Beth Kephart's Blog, page 87

Going Over (and me) at Books of Wonder (and thanks for two kind new reviews)

I'm always honored when Peter Glassman of Books and Wonder notices a book I've written and invites me to his store.

So of course I said yes to his recent invitation to join Brian Conaghan, Padma Venkatraman, Lindsay Smith, and Marthe Jocelyn for

Great Teen Reads NightJune 24, 20146:00 - 8:00 PM
Books of Wonder18 West 18th StreetNew York, NY 10011
New York friends, I hope you will join us for this panel discussion and signing. More information is here.

And thanks, too, to two recent reviewers who found Going Over and had kind things to say. Miss Literati concluded her review with these words:

I found GOING OVER to be exhilarating to read. It was a great book and I’m excited to read other books by Beth Kephart! — Miss Literati

And then there was Ruth Compton, Librarian and Readers' Advisor, who wrote:

Ms Kephart has created a hauntingly lyrical and powerful story about lives in a divided Berlin, about choices and consequences, about love and loss that draws you in and won’t let you go long after you’ve put the book down. —  Ruth Compton

Thank you, Miss Literati and Ruth. And hello, Books of Wonder.

a few upcoming events — for GOING OVER, for HANDLING, for FLOW

I have some interesting programs scheduled in the weeks and months ahead.

Among other things, I'll be helping to kick off The Head and The Hand's fabulous 4th Floor Chapbook Series this coming Monday, with a reading from Going Over. On May 24th, I'll help celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Main Line's newest, thriving independent bookstore, Main Point Books, with a Going Over signing.

In September, meanwhile, I'll be joining Stephen Fried and Neal Bascomb at the Pennsylvania Library Association Convention, to talk nonfiction and Handling the Truth. Then, in mid-October, I'll be giving two keynote addresses on River Dreams, to celebrate the Schuylkill as the PA River of the Year. In November, I'll head down to Penn to sit on a Young Adult Fiction Panel during Homecoming Weekend.

Finally, next spring, I'll hop a train to Washington, DC, and meet with the students of St. Alban School, a boarding school situated on the campus of the National Cathedral. The 7th and 8th graders will have read Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River. Many have already read Dr. Radway's Sarsparilla Resolvent. 

I'm looking forward to it all.

May 12, 2014Science Leadership Academy
GOING OVER reading
in conjunction with The Head and the Hand Press
Philadelphia, PA

May 24, 2014, 3 -4 PM
GOING OVER signing
Main Point Books
Bryn Mawr, PA

September 29, 2014, 2:00 PMNonfiction Panel with Stephen Fried and Neal Bascomb
PaLA Convention
Lancaster County Convention Center
Lancaster County, PA

October 14, 7 PM
River of the Year Keynote
Schuylkill River Heritage Area
Montgomery County Community College West Campus
Community Room

October 16, 7 PM
River of the Year Keynote
Schuylkill River Heritage Area
Trinity Urban Life Center
Philadelphia, PA

November 1, 2014, 4:00 PM
University of Pennsylvania Homecoming Panel
Young Adult Fiction Panel
Kelly Writers House
Philadelphia, PA

April 10, 2015
Talking about FLOW, the required 7th grade read
St. Albans School
Washington, DC

in which Diane Keaton writes to me. yes. me. thanks to my friend, the clay artist, Karen Bernstein

Remember that Going Over vase of last week? Given to me on the day of my book party, also known as the day of one of the worst spring deluges ever to hit my area, a deluge that closed the street in front of the library, where my event was being held? Yes. That gorgeous, gorgeous graffiti vase. Made especially for me by my friend, Karen Bernstein.

Well, Karen was fighting the torrential downpour in NYC that very night, where she had gone to see Diane Keaton, whom she adores. Karen had, in her hands, a copy of Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir, which celebrates Keaton's Then Again. Miss Keaton said yes to accepting the gift and then inscribed a book for me (a gift from Karen).

In case there is any doubt in your mind about what Miss Keaton wrote, please let me translate:

Beth! Hope to meet you someday.I mean. Really.

Really!!

That is Diane Keaton, signing my book. That is my generous and talented friend Karen, standing by. This is my life, which is very small and very big at once. I share it, gratefully, with you.

Finding Vivian Maier: a documentary about talent, obscurity, and who owns what

I did a little living this past weekend. Took a former student and her friend out to tea. Bought a spring rain jacket with a hood. Acquired new jeans at a discount. Tried a new restaurant with my husband. And saw the film above.

It hit me hard. The story of a spinster nanny, odd in her own odd ways, who was also a richly talented photographer (now compared to Diane Arbus and Robert Frank) whose work was never seen in her lifetime. It was found—in boxes upon boxes upon boxes—by a young man who began to follow the trail. His curiosity led not just to this Sundance-featured film, but to gallery shows and gradual art-world acceptance (not yet complete acceptance) of Vivian Maier's talent.

