home of author & poet E. Kristin Anderson

Posts in category literature

Short Story Month: Guest Post from Saundra Mitchell: Playing Dress Up

May 20, 2013 3 Comments ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
Short Story Month: Guest Post from Saundra Mitchell: Playing Dress Up

Authors play dress-up when they write short stories. It’s the truth; I wouldn’t lie to you about this.

Most of the time, I sit around wearing my “paranormal fantasy” costume. If a book has my name on it, chances are, paranormal fantasy. It might be psychic powers, or elemental beings, or ghosts—but there will definitely be a little woo-woo involved.

If you ask me to write a short story, though, boy howdy. Experimental fusion fiction! Mysteries! High fantasy! Paranormal romance! And just recently, the most twisted contemporary fairy tale retelling ever. As a writer, being invited to contribute a short story means it’s playtime.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, guest post, reading, short stories, Short Story Month, writing, YA - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Writer Resources for Noobs (…and not so noobs)

May 13, 2013 3 Comments ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
Writer Resources for Noobs (…and not so noobs)

I spend a lot of time giving advice to young writers. It’s cool, I like doing it, and I really don’t mind spending time with newbies discussing the business and the art. But I thought it might be useful to everyone if I put some of my favorite stuff here in one post.

I find that I often link a series of the same places over and over. There are a lot of resources out there on the web, and yeah, I could just tell y’all to go Google it, but while Google brings up some great links, I also have my own personal favorites. So here you go, EKA’s Favorite Writing Resources:

~ read more ~
Posted in books, community, marketing, publishing, writing, YA

National Poetry Month: Amber Dawn: An excerpt from HOW POETRY SAVED MY LIFE

Apr 25, 2013 1 Comment ~ Written by Guest Blogger
National Poetry Month: Amber Dawn: An excerpt from HOW POETRY SAVED MY LIFE

“The first time I heard poetry read out loud (aside from in a secondary school classroom, by reluctant students reciting Milton or Shakespeare) was at a Riot Grrrl gathering. “Spoken word” poetry was what I heard, and the speaker employed an arresting rhythm and form coupled with brave content about sexual assault. Her words were so powerful that I thought I might pass out before she was finished; then, after having pulled through the reading, I wanted to hear more.

The first poems I wrote (again, outside of the secondary school classroom) were the result of an outreach project for at-risk girls. Like numerous successful community-based art projects, it was based on the idea that vulnerable people who make art can take ownership of their stories and ideas and, in turn, develop greater self-esteem and community ties and reduce the harmful activities in their lives. I believe that only a form as dynamic and fundamentally creative as poetry could have provided a medium in which my personal story could unfold.”

~ read more ~
Posted in books, community, guest post, lgbtq, memoir, national poetry month, poetry, reading - Tagged , , , ,

National Poetry Month: YA Author Leanne Liberman Interviews Children’s Author & Poet Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang

Apr 24, 2013 6 Comments ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
National Poetry Month: YA Author Leanne Liberman Interviews Children’s Author & Poet Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang

Leanne Lieberman: One of my earliest memories of poetry was reading Ludwig Bemelman’s MADELINE out loud to myself to hear the rhymes. Do you have a memory of enjoying poetry as a child? Did you write poems when you were young?

Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang: I have always loved books and I do count picture books as poetry but I didn’t really read poetry until I was an adult. I think it’s part exposure, and part knowing how to find poetry that will resonate with you. Unfortunately poetry isn’t really taught in the schools anymore (especially Canadian poetry) so I think it’s harder and harder to nurture a love for poetry early on. That said, I do remember writing quite a lot of bad poetry. In fact, I can probably chronicle the stages of my poetry career here:

~ read more ~
Posted in author interviews, books, community, guest post, national poetry month, picture books, poetry, reading, writing, YA - Tagged , , , , ,

National Poetry Month: Irene O’Garden: From Poetry to Picture Book

Apr 23, 2013 2 Comments ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
National Poetry Month: Irene O’Garden: From Poetry to Picture Book

I believe the solution to many problems lies in compassion. Compassion is born in the imagination, where we can walk a mile in someone else’s paws or pine trees, if you will.

