Mitali Perkins's Blog, page 2
August 10, 2023
Giveaway for HOPE IN THE VALLEY: One Day Left to Enter!
The Inaugural Writer-in-Residence at Calvin University is ... ME! Yippee!
I've attended Calvin's Festival of Faith and Writing several times and have always left feeling validated and renewed in a (1) commitment to furthering justice through the arts, (2) deep love of words and story, and (3) belief in a creative, wondrous, and mysterious God. That's why I'm delighted to announce that I'll be the inaugural Writer-in-Residence this fall in the English Department at Calvin University, teaching a course on creative writing as well as participating in various learning opportunities throughout the month. The press release is below. Hope to see you in person, Michigan friends!
Calvin University's Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Program
The inaugural Distinguished Writer-in-Residence is National Book Award finalist, Mitali Perkins.
The 2023-2024 academic year brings the launch of an exciting new initiative in the Calvin University English department: a Distinguished Writer-in-Residence program.
Long dreamed of by the department, the Distinguished Writer-in-Residence program “invites exceptional and celebrated authors into our vibrant community, providing students, faculty, and staff unique opportunities to learn from and forge relationships with top-tier literary talents,” according to Provost Noah Toly who encouraged the development of the program.
Each September, a different world-class writer will come to Calvin to teach a creative writing intensive course, to interact with the campus community, and to give lectures both on campus and off. The writer will also be featured at the Festival of Faith & Writing, the signature event of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing.
Unparalleled accessJennifer Holberg, chair of the English department, noted that the department is delighted to have this opportunity to welcome not only prestigious writers to Calvin, but to increase the diversity of voices. “We’ll be looking for writers who are border-crossers, who help us continue to expand our notion of the rich story of God’s creation.”
Benita Wolters-Fredlund, academic dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, added “I am especially excited about the fact that, through this program, a typical Calvin creative writing student will have access to four renowned, experienced, and well-connected Christian writers during their time at Calvin. Alongside the biennial Festival of Faith and Writing, this program helps make Calvin distinctive among its peers in offering students access to nationally recognized writers.”
Leading offThe inaugural Distinguished Writer-in-Residence is National Book Award finalist, Mitali Perkins. Born in Kolkata, India, Perkins lived as a child in Ghana, Cameroon, England, and Mexico before her parents settled in California. After studying political science at Stanford and public policy at U.C. Berkeley, she taught in middle school, high school, and college. She and her husband are widely traveled and now reside in the East Bay area of San Francisco.
She is the author of many picture books and novels for young readers, including ones published by Penguin Random House, Charlesbridge, Candlewick, Little Brown, and Macmillan Children's Books. She’s also written a nonfiction book for adults about children's literature, “Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children's Novels to Refresh our Tired Souls.” Her novel “You Bring the Distant Near” was nominated for a National Book Award, and her novel “Rickshaw Girl” was adapted into a film by Sleeperwave Productions. Her latest book, “Hope in the Valley” has received multiple starred reviews in leading publications.
Community eventsMitali Perkins will be giving two free lectures, open to the public. All are welcome, including children ages 9 and above.
JUST CREATIVITY: How to Keep Making Beauty in a Distressed World
Tuesday, September 12 @ 7 p.m.Covenant Fine Arts Center Recital Hall at Calvin UniversityBOOKS AS WINDOWS AND MIRRORS: Rickshaw Girl and Tiger Boy
Tuesday, September 19 @ 7 p.m.Center for Community Transformation (1530 Madison SE, GR 49507)For more information, contact the Calvin Department of English: english@calvin.edu or 616.526.3645.
July 24, 2023
Fifth Starry Review for HOPE IN THE VALLEY!
Launch Party at Books Inc., Palo Alto
School Library Journal makes it five stars for HOPE IN THE VALLEY! "Perkins explores matters of grief, growing up, and multigenerational relationships in a moving novel that will resonate and linger with readers long after the last beautiful page."
July 14, 2023
Goodreads Giveaway for HOPE IN THE VALLEY!
July 11, 2023
Happy Publication Day, Younger Me!
Release day for
Hope in the Valley
! Here I am at the cusp of 13, the same age as my protagonist PandIta. We moved to a Bay Area suburb, very fresh-off-the-boat, and I started seventh grade in the middle of the school year. Not an easy time of life, so I wrote a lot of poetry. I was able to weave a few of those poems into this novel. Happy publication day, younger Mitali. We got here together, you and I.
So grateful on publication day for team Hope , including my brilliant editor Grace Kendall, agent extraordinaire Laura Rennert, and the amazing team at Macmillan FSG,
July 6, 2023
Encouraging pre-publication responses for HOPE IN THE VALLEY!
In their starred review of my forthcoming novel Hope in the Valley (July 11), BookPage made my day with this quote:
Also, my first kid reader — a 13-year-old boy — loved the novel!
