Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 124
February 27, 2010
we're still on…
…despite the snow! So if you're in NYC and you're able to travel safely, come on out to Brownstone Books to meet me and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich.
February 26, 2010
UK Publishing Equalities Charter
I've just submitted a new post for my Huffington blog—it's called "Demand Diversity: the UK Publishing Equalities Charter." *Many* thanks to Laura Atkins for sharing this charter with me. It's generated by the Diversity in Publishing Network, DIPNET, and I think it offers us a useful model for changing the face of publishing. We can't just wait for Bloomsbury or some other publisher to make another mistake—we can prevent those offensive errors if we push for greater diversity in the...
February 25, 2010
out & about
This has been a busy week! Part of me wants to crawl under a rock and not emerge for several weeks, but another part of me feels so blessed to have these opportunities to connect with book lovers. On Tuesday night I was invited by Karen Alford, VP for Elementary Schools at The United Federation of Teachers, to give a talk to NYC educators. Since both my parents were teachers, I feel really at ease around other educators and had a great time talking about how & why I became a writer. ...
February 24, 2010
let's talk about sex…
…in YA lit—swing by Chasing Ray for the latest installment in What a Girl Wants. Neesha brings our attention to Audre Lorde's brilliant use of the erotic:
Lorde dares us to look at the erotic as a powerful force to be channeled, not for purposes of destruction, but for *creation*–as it is meant to be. She suggests that female sexuality has been bound, both literally and figuratively, out of a patriarchal need to control and harness this power. It's an honest and powerful book full of...
February 23, 2010
February 22, 2010
new cover for Magic Under Glass
Thanks to Ari for sharing this breaking news. Does this look more like "dark-skinned" Nimira? I think she does come close to the author's sketch. You can see both covers over at Reading Extensively...
art from the heart
On Friday I had a wonderful day-long visit at Our Lady of Lourdes up in Hamilton Heights. My former student, Danielle, arranged everything and I was *so* impressed with the art produced by the students (who studied BIRD intensively for a month AND held a bake sale to raise money for my honorarium!) Take a look:
After three morning workshops with the 3rd-8th grade students, I had lunch with two seniors who entered a raffle in order to win a chance to eat pizza with me…this young man even...
race & reviews
Did you see my guest post on this topic over at Justine's blog? Well, when I say in the comments that different people bring different "tools" to the critique process, THIS is what I'm talking about:
I do not want to give away too much of the plot, but Elliott not only lets the reader explore what it means to be a black girl in 2001 Brooklyn, she also asks what this means in 1863 Brooklyn. She also explores how whiteness in the 1860s New York differs from whiteness in 2001, educating her...
February 20, 2010
come on out!
Join us at Brownstone Books on February 27th—Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich and I will be giving a joint reading from our newly-released books. We'd love to see you there!
