Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 56

time to grow

Well, I had an opportunity today to test the elementary waters I wrote about yesterday. I went to Bushwick to drop off a book order at a school that I love—I’ve worked with this charter school for years and they always roll out the red carpet for me. Today I wasn’t expecting to stay long but the librarian wanted me to speak with the principal so I took a seat and watched as 25 first grade students buzzed about the room. There were a lot of small fires to put out but the librarian was up to the task. One boy came up to me and asked, “Are you Marshawn’s mom?” I explained that I was a visiting author and then pulled out the new books—within seconds I had a small cluster of kids around me and little hands reaching for the four books. They stroked the covers—”Oooh! They’re so soft!”—and then one girl opened Room in My Heart and declared, “I can read this!” I said something like “prove it” and we spent the remaining minutes of the period reading together. Another girl grabbed Max Loves Muñecas! and opened the cover: “So many words!” I held out my hand to take it back and she asked, “Can I keep it here next to me?” Oh, the little ones. I haven’t worked with six-year-olds since I was a camp counselor back in 1989, but I’m excited about meeting with teachers in the coming week to talk about how my books can be used in their classrooms. I met one teacher who looked at me and said, “I saw you on TV on The Debrief—I taped it!” I need to read up on the Common Core. Initially I wanted these books to be “just for fun,” but if teachers want to use them in the classroom then I need to provide some type of guide or lesson plan. Time to grow!

bend

Sunday was a glorious spring day and I had a great time hanging out with Jacqueline Woodson, Kwame Alexander, and Bryan Collier at the Studio Museum in Harlem book festival. My presentation wasn’t fantastic, but I’m learning to be more flexible—if you expected to present before a group of kids and instead you have an audience of adults, what do you do? Improvisation isn’t one of my strengths so I need to work on that. I’m heading to California in a few days and will have a chance to speak to a class of 3rd graders while I’m in Berkeley. Last week I presented before two fifth grade classes and they were amazing—lots of energy, lots of questions, and before I even began the principal handed me this letter:

Not every class will have that reaction so I have to learn to feel out the kids and respond accordingly. I don’t work much with young children and watching Jackie and Kwame present to the under-7s made me realize I’ll need an entirely different approach if I move into the elementary market. Right now I’m talking to two editors about some of my picture books. I always thought I’d work with little kids but then moved into the YA market and have been there ever since. Flexibility isn’t easy for Scorpios but I’m going to give it a try…

See you in Harlem on Sunday!

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You are invited

To the 2014 Children’s Book Festival at the Studio Museum in Harlem

Featuring Kwame Alexander, Bryan Collier, Zetta Elliott, and Jacqueline Woodson

Follow the link, learn more about the event and rsvp: http://www.studiomuseum.org/event-calendar/event/childrens-book-festival-2014-06-01

 

Gallery tours, Face painting, fun art workshops, readings, book signings, raffles and a performance.

Please spread the word…

WORD! A Caribbean Book Fest

WORD! – A Caribbean Book Fest

Sunday, June 8, 2014.  2:00 – 8:00pm

Medgar Evers College, 1650 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
718-783-8345 / 718-270-6917 / 718-270-6218 /
info@caribbeantheatre.org
 
WORD! – Business
Getting published.  Getting noticed.
Avril Ashton – Secret Cravings Publishing, Ashton Franklin – Franklin & Franklin Publishing; Johanna Ingalls – Akashic Books; Ron Kavanaugh, Mosaic Literary Magazine
 
WORD! – Youth
Books and stories for all ages from tots to teens; and Open Mic
Chen Chin (Jamaica), Joanne Skerrett (Dominica), CJ Farley (Jamaica), Kellie Magnus (Jamaica), Carol Ottley-Mitchell (St. Kitts – Nevis), Clyde Viechweg (Grenada); Ibi Zoboi (Haiti)
 
WORD! -  Art
Writer as visual artist/illustrator
Ricardo Cortes (Mexico), Anna Ruth Henriques (Jamaica), Deborah Jack (St. Marteen/St. Martin), Laura James (Antigua), Iyaba Mandingo (Antigua & Barbuda), Michèle Voltaire Marcellin (Haiti),
 