So many of us labor out here, believing in our own work and hoping others will. Vivian Maier was different. She believed in her own work. And she hoarded it. It was discovered after she died. Is making her famous now a violation or an appreciation?

This film pursues the answers to many intriguing questions while also presenting a portfolio of memorable black-and-white photographs.

On finding myself in the pages of SAVE THE DATE by Jen Doll

Last week my dear friend Jen Doll launched her first book, Save the Date: The Occasional Mortifications of a Serial Wedding Guest, to what we might call mega acclaim.

To be precise: CNN, Time Magazine, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Flavorwire, New York Times Magazine, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair, O Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and Good Housekeeping have all rallied behind this book—naming it one of the most anticipated books of the year, posting interviews, running excerpts. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Fame like this couldn't happen to a nicer or more talented person. Because Jen, who is a trusted writer for all the cool publications like Hairpin and Atlantic Wire and New York Times Book Review and is additionally my go-to Twitter station, is also generous, thoughtful, and capable of walking an entire stretch of my city in elevated shoes without a peep of a complaint, even as I am assigning the wrong names to tall buildings.

Sunday, while I was out walking in my suburban town (where the buildings don't really seem to have names and therefore cannot be permanently misaligned), a note came from Jen (whose book I'd read in galley form and wrote about here) asking if I had received my hard copy of Save the Date. I had. I'd put it on my to-be-taught memoir/essay shelf, I said, but had not thought to look inside. I should look inside, Jen suggested. I should, perhaps, read the acknowledgments.

I went home. I found the book. And there, above, is what I found.

I was slayed.

In only the best possible way.

YA Chapbooks instead of Sugar Snacks? It's happening in Philadelphia and your stories could be part of this tale

My YA writing friends — not only is this an incredibly inventive development (a craft press publishing YA chapbooks for area students)—but this spells opportunity, for you.

The press release from The Head & The Hand Press follows. I'm stoked to be part of the process and program, happy to be traveling to the Science Leadership Academy on May 12 on behalf of this initiative. But I'm equally stoked to share this publishing opportunity (I'm look at you!) here.

We at The Head & The Hand Press <http://www.theheadandthehand.com/> , a craft publisher based in Fishtown, are so excited to collaborate with the students and teachers at the Science Leadership Academy <http://www.scienceleadership.org/>  on our latest project, the 4th Floor Chapbook Series <http://www.theheadandthehand.com/4th-floor-chapbook-series/> . We've been vending chapbooks for the general population to great acclaim <http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-blinq/Philly-coffee-shop-is-vending-verse.html>  in Philly establishments like Elixr coffee house and Honeygrow in a custom-built countertop vending machine, but now it's time to swap out snacks for YA lit and poetry in a new vending machine to be installed at the SLA high school in Center City this fall. To celebrate this partnership, YA author Beth Kephart <http://beth-kephart.blogspot.com/p/we-could-be-heroes-berlin-novel.html>  has graciously agreed to do a reading of her recent novel Going Over, a love story set in Berlin before the wall is torn down, at the high school. A bit more about the book and Beth are below. The reading will take place on Monday, May 12 at 11:40 a.m. at the Science Leadership Academy at 55 N. 22nd St.

About Going Over:

It is February 1983, and Berlin is a divided city—a miles-long barricade separating east from west. But the city isn’t the only thing that is divided. Ada, almost 16, lives with her mother and grandmother among the rebels, punkers, and immigrants of Kreuzberg, just west of the wall. Stefan, 18, lives east with his brooding grandmother in a faceless apartment bunker of Friedrichshain, his telescope pointed toward freedom. Bound by love and separated by circumstance, their only chance lies in a high-risk escape. But will Stefan find the courage to leap? Will Ada keep waiting for the boy she has only seen four times a year ever since she can remember? Or will forces beyond their control stand in their way?

Told in the alternating voices of the pink-haired graffiti artist and the boy she loves, Going Over is a story of daring and sacrifice, choices and consequences, and love that will not wait.