This “Forest” grew out of an early set of my poems and my work with our regional River of Words program – a national program which connects kids with their watershed via poetry and art. Our local Land Trust (The Hudson Highlands Land Trust) wants to foster environmental stewardship in children. When they heard about River Of Words, they secured grants, hired a team of environmental educators (I’m the Poetry Instructor) and began to offer free workshops in our local schools.

One of my workshops uses my Voices Of Animals poems. Each first “person” poem explores an animal’s physical and emotional reality. I then ask children to select an animal and write one of their own.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, guest post, national poetry month, picture books, poetry, writing - Tagged , , , , ,

National Poetry Month: Tamera Wissinger: A Mighty Bridge Over the River — The Unlikely Influence of Les Misérables

Apr 22, 2013 5 Comments ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
National Poetry Month: Tamera Wissinger: A Mighty Bridge Over the River — The Unlikely Influence of Les Misérables

Several years ago, I first saw the musical Les Misérables with friends at a Broadway in Chicago presentation. I was so excited to be seeing the show live for the first time and it lived up to my expectations in every way, and in one way it far exceeded them. That moment of shifting perspective is still so clear: During the seminal song I Dreamed a Dream sung by the tormented character Fantine, there is a line: “But the tigers come at night/With their voices soft as thunder…” Wait a minute…tigers with voices soft as thunder…a simile right there in middle of Les Misérables. And more than that, the word choice of “softest” when the librettist could have easily chosen to write “loud as thunder” or “roaring thunder,” but he didn’t.

Right there in the theater I felt down to my toes: this was written by a poet, and from that moment on I viewed the libretto for Les Misérables in a different, more exalted, way. After the show I bought the CD and listened to it countless times, eventually adding it to all of my mobile devices so that I could hear it anywhere.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, guest post, middle grade, national poetry month, poetry, pop culture, reading, writing - Tagged , ,

National Poetry Month: Alan Katz: Becoming a Poet by Accident

Apr 19, 2013 1 Comment ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
National Poetry Month: Alan Katz: Becoming a Poet by Accident

About six years ago, after I’d written a bunch of Silly Dilly songbooks such as TAKE ME OUT OF THE BATHTUB AND OTHER SILLY DILLY SONGS, ARE YOU QUITE POLITE?, and WHERE DID THEY HIDE MY PRESENTS? (all illustrated by the wonderful David Catrow), the wonderful Emma Dryden said, “How about writing a poetry book?”

I said no, explaining that my wife (the wonderful Rose Horowitz) was an amazing poet, but that I didn’t think I could write poetry.

Emma said try. I said no. She said try. I said no. She said try. And so I tried.

I wrote a few poems. She liked them. I liked them. I learned not to automatically say no to new ideas. And I’m proud to say that that was the start of the book OOPS! (McElderry Books, 2008), which was illustrated by the wonderful Ed Koren.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, community, guest post, national poetry month, poetry, reading, writing - Tagged , , , , , ,

National Poetry Month: Andrea Cheng: All Things in Verse!

Apr 18, 2013 3 Comments ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
National Poetry Month: Andrea Cheng: All Things in Verse!

One of my earliest memories is of my grandmother singing a nursery rhyme to me while I was falling asleep. It was a simple song, in Hungarian (the language we spoke at home), about a squirrel that climbed up a tree, holding a letter in its mouth, and the letter was for me! I still remember the words and how happy I felt when I heard her soothing voice.

I started writing poems of my own almost as soon as I could write. I remember trying to find rhyming words for the ends of the lines and working hard to make the rhythm work. One of my favorite birthday presents was a blue notebook from my sister. On the front she wrote: For Your Poems. (see pictures) I carefully copied my poems into this notebook for all of third grade. I would fall asleep at night thinking of new poems to add the following morning.

