Laura Shovan's Blog, page 30
September 6, 2015
Probability ... none.
Hey, Writerly Friends and Math Brains.
I was working on a new MG novel this morning and came upon (are you sitting down?) a MATH problem.
It's not that I'm bad at math. It's just that my interest stopped at Algebra, because Algebra is all about logic. And this problem is beyond my ability because it involves (really, sit down now) probability. Probability was nearly the death of me in high school. Who knew I would need it as a writer.
Here is the problem. I'm hoping someone out there likes a good probability challenge and can figure it out.
There are twenty-four children in sixth grade at a boarding school, twelve boys and twelve girls. At mealtimes, they sit in groups of four at six tables. The seats are assigned and rotating. The school's administrators want each student to sit in as many different groupings as possible before they eat a meal with the same foursome.
Image: Capital OTC
Question: How many meals would it take for a student to sit in the exact same group of four?
Challenge question: If the tables always had two boys and two girls, how would that affect the answer?
UPDATE!
Thanks for your feedback, guesses, and reminders about what "!" means in math, everyone. (It's a factorial. Remember those?)
Based on responses in the comments and via Twitter, here's what you came up with. I'm a writer ... of course, I have follow up questions.
Question/Answer: It turns out, the tables don't really matter. What's important is 24 students grouped in fours. The equation is 24!/(24-4)! x 4! and 10,626 is the answer. Thanks to Jen Maschari and her husband Kurt, who researched the question and chimed in with an answer first. I'm really impressed with how many people had this right.
My follow up question is this: Is this number the number of possible combinations for *all* the students? If so, how often would one particular grouping of four meet during those 10,626 times?
Challenge question/Answer:
According to the amazing author/mathlete Marieke Nijkamp, the equation for this one is: (12!/(12-2)! x 2!) x (12!/(12-2)! x 2!). I have varying answers from the crowd on this one. Anyone care to work it through?
I have a follow up question that may turn parts of the question into a red herring. If you are a girl and one of the other girls in the class is your best friend, how often can you expect to eat a meal with her?
Would it help to assign the girl and her friend names? Girl X and Girl Y -- keeping it mathy.
Thanks also to my commenters: Tabatha Yeatts and her son Dash, June Smalls, Linda Baie, Jone MacCulloch, Sue Poduska. I appreciate your math brains. And on Twitter, thanks for helping out Vicki Coe, Mike Grosso, Dee Romito, and Abby Cooper. Am I the only author who's not a math whiz?
You can buy it here.
I was working on a new MG novel this morning and came upon (are you sitting down?) a MATH problem.
It's not that I'm bad at math. It's just that my interest stopped at Algebra, because Algebra is all about logic. And this problem is beyond my ability because it involves (really, sit down now) probability. Probability was nearly the death of me in high school. Who knew I would need it as a writer.
Here is the problem. I'm hoping someone out there likes a good probability challenge and can figure it out.
There are twenty-four children in sixth grade at a boarding school, twelve boys and twelve girls. At mealtimes, they sit in groups of four at six tables. The seats are assigned and rotating. The school's administrators want each student to sit in as many different groupings as possible before they eat a meal with the same foursome.

Image: Capital OTC
Question: How many meals would it take for a student to sit in the exact same group of four?
Challenge question: If the tables always had two boys and two girls, how would that affect the answer?
UPDATE!
Thanks for your feedback, guesses, and reminders about what "!" means in math, everyone. (It's a factorial. Remember those?)
Based on responses in the comments and via Twitter, here's what you came up with. I'm a writer ... of course, I have follow up questions.
Question/Answer: It turns out, the tables don't really matter. What's important is 24 students grouped in fours. The equation is 24!/(24-4)! x 4! and 10,626 is the answer. Thanks to Jen Maschari and her husband Kurt, who researched the question and chimed in with an answer first. I'm really impressed with how many people had this right.
My follow up question is this: Is this number the number of possible combinations for *all* the students? If so, how often would one particular grouping of four meet during those 10,626 times?
