should consider joining Books with Flair, yourself!