When I started writing for children, the stories often came to me in short lines but I felt like in order to publish them, I would have to write them in prose. Then on a whim, I sent Louise May, my editor at Lee and Low, a narrative in seven verses called Shanghai Moments. “Can you write more?” she asked me in an e-mail. This became my first book written in verse, SHANGHAI MESSENGER, illustrated by Ed Young. Since then, I have published two other books in verse, WHERE THE STEPS WERE, and my new book, ETCHED IN CLAY.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, culture, guest post, middle grade, national poetry month, nonfiction, picture books, poetry, writing, YA - Tagged , , , , ,

National Poetry Month: K.A. Holt: Go Find Some Poetry

Apr 17, 2013 Leave a Comment ~ Written by E. Kristin Anderson
National Poetry Month: K.A. Holt: Go Find Some Poetry

It’s funny that, with two haiku books floating around bookstores and libraries, and one novel in verse set to release in fall 2014, I still have a hard time thinking of myself as a poet. I hear people talk about poets and poetry and I never really attach myself to the things they say. I’m not a poet, I scoff. I just write how I feel. And then they scoff right back at me and say that’s why you’re a poet, dummy, and so maybe they’re right.

Am I a poet?

What does that mean, exactly?

Do I wear a black beret and talk about Sylvia Plath over baguettes and espresso? Do I quote Rime of the Ancient Mariner while I put my kids to sleep? Have I been known to recite the prologue to Canterbury Tales while I drive in epic traffic?

Well, yes to all of those things except for the beret. But I don’t know if this makes me a poet more than just a dork.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, culture, guest post, middle grade, national poetry month, poetry, reading, writing, YA - Tagged , , , , , , , ,

National Poetry Month: Karen Finneyfrock: Spoken Word Poetry & Young Adult Fiction

Apr 16, 2013 Leave a Comment ~ Written by Guest Blogger
National Poetry Month: Karen Finneyfrock: Spoken Word Poetry & Young Adult Fiction

was a spoken word artist long before I imagined the first line for my young adult novel, THE SWEET REVENGE OF CELIA DOOR. “At fourteen I turned Dark. Now I’m Celia the Dark.”

For ten years before writing fiction, I wrote and performed poetry and was deeply involved in Poetry Slam, both as an organizer and poet. I competed on multiple slam teams, published two books of poetry, and toured both nationally and internationally. So, it makes sense that my first novel would feature an outsider, teen poet, who writes poems to deal with and understand her world. In the course of the story, Celia tells us, “I’ve been writing a lot of poetry since I turned Dark.”

I learned some lessons from writing and performing poetry that have helped me immensely in publishing fiction.

~ read more ~
Posted in books, community, guest post, national poetry month, poetry, reading, writing, YA - Tagged , , ,
←

EKA

E. Kristin Anderson grew up in Westbrook, Maine and is a graduate of Connecticut College. She has a fancy diploma that says “B.A. in Classics,” which makes her sound smart but has not helped her get any jobs in Ancient Rome. Ms. Anderson is the co-editor of Dear Teen Me, an anthology based on the popular website. Her poetry has been published worldwide in many magazines and she is an assistant YA and Children’s editor at Hunger Mountain. Once upon a time she worked at The New Yorker. Look out for Ms. Anderson's work in the forthcoming anthology Coin Opera II, a collection of poems about video games from Sidekick Books and Futuredaze, an anthology of YA SciFi from Underwords. She now lives in Austin, TX and blogs at EKristinAnderson.com and MetreMaids.com. She is represented by Christina Hogrebe at the Jane Rotrosen Agency.

View Full Profile →

Follow @ek_anderson!

  • Side note, I’m really excited about some if the writing workshops I’m planning for summer! *puts on teacher hat* 3 hours ago
  • Just sent @writelies a message. Subject line: Crazy Middle of the Night Email # 67548865. Sigh. I have a problem. 3 hours ago
  • Starting Doll Bones, by Holly Black bit.ly/YVNDp8 6 hours ago
  • Finished with The Sweet Dead Life, by Joy Preble bit.ly/13D8jR3 9 hours ago
  • Have gotten in some good blurbs for my post on how cover art works. Authors & pros, if you want to talk about covers, email/DM! 12 hours ago

Follow Me on Twitter

Powered by Twitter Tools

May 2013
S M T W T F S
« Apr    
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031  

NaNoWriMo Badges