Challenge question/Answer:
According to the amazing author/mathlete Marieke Nijkamp, the equation for this one is: (12!/(12-2)! x 2!) x (12!/(12-2)! x 2!). I have varying answers from the crowd on this one. Anyone care to work it through?
I have a follow up question that may turn parts of the question into a red herring. If you are a girl and one of the other girls in the class is your best friend, how often can you expect to eat a meal with her?
Would it help to assign the girl and her friend names? Girl X and Girl Y -- keeping it mathy.
Thanks also to my commenters: Tabatha Yeatts and her son Dash, June Smalls, Linda Baie, Jone MacCulloch, Sue Poduska. I appreciate your math brains. And on Twitter, thanks for helping out Vicki Coe, Mike Grosso, Dee Romito, and Abby Cooper. Am I the only author who's not a math whiz?

You can buy it here.
Published on September 06, 2015 06:32
September 3, 2015
Poetry Friday: Leaving Home, Part 3
Before you do anything else, Dear Readers, go check out this First Chapters Critique Giveaway.
Linda Baie is hosting today at Teacher Dance!
As the mom of a new college student, I keep finding poems that speak to parent-child relationships, especially the moment of leaving home.
This week, I was reading A BRIEF HISTORY OF MAIL, by Lisa Vihos. I picked up her chapbook at the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Italy this summer. Lisa and I had been Facebook friends for a few years, but met for the first time in Salerno, greeting one another with a warm hug.
Lisa Vihos
Lisa is a fine poet, educator, and community organizer. So much about the poem I am sharing today speaks to me: the olives, memories of Italy, and how we create experiences for our children, never knowing how or when they might draw on these memories as they grow into adulthood.
Planting a Memory (for
Owen)
by Lisa Vihos
I make us a lunch
for the train ride from Chicago to Milwaukee.
Granted, it’s a short ride
but it’s lunchtime and we’ll want to eat.
I pack salami, bagels, tangerines,
and a small bag of kalamata olives.
I want you to know this simple pleasure:
olives on the train. How delicious
they taste as we speed past houses and fields.
Olives run in our family, you know.
Our own special comfort food,
tumbling down the Greek
and Italian branches of our family tree;
little dark nuggets of love.
Someday, you’ll be in Tuscany
wanting to impress a girl.
It’s important that you learn
this sense memory now
so that when you’re standing in the market
outside the train station
you will not hesitate
to buy good olives for her.
You won’t even know why you do this,
but she’ll love you all the more
for spending a little bit extra
on something that tastes so good.
And when you are rushing together
past the lush green fields
and crumbling stone walls
of your Tuscan future,
bite into the rich, dark meat
feel slick oil on your fingers
lick salt from your lips and smile.
In her olive black eyes, there is warmth
and a beckoning road like a train track
vanishing into the distance
connecting you to something
(or someone) that loved you.
Lisa was kind enough to tell me about the genesis of this poem:
I really did pack a lunch for me and my son, to nourish us on a train ride from Chicago to Milwaukee. He was nine years old at the time. While I was on the train, I started thinking about how little things like olives could make a subconscious impression on the mind of a child and I started to write the poem while we were cruising along. He is seventeen now, and I when I read the poem, I still remember exactly what it was like to think about him at some future time, remembering olives on the train with his mother.
Lisa Vihos is the Poetry and Arts Editor at Stoneboat Literary Journal and an occasional guest blogger for The Best American Poetry. Along with two chapbooks, A Brief History of Mail (Pebblebrook Press, 2011) and The Accidental Present (Finishing Line Press, 2012), her poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals. She has two Pushcart Prize nominations and received first place recognition in the 2015 Wisconsin People and Ideas poetry contest for her poem, "Lesson at the Checkpoint." She is active in the 100 Thousand Poets for Change global movement and recently returned home from the group's first world conference in Salerno, Italy. Visit her blog at Frying the Onion.
For a companion poem (more olives! more travel!) check out Poetry Friday blogger Joyce Ray's "In Search of Athena" here: http://joyceray.blogspot.com/2015/07/...
