Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 122

NYC Teen Author Festival

It's that time of year again, and I *want* to be excited about this—I really do!  Especially since two of my friends (who happen to be awesome authors) are included this time around: Neesha Meminger and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich.  You can find the entire schedule over at readergirlz, along with the names of the many authors who are participating this year.  Now, *please* correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like there are close to 70 YA authors lined up for signings, panels, and...

signed, sealed, delivered

Don't yet have your signed copy of A Wish After Midnight?  Well, there are ten signed copies at the Court St. Barnes & Noble, so go get yours!  I'm also excited about the NYPL ordering more than fifty copies of the new edition of Wish…

readergirlz

Many thanks to Lyn Miller-Lachmann for this great review of Wish over at the readergirlz salon.  Lyn is the editor of MultiCultural Review and the author of Gringolandia—a BBYA selection for 2010!  I'm excited about the panel Lyn and I will be on (along with Joseph Bruchac!) at the Empire State Book Festival in April.  Stay tuned for more details (we're heading to Philly the next day!)

And…from across the pond—another great photo!  Thanks to my good friend Laura Atkins for always supporting...

Terrorism in Teen Lit

For my Huffington Post blog, I decided to interview Neesha Meminger about her representation of terrorism in teen lit.  At long last, the post is up and I'd love if you stopped by and left a comment so the HuffPo folks know these topics matter to readers of YA lit.  Unfortunately, due to the word limit, this third question didn't make the final cut but here's what Neesha had to say about how can girls can make history:

I think the focus has to be less on how to make history within in its...

Diversity Roll Call ~ Women's History

Susan over at Color Online is asking folks to make a list of women's history books, but I've decided to answer her other question instead: "who and what should we be reading in honor of women?"  In the latest issue of Ms. Magazine, there's an article about young black feminists and this great list of blogs:

Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind

Combahee Survival

BrokenBeautiful Press

Quirky Black Girls

Here's some of their manifesta:

Because Audre Lorde looks different in every picture ever...

Wish does D.C.

This great shot is from my very creative friend Rosamond King, who was on tour with COCo Dance Theater in Washington, D.C.

Bloodlines

Here's another sista who's doin' it for herself: sci-fi writer and publisher Veronica Henry shared this exciting news with me:

As most of you know, Eric and I ran a short story contest through our website (www.myafricandiaspora.com), during the last quarter of 2009. We have compiled the best entries from the contest (along with 1 of my previously published stories), into a short story collection entitled: "Bloodlines – Tales From The African Diaspora."

The book is available at Amazon.com and...

goin' back to Indiana

Remember that song by the Jackson 5?  Wish is going back to where it all began—Edi was first to review my book over at Crazy Quilts, and she tried for *months* to get a set of books into her Indianapolis school.  Finally, the books arrived!  And here's 8th grade Language Arts teacher Ms. Tipton preparing to teach Wish:

pick me up

So I went to the garden to see if I could turn my mood around…I did a *twelve* minute workout TWO days ago, and I'm still so sore I can barely walk without groaning!  But I still managed to crouch down and take these shots:

Then I hopped on the train and went to the Court St. Barnes & Noble to see if they had a copy of Wish…they didn't b/c all copies were sold!  So the clerk ordered ten more and asked me to come back and sign a few…happy day!

Anveshi Research Centre for Women's Studies

I'm grouchy today, and though I was thrilled when my friend Kavita sent me this link, I'm frustrated that so much innovation in children's literature seems to take place everywhere but HERE!  It's Women's History Month, of course, so I'm proud that our South Asian sisters are doin' it for themselves…Visit the Anveshi site to learn more about the Different Tales Project in India—here's a little of their mission:

About The Project

Different Tales brings us stories from the lives of children...