WORD! – Fiction
New Books.  New Voices.              
D C Campbell (Grenada), Lloyd Crooks (Trinidad & Tobago), Hubert Guscott (Jamaica), Nyasha Laing (US/Belize), Petra Lewis (Trinidad & Tobago), Adam Mansbach (USA), Idrissa Simmonds (Canada/Haiti/Jamaica), Monique Simón (Antigua & Barbuda), Katia Ulysse (Haiti); Annette Vendryes Leach (Panama)
 
WORD! – Poetry
Poets & Passion 
Negus Tehuti Adeyemi (US/Barbados), AJA (Barbados), Arielle John (Trinidad & Tobago), Hermina Marcellin (St. Lucia), David Mills (US/Jamaica), Ras Osagyefo (Jamaica), Anthony Polanco (Panama), Jason Price (Belize), Maria Rodriguez (Puerto Rico), Yolaine St. Fort (Haiti), Mervyn Taylor (Trinidad & Tobago); Ras Yah Yah (St. Lucia)
 
WORD! – You
FACEBOOK: http://on.fb.me/1ttle87
TICKETS: http://bit.ly/1nkS8qj
DONATION: $10 – adults.  $5.00 – children

expanding positivity

Yesterday was an excellent day. I tendered my letter of resignation at work, received a lovely gift from a student, and spent the afternoon with my beautiful, brilliant women colleagues. I saw some impressive art with another friend at Black Eye Art‘s pop-up gallery and afterward enjoyed a slice of Billy’s key lime pie. On Facebook last week a friend posted a photo that said, “If you focus on positivity, it will expand. And the opposite is true, too.” And I realize that too often I focus on the negative until it obliterates the positive elements of any situation. I focus on the students that work my last nerve rather than celebrating the ones who are working hard. Yesterday I turned in my last set of final grades; it didn’t take as long as expected because several of my students didn’t bother to turn in the exam. But I also had a visit from one of my A students; the week before she came in with a stack of my books, which she’d purchased and wanted me to sign. This week she came bearing gifts—heartfelt words about the impact my teaching had on her and a book about the unicorn tapestries, which I LOVE. Before leaving my office she said, “You know, professor, you may not be reaching all of us but you ARE reaching some of us.” And that does matter, though I often feel demoralized when my students fail and seem not to care. Yesterday as I walked over to the art gallery a young black man leaned in as he passed me and hissed, “Stupid b*%#@!” I didn’t flinch but did stop on the next block to make sure he wasn’t looming over me with a brick. Women deal with male aggression every day—on the street, in the classroom, and sometimes at home. But that encounter didn’t ruin my day or spoil my mood. I choose to focus on abundance, not lack—the positive, not the negative…

Today I woke up early for a school visit and found that Jamie at Black Girl Nerds had posted my new books on her blog. Other people are requesting review copies and I’ve had a few orders from schools. If you want to stop “summer slide” and keep the kids in your life reading over the summer, I hope you’ll give my books a try.

     

Making Our Own Market @ The Brown Bookshelf

For Children’s Book Week (May 12-18) The Brown Bookshelf is featuring different Black authors as they talk about just what the publishing industry needs right now: INNOVATION. I’m honored to be the guest author of today’s Making Our Own Market post. Here’s some of what I had to say:

Like most lovers of literature, I bought into the popular perception that people who self-publish are devoid of talent and lack the commitment it takes to win a legitimate publishing contract. I was certain that my storytelling skills were so extraordinary that eventually I would be recognized by the very best agent who would then introduce me to the most discerning editors. I never imagined I would become an award-winning author and still be left with more than twenty unpublished manuscripts. If publishers were so desperate for multicultural material, why weren’t they knocking down my door? What did I do wrong?