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MAIL is available for purchase from Pebblebrook Press. If you are interested in buying one, please follow the link or mention it in your comments.
In this series:
Leaving Home (Poem by Linda Pastan)
Leaving Home, Part 2 (Poem by Sharon Olds)

Linda Baie is hosting today at Teacher Dance!
As the mom of a new college student, I keep finding poems that speak to parent-child relationships, especially the moment of leaving home.
This week, I was reading A BRIEF HISTORY OF MAIL, by Lisa Vihos. I picked up her chapbook at the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Italy this summer. Lisa and I had been Facebook friends for a few years, but met for the first time in Salerno, greeting one another with a warm hug.

Lisa Vihos
Lisa is a fine poet, educator, and community organizer. So much about the poem I am sharing today speaks to me: the olives, memories of Italy, and how we create experiences for our children, never knowing how or when they might draw on these memories as they grow into adulthood.
Planting a Memory (for
Owen)
by Lisa Vihos
I make us a lunch
for the train ride from Chicago to Milwaukee.
Granted, it’s a short ride
but it’s lunchtime and we’ll want to eat.
I pack salami, bagels, tangerines,
and a small bag of kalamata olives.
I want you to know this simple pleasure:
olives on the train. How delicious
they taste as we speed past houses and fields.
Olives run in our family, you know.
Our own special comfort food,
tumbling down the Greek
and Italian branches of our family tree;
little dark nuggets of love.
Someday, you’ll be in Tuscany
wanting to impress a girl.
It’s important that you learn
this sense memory now
so that when you’re standing in the market
outside the train station
you will not hesitate
to buy good olives for her.
You won’t even know why you do this,
but she’ll love you all the more
for spending a little bit extra
on something that tastes so good.
And when you are rushing together
past the lush green fields
and crumbling stone walls
of your Tuscan future,
bite into the rich, dark meat
feel slick oil on your fingers
lick salt from your lips and smile.
In her olive black eyes, there is warmth
and a beckoning road like a train track
vanishing into the distance
connecting you to something
(or someone) that loved you.
Lisa was kind enough to tell me about the genesis of this poem:
I really did pack a lunch for me and my son, to nourish us on a train ride from Chicago to Milwaukee. He was nine years old at the time. While I was on the train, I started thinking about how little things like olives could make a subconscious impression on the mind of a child and I started to write the poem while we were cruising along. He is seventeen now, and I when I read the poem, I still remember exactly what it was like to think about him at some future time, remembering olives on the train with his mother.
Lisa Vihos is the Poetry and Arts Editor at Stoneboat Literary Journal and an occasional guest blogger for The Best American Poetry. Along with two chapbooks, A Brief History of Mail (Pebblebrook Press, 2011) and The Accidental Present (Finishing Line Press, 2012), her poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals. She has two Pushcart Prize nominations and received first place recognition in the 2015 Wisconsin People and Ideas poetry contest for her poem, "Lesson at the Checkpoint." She is active in the 100 Thousand Poets for Change global movement and recently returned home from the group's first world conference in Salerno, Italy. Visit her blog at Frying the Onion.
For a companion poem (more olives! more travel!) check out Poetry Friday blogger Joyce Ray's "In Search of Athena" here: http://joyceray.blogspot.com/2015/07/...
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MAIL is available for purchase from Pebblebrook Press. If you are interested in buying one, please follow the link or mention it in your comments.

In this series:
Leaving Home (Poem by Linda Pastan)
Leaving Home, Part 2 (Poem by Sharon Olds)
Published on September 03, 2015 17:00
August 22, 2015
Critique Giveaway with Joy McCullough-Carranza
Hello, Writerly Friends.
Those of you who know the back-story of my book (AKA how to write a middle grade novel in eight years), know that I'm a huge fan of Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars. In 2013, when I needed a final push to revise and polish THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, I was selected as a Pitch Wars mentee.
I knew my mentor, Joy McCullough-Carranza, was a middle grade and YA author and book doctor, and that she'd spent time as a playwright in the schools, similar to the school residencies I do for poetry. Joy coached me through that last revision. When the #1 agent on my wish list asked to see an updated manuscript, I was ready! And you all know the rest.