Click <http://beth-kephart.blogspot.com/p/we-could-be-heroes-berlin-novel.html>  for downloads, trailers, interviews and guest blog posts

Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of eighteen books, an adjunct professor of creative nonfiction at the University of Pennsylvania, a frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune and Philadelphia Inquirer, and the strategic writing partner in a boutique marketing communications firm. Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir won the 2013 Books for a Better Life Award (Motivational Category). Nests. Flight. Sky., Kephart’s first memoir in years, was recently published by Shebooks. Most recently, Beth’s ninth young adult novel, Going Over (Chronicle Books), a 1983 Berlin story and a Junior Library Guild Selection, was launched to three starred reviews.

talking about friends, talking about writing, talking and blogging, here we go

Writer, editor, mother, yoga-ist, friend— Katrina Kenison has been there, over and again, in my writing life. One of the first to read and write of my first book about reading and writing: Seeing Past Z: Nurturing the Imagination in a Fast-Forward World. One of the first to read and write of my second book about reading and writing: Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir (I had arrived, at long last, at the grave of my great-grandfather, Horace Kephart, in Bryson City, NC, when Katrina's note about Handling floated in—perfect timing, for Katrina had once found and sent to me as a gift a rare copy of one of Horace Kephart's books).  

Katrina has understood what few others haven't. She has written memoirs that I have loved and celebrated—Mitten Strings for God, The Gift of an Ordinary Day, Magical Journey. She edited, for many years, Best American Short Stories, and so she knows a thing or two about fiction, too. And her blog? Beloved.

When Katrina asked if I might participate in the latest blog-a-thon (is that a word? I don't know), I said yes. Because another very dear friend, Patty Chang Anker (Some Nerve, a memoir about facing the things we fear), had asked me the same question a few weeks earlier, when I was deluged, I'm tagging her back here. Patty and I recently shared the most spectacular night in New York City, when both of our books were nominated for a Books for a Better Life Award. Check out her popular blog and find out what this former non-cyclist spent her weekend.

I have two other friends/writers/editors I'm eager to introduce in this very blog post. So I'll quickly move through the a-thon questions. Here we go:

What am I working on?

On April 1, Going Over , my Berlin 1983 novel, was released. I am working on — well, I'm working on surviving the angst/suspense/fear/release that goes along with the publication of each book. I'm getting better at this. I'm trusting fate more. I'm living with who I am, which is this sort of idiosyncratic YA writer whose YA books don't fall into easy categories, which is to say they aren't easily marketed, which is to say, I'm still just Beth Kephart, A Moonlight Writer if Ever There Was One. Real life, for me, is the boutique marketing communications business I run, the stories I write for the Philadelphia Inquirer, the reviews I write for Chicago Tribune, and, in the spring, the creative nonfiction class I teach at Penn. That class recently ended. I'm still sobbing. But I digress.

A few days ago, Publishers Weekly kindly announced my next two books. And so, cheatingly, I share that announcement here:

As reported in PW Children's Bookshelf, April 28, 2014:

Tamra Tuller at Chronicle has acquired two books by NBA-nominated author Beth Kephart. Set in Florence, Italy, One Thing Stolen follows Nadia Cara as she mysteriously begins to change. She's become a thief, she has secrets she can't tell, and when she tries to speak, the words seem far away.This Is the Story of You takes place in an island beach town in the aftermath of a super storm; Mira, a year-rounder stranded for weeks without power, hopes to return storm-tossed treasures to their rightful owners, and restore some sense of order to an unrecognizable world. Publication is scheduled for spring 2015 and spring 2016; Amy Rennert of the Amy Rennert Agency did the deal for world rights.

How does my work/writing differ from others in its genre?

So many ways to answer this question. But I'll be brief. What I write is Kephartian. Linguistically intense. Erupted from the heart. Framed by big questions of history and humanity. That works for some people. It doesn't work for others. And this is not to say (because that would be a lie) that others in my genre don't pursue the same humanity, history, and heart. Others do. In a minute you'll meet A.S. King. You'll see what I mean.

Why do I write what I do?

Because I can't help it. I know that sounds flippant, or something (would flippant be the right word?). But it's as honest as I can be. I write what I must write, what draws me to it urgently, what can't be suppressed, what wakes me up. It all comes from the gut, and then from a heck of a lot of research. I wish I had a plan. I just have instincts.

How does my writing process work?

I could write on and on and on (blog pages!) about all the times the process doesn't work. When it does work, I kiss the wing tips of some theoretical muse (or the nose of my tall wooden giraffe, which is my actual muse) and ask no questions. Thank you thank you thank you thank you. That's what I say. Then pray I'll get the ineffable good-luck process back some other day.

All righty, all righty, enough on me. Now I get to get back to my friends, A.S. King and Karen Rile, who are going to answer their own questions on their own blogs next week.

So let's start with A.S., who is also Amy, who is also (to me) King, who is also Dude. Or. Wait. Dude is what Amy calls me. What Amy calls us. Dude is the name of our extended family. Whatever it is, you know her. She is, perhaps, the most starred YA author working today. She has awards falling out of her overall pockets. John Green has called her a goddess, but Beth Kephart called her a goddess first, and in this case, Beth Kephart Rules. The Dust of 100 Dogs, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Everyone Sees the Ants, Ask the Passengers, Reality Boy, the forthcoming Glory O'Brien's History of the Future. These are King books. This is the King legacy. You can read all about them here.

