Features

When I read Jeff Jackson’s 2013 novel Mira Corpora, it blew my mind. It felt so of its moment, in terms of its literary heft: it was an experimental novel that was still friendly, beautifully written and designed, an exemplar of “indie lit” at a moment when independent presses were on the rise gloriously (its publisher, Two Dollar Radio, sort of cornered the market on this kind of adventurous literature back then). But it also felt somewhat of the mainstream, and not in a bad way. It came with a blurb from Don DeLillo, after all. How many debut novels can claim that?

One of my very favorite series growing up was Sydney Taylor’s ALL OF A KIND FAMILY, about five Jewish sisters growing up at the turn of the 20th century in New York City’s Lower East Side. The stories are delightful-- vivid and funny and warm, with clear Jewish representation and plots that are about everyday life adventures, not issues. I read them over and over. So imagine my excitement when I saw that one of my favorite authors for young people, Emily Jenkins, had been asked to write the  ALL OF A KIND FAMILY HANUKKAH picture book!

If you are not familiar with the work of children’s and young adult author Cynthia Leitich Smith, I hope you will be soon. Cyn is a prolific and thoughtful writer of everything from picture books to supernatural to contemporary and more. She’s a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller, an MFA instructor at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and a mentor to many kidlit authors, including me.

Jeffrey Yang’s Hey, Marfa presents a multifaceted look at the tiny, West Texas town of Marfa, a self-referential art town that thrives on aesthetic and feeds philosophical thought. The poet uses dense nouns and verbs juxtaposed create a surplus of image-based poems, alongside the more historical, narrative-based pieces. Yang references the town’s focus on art in poems like “Thirteen Stations” when he describes the landscape as expressing “titanium white wisps / brushed raw sienna earth”, calling to mind the names for tubes of paint. Poems like “Circle” are wistful in tone.

I was drawn to Nell Painter’s memoir the first time I glimpsed the cover and title of Old in Art School. I read a couple of pages and was immediately engrossed. Her candor and vivacity kept me engaged throughout the chapters as I experienced how her journey back to art school in her older years transformed her conception of art, herself, and her career. I spoke with her to explore more of what inspired her to write about her experiences and where else she’s headed!

It’s October 30th; are you feeling spooky yet? Not only is Halloween tomorrow, but this year is also the 200th anniversary of FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Shelley.

If you haven’t read this heart-stopping tale of science and horror, now’s a better time than ever. But if you have read it, and are hungry for more, check out these contemporary books along the same theme.

Thousand Star Hotel, Bao Phi’s powerful second collection of poetry, wrestles with inheritance and lineage – the devastation of war, poverty, racism and the costs of masculinity. In the book’s opening poem, “Say What?,” Phi uses a repetition of the word “Ma” and the six different meanings in Vietnamese to conclude that “Vietnamese people have always been spoken word poets.

I’ve been a huge fan of Leila Sales’ writing since I picked up a copy of THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, about about a girl DJ, the power of music, relationships, and more. Sales’ voice grabbed me then and hasn’t let me go since. So what a true pleasure to be able to interview her about writing, life, Twitter-dragging, moral grey areas, and her newest and very timely YA IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANYTHING NICE TO SAY about girl who thoughtlessly says something truly awful on line and has to deal with the public and personal fallout. Here’s what Leila had to say:

I recently had the privilege of meeting author Elana K. Arnold at the Austin SCBWI conference. She was giving one of the keynotes and I was presenting a breakout session, and somehow we sat together at dinner. The ensuing conversation over chips and guacamole and margaritas about literature and life and feminism and fairy tales and more was so fascinating that I asked her right then if I could interview her. And then I read DAMSEL. It is a powerful novel, skillfully written and raw in its emotions even as Arnold uses fairy tale narrative structure.