Here is a great way to support the Pitch Wars program. The most recent submission round closed on August 17. This year's mentors are currently making their selections, wrangling behind the scenes to figure out who is going to work on which manuscripts.
Meanwhile, many Pitch Wars mentors are GIVING AWAY first chapter critiques. Yes, folks, Pitch Wars is all volunteer. It's about writers helping other writers to get their books query-ready. And this year, the mentors are going above and beyond to help you with your manuscript.
According to the official giveaway blog, here's how you can participate:
You’ll get a free entry just for stopping by and signing in, and if you want to increase your chances, you can support the mentors by buying their books or pre-ordering them. If you want to increase your odds to get a critique from a particular mentor, you can go and buy/pre-order said mentor’s book by following the links above. You can buy more than one book, and up your chances in more than one giveaway, too! You might even win a chapter critique by more than one mentor.
Lovely Joy is supporting my book! If you pre-order a copy of THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, you'll up your chances of winning a critique with Joy.
And because I'm such a huge Pitch Wars fan, I'm throwing in a chapter one critique with me. That's right! Leave a comment on this post and I will select one person at random to receive a first chapter critique on your work in progress.
To recap:
Visit Monica Bustamante Wagner's blog for the full giveaway.
There, you will find a full list of mentors giving away critiques including the most excellent Joy McCullough-Carranza.
Enter for a chance to win your chapter one critique via Rafflecopter.
You will also find links to pre-order books by the mentors and/or their mentees (that would be me -- thanks, Joy!). Remember, a pre-order increases your chances of winning.
To win a critique with me, leave a comment on this post. A winner will be drawn at random.
Good luck, Pitch Warriors, whether you're in the game or cheering from the sidelines.
UPDATE:
A roll of the die says ... JAN GODOWN ANNINO is our winner!
Jan, please contact me via email. I'm looking forward to reading your first chapter.
Thanks to all who entered this extra giveaway and the larger giveaway for PitchWars.
Those of you who know the back-story of my book (AKA how to write a middle grade novel in eight years), know that I'm a huge fan of Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars. In 2013, when I needed a final push to revise and polish THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, I was selected as a Pitch Wars mentee.
I knew my mentor, Joy McCullough-Carranza, was a middle grade and YA author and book doctor, and that she'd spent time as a playwright in the schools, similar to the school residencies I do for poetry. Joy coached me through that last revision. When the #1 agent on my wish list asked to see an updated manuscript, I was ready! And you all know the rest.
Here is a great way to support the Pitch Wars program. The most recent submission round closed on August 17. This year's mentors are currently making their selections, wrangling behind the scenes to figure out who is going to work on which manuscripts.

Meanwhile, many Pitch Wars mentors are GIVING AWAY first chapter critiques. Yes, folks, Pitch Wars is all volunteer. It's about writers helping other writers to get their books query-ready. And this year, the mentors are going above and beyond to help you with your manuscript.
According to the official giveaway blog, here's how you can participate:
You’ll get a free entry just for stopping by and signing in, and if you want to increase your chances, you can support the mentors by buying their books or pre-ordering them. If you want to increase your odds to get a critique from a particular mentor, you can go and buy/pre-order said mentor’s book by following the links above. You can buy more than one book, and up your chances in more than one giveaway, too! You might even win a chapter critique by more than one mentor.
Lovely Joy is supporting my book! If you pre-order a copy of THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, you'll up your chances of winning a critique with Joy.
And because I'm such a huge Pitch Wars fan, I'm throwing in a chapter one critique with me. That's right! Leave a comment on this post and I will select one person at random to receive a first chapter critique on your work in progress.
To recap:
Visit Monica Bustamante Wagner's blog for the full giveaway.
There, you will find a full list of mentors giving away critiques including the most excellent Joy McCullough-Carranza.
Enter for a chance to win your chapter one critique via Rafflecopter.
You will also find links to pre-order books by the mentors and/or their mentees (that would be me -- thanks, Joy!). Remember, a pre-order increases your chances of winning.