And you can read what I wrote about King on her most recent birthday here.

Then there's Karen Rile, aka editor of Cleaver Magazine, aka my dear friend at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches fiction and other things to loving students, while teaching how to be a teacher to moi. Cleaver has rocked the lit world, since it was founded not long ago. Below are the facts as Karen provides them. Here is what I had to say when Cleaver launched.

Cleaver Magazine shares “cutting-edge” artwork and literary work from a mix of established and emerging voices. We were founded in January 2013 and are currently preparing our 6th full-length issue, which will launch on June 11, 2014.

We are a web-based magazine. In our first year we received 60,000 unique visits and over 100,000 hits. To give an idea of our readership: over the past three months, we had visits from 119 countries, although about 80% of our readership is American. Our editors have deep ties to the Philadelphia community. We are an international magazine, but maintain a commitment to publish about 25-30% Philadelphia-based writers in each issue.

We publish poetry, short stories, essays, flash prose, visual art, and reviews of poetry books and other small press publications. We publish quarterly, in March, June, September, and December. In each issue we present several emerging writers and at least one emerging visual artist alongside established writers and artists. We see ourselves as facilitators and stewards of the literary and artistic work that we publish.

We are independent and self-funded and are grateful for support, in part, from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and Kelly Writers House.



I cede the stage....

sending memories to my brother for his birthday, and finding me

 at eight years old...

In any case, in celebration of my brother's birthday, I've been scanning pictures for my much-loved brother, and he has them now. Boston. Miniature Golf. A birthday party from eons ago. A ship I hope he will tell me something more about.

Sometimes memory is the best gift of all.

Happy Birthday, Wonderful Brother.

two phrases I could do without, and Michael Cunningham

Two phrases have the insta-charm of nudging me into a dark corner:

The first: Can I pick your brain?

The second: Beth, the Prolific Author

The first always sounds like it will hurt. My hair will be shaved, my skin will be onioned (I mean peeled), my skull will be shattered (crash), and then my brain will be picked. Ouch. I want to help. I am glad to recommend an excellent book or think something through or suggest a possibility. I can answer (some) questions. (I have no answers for the really hard questions.) But I don't want my brain to be picked. I really don't.

The second I receive (oh, sensitive me) as a sleight. "Prolific" is a substitute word. When someone says "prolific" someone is most likely also not saying more meaningful words, like: "thoughtful," "searching," or even "good." Prolific, though, is how I'm most often introduced. I look at my writing life. I see struggle, hope, frustration, some elation, very little time, books that matter to me, a voice that carries me, quiet that sustains me, quiet that I search for in between the jobs I must do so that the bills will get paid (most of which I have nothing to do with the writing of books), and, thus far at least, no true commercial success. I look at my writing life and I see books that, every single one, came from a deep place and not from a machine, from a hope to capture some essence of the world I love, from a belief that I haven't conquered the whole thing yet, haven't figured it all out, never will.

I was thinking about this as I read Kevin Nance's interview with Michael Cunningham in today's issue of the Chicago Tribune Printers Row. Here's the excerpt that I stopped to jot down. I like what Cunningham says:

On the one hand, writers should write about the biggest possible world, and that takes more than one novel. But I'd be a little suspicious of a writer whose vision and sensibility and quality of insight were unrecognizable from one novel to another. I would wonder what that writer really (cares) about.

If you look at writers far greater than I, from Chekhov through Faulkner, the stories and the books differ from one to another, but there's a Chekhovian sensibility. There's a Faulknerian sensibility. You hope to be able to tune in to a lot of characters, but there's a limit to how chameleonlike you wan to be.

A balanced, indepth review of Going Over on the English Teachers' Desk Reference Blog,

In a long, thoughtful, provocative review, the English Teachers' Desk Reference provides a balanced introduction to a book I very much hope will find its way into classrooms, especially as we celebrate, this year, the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

A few excerpts below. The whole is here.


"This is such a well-researched historical fiction novel with strong connections to the end of the Cold War, communism, the eighties, and, of course, the Berlin Wall. It is also the best kind of historical fiction–the setting is an integral part of the plot, but it is woven in naturally, not forcefully. The book or excerpts could be used in conjunction with teaching these historical topics ...  Kephart’s writing is practically a study in creating tone and evoking mood ... This is not a book for everyone. That said, it will be an excellent, excellent choice for many. Beth Kephart’s Going Over is equal parts poetic prose, authentic historical background, and emotional ups and downs (feels, if you will). Those who read should not be surprised by a strong urge to do some historical research." English Teachers Desk Reference