Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 110

One Eye Open

I'm feeling kind of random today—as my previous blog post suggests…now I'm back from the park; I did shave, I did exercise, I did have some raspberries.  And now I'm getting ready to revise my first novel, One Eye Open.  I dropped out of graduate school to write this book—or to finish it, rather.  I started it after my first summer in Brooklyn—1993.  I started it and then stopped; moved back to BK, started a new writing project with some of the same characters, then went to graduate school...

back on the horse

So we've reached the midway point of summer—I'll forever be on an academic calendar, so for me, summer ends when September begins.  Right now, August is wide open so I've got to get busy—the academic job search has drawn to an unsuccessful close so I better try to schedule some workshops, finish a few chapters, or switch gears and try writing a new play.  This week I need to get back on the horse—time to start exercising again, which means I need to shave; after mashing my big toe I finally s...

my bad attitude

I can remember just about every instance when someone (always white) told me that I had a bad attitude.  It happened a lot in high school—when I started a new job, when I ran into a new teacher who didn't know about my reputation for being a straight-A student leader…if I dared to speak up, speak out, or ask a simple question, I was accused of having a bad attitude, which had better be adjusted quickly—or else!  In my family, I was designated "the troublemaker," once again because I dared to ...

Caribbean children's literature

Welcome back!  Today we're learning more about Caribbean children's literature with our guest, Summer Edward.  Even though my focus is usually on the problems facing US authors, it's important to remember that publishing communities around the world have their own unique struggles, some of which are directly linked to the legacy of colonialism…

You've done a lot of research on Caribbean children's literature.  What makes it distinctive?

I have done some research on Caribbean children's...

poems for all seasons

So I'm trying out covers for my book of poems—do you like the blue background?  Shadra suggested green; I'm wondering about yellow…but do like the cool of blue…I've got about 70 poems so far and would like to reach 100.  I feel like the haiku are a bit somber—if these are for kids (middle graders) there ought to be at least some whimsy, some fun…

meet Summer Edward!

A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Summer Edward; she kindly agreed to review Wish, and then opened my eyes to the challenges facing members of the children's publishing industry in the Caribbean.  We'll spend the next couple of days getting to know this blogger/scholar and her views on Caribbean children's literature…

Introduce us to Summer Edward—who are you, and how/why did you start blogging?

For the purposes of this interview, I'm a writer, blogger, Caribbean children's...

you MUST read this book!

I've been thinking about excellence lately…how to promote it, how it's constructed.  There's an ongoing conversation around making black-authored books "universal," a term generally reserved for the culture and experiences of the dominant group (whites).  Author Carleen Brice has a great round-up on her blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors.  Even though I know it's wrong, I sometimes find myself worrying about the black-authored books recommended to white readers.  A book that gets a lot...

get to know Tim Wise

If you aren't yet familiar with the anti-racist work of Tim Wise, I hope you'll watch this video and/or spend some time on his blog.  I was watching Book TV this weekend and caught the Q&A that followed Tim's reading of his latest book, Color Blind.  When he came to my school a few years back, I agreed to cancel my class so that my students could attend his talk.  But I didn't go—"This is work white folks need to do on their own," I reasoned.  I should have gone…All anti-racist activists of c...

YAAM!

Did you know it's Young Adult Appreciation Month over at The Book Smugglers?  Today I'll be writing haiku, but soon I'll be writing a guest post for YAAM; I'm one of several authors invited to participate, and I'm thrilled that Ana and Thea will be doing a joint review of Wish!  Today there's a review and giveaway of Cory Doctorow's For the Win…check it out!

My next book report will be The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I am LOVING…just had brunch with a friend and tried to explain the plot ...

check the rhyme

Coming up on August 8th I'll be a guest on poet/publisher DuEwa Frazier's web radio show, Rhymes, Views & News.  I first met DuEwa a few years ago when she accepted a couple of my poems for her anthology, Check the Rhyme: An Anthology of Female Poets and Emcees.  The book went on to earn a nomination for an NAACP Image Award!  Do check out more of DuEwa's books from her press, LitNoire Publishing.

I'm working on a book of poems for children, and that means I spent most of yesterday sifting...