Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 121

life's hard

I often regret going into Manhattan, unless I'm heading to Harlem.  The city can be rather alien at times, whereas Brooklyn's the planet I know best.  This morning I went to the garden, admired the magnolias, then stopped at the central branch of the BPL to get some books I need for the poetry workshops they've asked me to lead next week.  Then I got on the train and headed to Stuff for the Teen Age at the central branch of the NYPL.  Sometimes when I see what passes for "normal" for others, ...

great expectations

Ok, this post might be a little incoherent because my head feels kind of full these days.  I'm still reading Sarah Schulman's Ties That Bind, and I'm still taking my time as I navigate her many profound ideas.  Today I want to talk about interventions, because yesterday I received an email from the NYPL in response to my complaint about the lack of diversity in the NYC Teen Author Festival.  Now, it seems that the NYPL is only hosting some of this festival's events, but I rely on public...

upcoming events

Will you be near the Bronx tomorrow?  If so, stop by the Bronx Library Center and hear Neesha Meminger read from her YA novel, Shine, Coconut Moon (Coe Booth will be there, too–find the complete schedule here).  If you're in Brooklyn, head to the Central branch of the Brooklyn Public Library to hear Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich read from 8th Grade Super Zero.  And if you're anywhere in NYC, save a few hours on Sunday afternoon for the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's Black Book Fair—I'll be...

Irish eyes

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Like a zillion other people, I've got my "one drop" of Irish blood: my grandfather was Irish-Canadian, and I always wondered why we weren't Catholic…turns out we're Scotch-Irish, descended from Scottish families who were used by the British to "settle" northern Ireland.  So did my ancestors leave Ireland because of the potato famine, or have I got that wrong, too?  My uncle's registered with ancestry.com so hopefully we'll have some answers soon.  I'm heading...

the future of books

Be sure you watch this through to the end:

a teen speaks on the future of books

Be sure you watch this through to the end:

The Enchanted Inkpot

Somehow I've only just discovered this site, but it's got a great conversation up right now about diversity in YA fantasy fiction—stop by to hear the thoughts of Cindy Pon, Shveta Thakrar, and other authors. Here's some of what Cindy had to say:

as a reader of color with a love for fantasy, i never saw anyone like myself in any of my favorite books, much less on the cover. i've been writing since around twelve years old, and it wasn't until Silver Phoenix (when i was thirty-two!) that i wrote...

meet Shaun David Hutchinson

This post is connected to my last post on re-imagining the family (and thanks to KT Horning who posted this link on Facebook).  Shaun has a new book (The Deathday Letter) coming out in June, but for now, stop by his blog and read his three great posts about YA & Sexuality. I love the first line of this excerpt (my emphasis):

And we all have a part to play. Readers can demand more books with LGBT characters.  Writers can include them in their books.  And it doesn't have to be some huge...

re-imagining the family

I'm reading a book right now that's so profound, I'm forced to slow myself down so I can fully grasp its concepts and their meaning in my life.  Not too long ago I decided "family" wasn't a useful term for me…there had been too many failures, too much hurt and disappointment.  Community, I decided, was the better option since it could be imagined and constructed in a myriad of ways.  Then last week, my friend Rosa loaned me her copy of Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences ...

cover girl

If a picture's worth a thousand words, a book's cover is probably worth ten times as much!  Ever wonder about the story behind your favorite book's cover?  Then be sure you follow Melissa Walker's blog—in addition to being a YA author, she gets the nitty gritty on a cover's back story.  Stop by today and find out how Wish came to look oh-so-fine…