Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 70
September 13, 2024
'The heart of everything we do'
"Theillustrations in picture books are the first paintings most children see, andbecause of that, they are incredibly important. What we see and share at thatage stays with us for life." – Anthony Browne
A British writer and illustrator ofchildren's books, Browne was born on Sept. 11 1946, and started drawing andwriting when he was 5. Browne said as a teenager his goals were to beeither a journalist, a cartoonist, or a boxer, but he always gravitated back todoing things for kids.
“Never forget that children are atthe heart of everything we do,” he said. “Respect them, listen to them, talk tothem as equals and most of all, care about them.”
With some 40 books to his credit –headed by the multiple award-winning bookGorilla – he has twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal for hisillustrations. He also is recipient ofthe Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international honor forchildren's book authors.
“I never want to make a child worried or afraid, and Idon't think I do. My pictures are born from the belief that children are farmore capable and aware of social complexities than we give them credit for.”
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A Writer's Moment: 'The heart of everything we do'
September 12, 2024
'The realist is an optimist'
"Therealist . . . is really an optimist, a dreamer. He sees life in terms of whatit might be, as well as in terms of what it is; but he writes of what is, and,at his best, suggests what is to be, by contrast."– Hamlin Garland
Born on a Wisconsin farm onSept. 14 1860 to devotees, Garland was namedHannibal Hamlin after Abraham Lincoln’s vice presidential running mate. But he never much liked the name Hannibaland went by Hamlin most of his life, particularly after his writing career tookoff.
Novelist, poet, essayist, shortstory writer, Garland is best known for his fiction involving hard-workingMidwestern farmers – a reflection of his “Growing Up Days” in Wisconsin, Iowaand South Dakota. His first majorsuccess, in fact, was a book of short stories Main-Travelled Roads,inspired by his days on the farm. He then serialized a biography of Ulysses S.Grant in McClure's Magazine, publishing it as a book in 1898, the sameyear he traveled to the Yukon to witness the Klondike Gold Rush and inspiring hisbest-seller The Trail of the Gold Seekers. While he was a prolific writer inmany genres, his work as a memoirist brought him his most acclaim, beginningwith his autobiography A Son of the Middle Border, its PulitzerPrize-winning sequel A Daughter of the Middle Border, and a number ofother memoirs about farm life, the people, and the harsh land they strove totame – “...the hard, unromantic truth," he said, "of pioneer life on the plains.”
September 11, 2024
'There's only one rule'
“Writewhat you like; there is no other rule.” – O. Henry
William Henry Porter – known by thepen name O. Henry – is perhaps America’s greatest short story writer. His works set a standard for generations ofwriters and today the O. Henry Award is a prestigious annual prize given foroutstanding stories in the genre'.
Born in North Carolina on this datein 1862, O. Henry grew up in Texas. Working as a banker in Houston in 1895, he was accused of embezzlement andin a panic fled the country.
While the charges were never proven,he lived for a time in South America where he began writing short stories and coinedthe term “Banana Republic,” first used in his story “Cabbages and Kings.” Drawn back to America when his wife developeda fatal illness, he was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison. While there he wrote many successful stories,publishing under various names to hide his identity. One of those names was O. Henry.
After being released early for goodbehavior, he wrote steadily and had dozens of best-selling stories and storycollections published, establishing himself as one of America’s most well-knownand beloved writers.
Among his most famous stories, stillpopular today, are The Gift of the Magi;The Last Leaf; The Ransom of Red Chief (where a kidnap victim is sohorrible that the kidnappers end up paying his family to take him back); and Caballero’s Way (introducing the worldto The Cisco Kid).
O. Henry died from liver disease at age 47but on his death bed said he loved every minute of his life and being a writer. “When one loves one's art,” he said, “noservice seems too hard.”
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A Writer's Moment: 'There's only one rule'
September 10, 2024
'The world awaits'
“They say no land remains to bediscovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for you and me.” - Lisa Ann Sandell
When I was a kid growing up on a South Dakotafarm my Mom and Dad would spend days building us up for "day trips," and mybrothers and I would look upon them with as much anticipation as if we weregoing to Europe. So, you can aboutimagine the excitement a three-day vacation somewhere might generate. It built a love for discovery; and a lifelongresonance for enjoying whatever might be found around the next corner and then writing about those discoveries. Writers' moments, if you will.
“The real voyage of discovery," says author Marcel Proust, "consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
A Writer's Moment: 'The world awaits'
September 9, 2024
A Writer's Moment: That 'Encouragement and Inspiration' factor
That 'Encouragement and Inspiration' factor
“Otherwriters definitely influence my writing. What encourages me and inspires me iswhen I read a good book. It makes me want to be a better writer.”– Kimberly Willis Holt
Born into a Navy family inPensacola, FL on this date in 1960, Holt once said her biggest disappointmentas a writer is that once she's finished working on her characters she reallyexpects to see them in the flesh some day, finding it hard to let thosecharacters go.
Best known for her novel WhenZachary Beaver Came to Town – winner of the National Book Award for YoungPeople's Literature – Holt spent most of her “growing up” years in Forest Hill,LA, inspiration for her award-winning first novel My Louisiana Sky. And her experiences as a “Navy brat” are reflected in her Piper Reed series of books. The author of nearly two dozen books, hermost recent is The Hurricane Girls.
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“I come from a line of hardworking people who never made much money but were rich in stories," Holt said. "My family's roots are very important to me. When you're looking for stories, look to your own heart.”September 7, 2024
'The poet speaks to all'
Born in Britain on Sept. 7, 1867 Sitwell was both a patronof the writing and art worlds and a critic and noted poet herself. She startedwriting while still in grammar school and had her first poem, The DrownedSuns, published in London’s Daily Mirror in 1913. A patron of rising young poets like Dylan Thomas she also authored hundreds of poems, many of which remain popular and several that have been set to music.
For Saturday’s Poem, here is Sitwell’s
Answers I keptmy answers small and kept them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bullwark to my fear.
The huge abstractions I kept from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.
But the big answers clamored to be moved Into mylife. Their great audacity
Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.
Even when all small answers build up to
Protection of my spirit, still I hear
Big answers striving for their overthrow.
And all the great conclusions coming near.