“‘I only got one hour of sleep,’ Asher confessed the next morning. ‘I finished the book.’ No endorsement could possibly equal that of a kid who stayed up all night reading. Such is the magic of a story well-told.”
June 30, 2023
A Hero is Coming to my Book Launch Party!
In my novel Hope in the Valley, you’ll meet a character who is loosely based on one of my heroes, Paul Ichiuji, the father of my friend Alyson Tonomura. I asked Alyson for permission to use her Dad’s real name in the story as a way to honor his memory. I’m so delighted that Alyson and her mother, Sumi Ichiuji (also one of my heroes), will be joining me for my launch at Books Inc. Palo Alto on July 11 at 7 o’clock. Mrs. Ichiuji will share about how a good neighbor fought for the safety of her family’s land during their internment, a period of California’s history that my protagonist Pandita discovers as she delves into the checkered past of her Silicon Valley town.
https://www.booksinc.net/event/mitali-perkins-books-inc-palo-alto
June 15, 2023
Third Starry Review for HOPE IN THE VALLEY: The Horn Book!
★ HOPE IN THE VALLEYAuthor: Mitali Perkins
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Pages: 160
Price (Hardcover): $16.99
Publication Date: 07/11/2023
ISBN (Hardcover): 9780374388515
Horn Book Magazine - July/August
"... The story is set in the summer of 1980 in Silicon Valley, California, before the tech boom. It is a place on the cusp, much like the story’s protagonist, who finds herself compelled by memories of her past; the complex and fascinating history she uncovers; and possibilities for the future of her town, her family, and herself ..."
June 9, 2023
You're Invited to a Book Event for HOPE IN THE VALLEY!
I'm excited to invite you to celebrate the launch of my first middle-grade novel in years,
HOPE IN THE VALLEY
. The book has received stars from Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus, and The Horn Book ("so far," as my editor at Macmillan likes to add with great hope) and releases July 11, 2023.⭐ "Grief, memories, and the difficulty of letting go permeate this powerful story about family, friendship, and finding your voice . . . deeply compelling . . . A riveting, courage-filled story." ~ Kirkus Reviews, starred review
⭐ "Employing Pandu’s lilting voice and quiet bravery, Perkins crafts an introspective novel about moving on from loss and finding the courage to fight for what one believes in." ~ Publishers Weekly, starred review
I went to college in Silicon Valley during the time when orchards (the place used to be called the Valley of Heart’s Delight thanks to their magnificent blooms) were torn down and replaced with commercial office buildings, housing developments, and mini-malls, so I set HOPE IN THE VALLEY in that era. I created characters who express a range of opinions around a property for sale in their town — should they preserve it for history’s sake, let the market determine what happens, or employ it for the sake of diversity and equity now and in the future? In the fictional town of Sunny Creek, as in small towns and cities across the United States, people care deeply about the flourishing of their communities. They disagree, however, about the means to get there.
In this novel, as in most of my others, I try to give my young readers dignity and space to think for themselves when it comes to the pursuit of justice and goodness. I believe they're capable of navigating nuance; they might even be better at it than we are because they are less rigid and still in formation. Essentially, my novel explores this broad question: how might we honor good from history while not letting the past impede a more just future? But it's also about a shy, old-fashioned seventh-grader who writes poetry and doesn't want to grow up--basically, Pandita is me. I wrote the poems that are included when I was twelve. It also features a first crush at drama camp, classic books, and The Sound of Music, because what would life be without the Von Trapp family?
Here are the events; I'd love to see you there. Please mark your calendars and invite friends!
July 11, 2023, 7 p.m. | South Bay Area Launch Party | Books Inc. Palo Alto | Town and Country Village, 855 El Camino Real, Palo Alto, California
July 26, 2023, 3 p.m. | East Bay Area Launch Party | Rakestraw Books | 3 Railroad Avenue, Danville, California
August 27, 2023, 2 p.m. | Massachusetts signing and conversation with author and editor Roger Sutton | Newtonville Books | 10 Langley Road, Newton, Massachusetts
October 8, 2023, 4 p.m. | Colorado signing and conversation with author Claudia Mills | Boulder Bookstore | 1107 Pearl Street, Boulder, Colorado
If you can't make any of these events, feel free to order a copy by calling any of the bookstores above and I'll personalize it for you when I'm there. I hope you like the novel!
May 31, 2023
Starry Review for HOPE IN THE VALLEY in Publishers Weekly!
Yippee! My novel HOPE IN THE VALLEY garnered a second starry review, this time in Publishers Weekly.
Though the novel is set in the 1980s, issues surrounding housing inequity and financial precarity deeply resonate with present-day challenges. Employing Pandu’s lilting voice and quiet bravery, Perkins crafts an introspective novel about moving on from loss and finding the courage to fight for what one believes in.