To win a critique with me, leave a comment on this post. A winner will be drawn at random.
Good luck, Pitch Warriors, whether you're in the game or cheering from the sidelines.
UPDATE:
A roll of the die says ... JAN GODOWN ANNINO is our winner!
Jan, please contact me via email. I'm looking forward to reading your first chapter.
Thanks to all who entered this extra giveaway and the larger giveaway for PitchWars.
Published on August 22, 2015 18:42
August 20, 2015
World Poetry: India
It's Poetry Friday. Take another spin around the globe with me. Today, we are visiting an accomplished young poet from India, Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal.
Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal (born June 27, 1995) is an Indian poet and writer. She is author of two books of poems, The Myriad (2011) and Musings of Miss Yellow (2015).
The only daughter of Simerjit Kaur Dhaliwal and Yadwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Supriya was was born and brought up in the vicinity of lush green tea gardens and majestic Himalayan valley, Palampur. The town is located in Himachal Pradesh, India where her Sikh parents sought refuge from the rapid pace of the rest of the country and sought solace in the lap of nature. At the age of seven she wrote her first poem, and she first saw publication in a widely read newspaper, The Tribune when she was fifteen years old.
Supriya is currently living in Shimla, where she's studying English Literature at St. Bede's College. She authored her first book of poems at the age of sixteen. Her debut anthology received immense love from its readers which triggered the poetry bug in her to a newer level.
She is actively involved in the literary scene in India, contributing to numerous literary carnivals across the country, including Kumaon Literary Festival and Delhi Poetry Festival . She is also the core team member of Poets Corner, a one of a kind poetry collective based in the historic city of New Delhi. She aims at reviving this literary spirit in the youth of India which she believes is dwindling at a panther pace.
Her poems are widely anthologized across the globe, Earl of Plaid (USA), A Poet's View of Being (Canada), The Taj Mahal Review (India), Acerbic Anthology (Nigeria). Her sophomore poetry anthology, Musings of Miss Yellow was recently published. It started its journey from the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Salerno, Italy.
Find the book here.
Musings of Miss Yellow is divided into six sections: A Tryst with Tales in Rhyme, Arcadia, Gobbledygook, If, Rumination and Saudade respectively.
Sharing her experience from the recent 100 TPC World Conference in Italy, Supriya says:
"People often mock and giggle when I tell them I am a poet. They end up patting my back over a ruthless comment, 'You’re just a young woman deciding who she will be.' Last month, I took a leap of faith and traveled to Salerno, Italy to attend the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference. I met poets from so many countries that I failed to maintain a count.
"When I boarded my last plane from Dubai with a heavy heart, I felt as if I had seen the entire world in one shot. The organizers of the conference, Alfonso Gatto Fondazione and 100 Thousand Poets for Change, translated a few poems from this sophomore poetry collection into Italian and posted a stanza of my poem “If I have a Daughter” with my picture on their Facebook page.
"One fine evening, when almost everyone was high on poetry and alcohol, nearly about to explode with euphoria while dancing on the tunes of Campagnia Daltrocanto, a local traditional Neopolitan band, a man who spoke only Italian and no English walked by my side to examine my face. He then took out his phone, opened up that particular picture of me on conference’s Facebook page, posted with a stanza of my poem 'If I have a Daughter' in Italian and moved his fingers to confirm if it was me. I smiled and nodded. He said something then, which I failed to understand, still I smiled and nodded and resumed dancing on those energetic beats. After a few minutes, he came to me again. This time he had the Google Translator opened on his phone window. He handed me his phone. He had got the Italian word 'mosso' translated for me into English. 'Mosso' is synonymous to 'moved'. He wanted to tell me he was moved by my poem. My eyes felt heavy. I bowed and said 'grazie' (thank you). I guess I’ll master the Italian language one day and translate Musings of Miss Yellow into Italian myself. I’ll then go to Salerno again to gift him the first copy of 'Riflessioni di Perdere Giallo.'
Supriya in Salerno.