Well, I naively believed that an industry dominated by women would welcome a feminist writer with a commitment to social justice. I wrongly assumed that the people who work in publishing care about children of color as much as I do. I made the mistake of thinking that publishers would be eager to woo African American consumers who have a collective buying power of over one trillion dollars. I met with white female editors who spoke passionately in public about their commitment to diversity but then manufactured reasons to reject my work. As my eyes opened to the ugly reality of racism in children’s publishing, I let go of my illusions and spoke out. I rocked the boat and, no doubt, burned some bridges. I also began to reassess my priorities and search for alternatives.

At this point in my career, self-publishing is probably the only way I can put my books in the hands of the urban kids I serve. I published four chapter books this month and plan to publish four more books in the fall. That will still leave me with fifteen unpublished manuscripts, but at least eight more books will exist that reflect the realities—and fantasies—of kids and teens of color. The publishing industry has barred me from entry and the bias against self-published authors ensures that my books won’t compete for any major awards; they won’t be reviewed in any of the major outlets and bookstores probably won’t stock any of my titles. But some child somewhere may open one of my books and find a mesmerizing mirror that makes him or her want to read more.

no equity, no justice

I haven’t said much publicly about the #weneeddiversebooks campaign but I took a moment last week to write a piece for The Huffington Post and it just went up this afternoon. Here’s a taste:

The recent #weneeddiversebooks social media campaign has raised awareness of the need for greater diversity in children’s literature, and I am happy to see this important issue garner the attention it deserves. Activism around diversity isn’t new, of course, but repeated calls for change over the past few decades have largely fallen on deaf ears. Those of us who have been advocating for greater diversity and equity in children’s publishing are watching to see what will happen next. Will the overwhelmingly white publishing industry simply add a few more authors of color and call it a day? Will those who are new to the struggle be satisfied with superficial rather than structural change?

Missing from the diversity conversation is any mention of equity–equal opportunities for all. Right now the vast majority of children’s books are written by white authors. If more of those white authors start to write about people of color (and/or LGBT people, people with disabilities, people from different socio-economic classes), that will increase diversity; more books for young readers will begin to reflect the range of different people in our society. But such a move would do nothing to ensure equity within the industry. Equity insists that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate and right now less than 5% of the books published annually in the US are written by African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans.

I’ve been discussing the barriers faced by writers of color and my colleagues had several ideas, including a collective of indie authors. I think the big review outlets—Kirkus, School Library Journal, Horn Book—ought to devote a column to indie authors so that they can shine a spotlight on the very best self-published books instead of using blanket policies to shut out those truly talented writers who have already been turned away by publishers. But if members of the children’s literature community refuse to change and instead opt to wait on the publishers themselves to do better, nothing will ever change…

smarter than a 5th grader

1981 was a big year for me. My parents were finalizing their divorce and my mother, sister, and I left our spacious home to settle in a much smaller townhouse in a new community. I entered the 5th grade at a school where I was not recognized as a TK (teacher’s kid), and despite the fact that I had already skipped a grade, I was not put in the gifted program. I remember a lot of things about that year including the novels we read in Ms. Wistow’s class. I can trace my fascination with all things medieval to our unit on the Middle Ages and the weeks we spent reading The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli. We also read E. Nesbit’s The Phoenix and the Carpet and I remember looking forward to the afternoons when my teacher would wheel the TV/VCR cart into our classroom so we could watch the BBC adaptation of Nesbit’s fantasy novel. My memories of the 5th grade are vivid, in part, because my first encounters with racism happened at that school on the outskirts of Toronto. For the first time in my life I understood what it meant to be an outsider; no matter how hard I tried to impress those around me, I couldn’t reclaim my status as “gifted and talented.” I look back at my childhood and see that the 5th grade was when I first realized I would have to fight for recognition of my abilities because no matter what I may have accomplished, to some I would always be invisible and insignificant.

 

More than three decades have passed and the painful lessons I learned the year I turned 9 are still guiding me as I prepare to release four “new” chapter books for young readers. I’ve decided to self-publish these titles because after 10+ years of rejection it seems unlikely that they will ever be acquired by an editor—regardless of the momentum generated by the recent social media campaign #weneeddiversebooks. I have more than twenty unpublished manuscripts; I’m not getting any younger and neither are the kids I serve, so I have decided to take matters into my own hands.

When I first started writing for kids in 2000, I drew inspiration from the books I had read and loved as a child. Though I have since revisited and reassessed Nesbit’s 1904 novel, I never lost my interest in that magical, mythical bird. I wrote The Phoenix on Barkley Street so that children of color could have an amazing adventure without leaving home. Room in My Heart addresses the anxiety children often experience when their divorced parents start to date someone new—another 5th grade experience I won’t forget. The Boy in the Bubble is a tale of friendship between two extraordinary children that was inspired by The Little Prince; I wrote it in the weeks following 9/11 when dreaming up stories for children served as a way to process the traumatic events that had devastated my adopted home of NYC. In 2009 I went to see Coraline and then came home and wrote Max Loves Muñecas!, a story that challenges gender stereotypes by having boys learn how to make dolls.

 

For years I submitted these stories to editors and over time the children I was teaching—the kids for whom I was writing—grew into young adults. The demand for these kinds of stories hasn’t diminished, however, and so now I am applying the wisdom I didn’t have in the 5th grade: never cast pearls before swine. You can’t make people want you, and sharing your gifts with those who can’t recognize their worth is a waste of time and talent. If you enjoyed reading Bird or any of my novels, I hope you’ll consider sharing these four new books with the young readers (age 7-10) in your life. You can learn more on the Rosetta Press blog.

Come to Harlem!

indulgent

I haven’t left the house or spoken a word today and it feels GREAT! I thought I would spend the day writing and strategizing but instead I ordered in, watched Pride & Prejudice on TV, and napped. I really needed this day of silence—the semester’s winding down but it’s not over yet. On Friday night a colleague and I hosted a screening of Fruitvale Station and then the next morning I caught a 9am train to Baltimore for the African American Children’s Book Fair at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. It was a fabulous event—as soon as I walked in I was greeted with smiles and hugs. We’re like a family, really, and as Kelly Starling Lyons pointed out, Black authors and illustrators don’t have many opportunities to gather like this. Wade Hudson wisely insisted that we take a group photo at the end of the day and I *think* I can name everyone in this picture:

Left to right, starting in the back: Bryan Collier, E.B. Lewis, Shadra Strickland, Chuku Lee, R. Gregory Christie, Javaka Steptoe, Wade Hudson, London Ladd, Calvin Alexander Ramsey; front row: Pat Cummings, me, Kelly Starling Lyons, Jan Spivey Gilchrist, Renee Watson, Cheryl Willis Hudson, and Tara Doaty.

This morning I thought about the three or four attendees who listened to me describe my books at length and then asked, “Are you the author?” Some authors did have relatives or friends helping them out, so maybe I shouldn’t be offended by that question. It was wonderful to see so many parents urging their children to take a closer look at the books on display. And I was glad to have something to offer the tweens and teens who so often can’t find anything in their age range. After the fair ended I went to dinner with Greg Christie and Javaka Steptoe. They say timing is everything and talking with those two award-winning illustrators was just what I needed yesterday. I’m thinking of incorporating Rosetta Press or making it an LLC. Greg, who has run Gas-Art for years and now runs a bookstore/art school in Georgia, had plenty of advice on starting a business and overcoming fear and doubt. Javaka had some great ideas of ways to get affordable books into the hands of urban kids, and both artists agreed to collaborate on future books with me. I couldn’t sleep on the train ride home because my head was spinning—so many possibilities! I’m still afraid and I still have doubts but what do I really have to lose? I’ve been trying to focus on abundance lately—instead of sulking about how few manuscripts I’ve been able to sell in the past decade, I see now that I have a wealth of material to publish on my own. I heard from 3 editors last week but even if they acquired two manuscripts each, I’d still have plenty of material to work with, never mind the stories that are still in my head and not yet on the page. I have talented friends who are willing to take risks and support me as we try to find “a third way.” So tomorrow I will finish grading my students’ essays, I’ll have my last advising session for the semester, and then I’ll go to the bank and find out what it takes to open a business account. If I take small steps, I think I can have the press up and running by the fall. Small steps, big leap…either way, I’ve got to have faith!