"Being a young poet in India is almost like waking up to a challenge every day. Well, to me, poetry is something that I’d envisaged for my future since the day when I was not even a teenager. I had always wanted by bind my illicit and unripened verses into a slice of surreal treatise.
"It may sound strange, but there were actually two things that inspired me to write this book. Firstly, it was the sarcastic tone of the society. Though it wasn’t threatening or scathing, but I’d always wanted to upshot the basic convictions of the world around us. Secondly, the nature around me has always fascinated and inspired me beyond any possible levels of anticipation. We were, rather are, always taught at the school that these trees and flowers are categorized as living creatures and they differ us only by the means of communication. So since my early teenage, I have always tried to place myself at their place and speak up a language that perfectly fits in this universal natural maze."
Recommended poet:
"There's this one poet who has always stayed with me, her name is Amrita Pritam, a very prominent female poet in the Indian literary scene who wrote in my mother tongue Punjabi. Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah – "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy written by her to the 18th-century Punjabi poet, an expression of her anguish over massacres during the partition of India never fails to touch me in the most poignant manner every time I read it."
[Note: You'll find the poem in English and Punjabi, with historical background about the massacres, at this blog.]
Although I met Supriya at the 100 Thousand Poets for Change conference, I feel that I have met her again through the biography and statements she shared with us today. She was kind enough to share two poems. The first is recommended for upper elementary and older. The second is appropriate for high school and up.
Power of Hope
by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal (at age 15)
from The Myriad
When all memories leave you with gloom
And you are left with nothing but doom
When you are crippled and you need a rope
Hold your breathe and give yourself a chance of hope
By ignoring the brain and following the heart
Give your life a new start
Build your way when it is hard to climb
Have no fear, because you haven’t done a crime
Taking small steps, learn to cope
Slowly and slowly build you’ll build your hope
Memory
by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal
from Saudade, Musings of Miss Yellow
Like an
infinite number of concentric circles,
it stretches its existence
beyond an unfelt level.
And like the rings
that increase in number
every year
under the skin of
a tree’s trunk-
it keeps on adding
time, maybe years
to itself.
Yes, I’m talking
about your memory.
You are the center
of my concentric circles.
Your memory, I’m sure
will gaze like an addled sage
till what they call- eternity
on my love’s age.
One day
your indifference
I’ll assume
to be a stone.
Out of angst,
I’ll let it moan
on the lake’s water.
The ripples
will refuse to stay
and I wonder
if your memory
will forever sway.
It's exciting to meet young adults who have a deep love for and commitment to poetry. I applaud Supriya for being so involved in the poetry community. All of the 100 Thousand Poets members are looking forward to watching (and reading) what she does in the future.
Catherine at Reading to the Core
is hosting Poetry Friday this week.
Stop by her blog
for all of this week's links.
In the World Poetry Series:
World Poetry: India, featuring Menka Shivdasani
World Poetry:Poland, featuring Danuta Kosk-Kosicka and Lidia Kosk
World Poetry: Israel, featuring Michael Dickel
World Poetry: Ireland, feature Siobhan Mac Mahon

Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal (born June 27, 1995) is an Indian poet and writer. She is author of two books of poems, The Myriad (2011) and Musings of Miss Yellow (2015).
The only daughter of Simerjit Kaur Dhaliwal and Yadwinder Singh Dhaliwal, Supriya was was born and brought up in the vicinity of lush green tea gardens and majestic Himalayan valley, Palampur. The town is located in Himachal Pradesh, India where her Sikh parents sought refuge from the rapid pace of the rest of the country and sought solace in the lap of nature. At the age of seven she wrote her first poem, and she first saw publication in a widely read newspaper, The Tribune when she was fifteen years old.
Supriya is currently living in Shimla, where she's studying English Literature at St. Bede's College. She authored her first book of poems at the age of sixteen. Her debut anthology received immense love from its readers which triggered the poetry bug in her to a newer level.
She is actively involved in the literary scene in India, contributing to numerous literary carnivals across the country, including Kumaon Literary Festival and Delhi Poetry Festival . She is also the core team member of Poets Corner, a one of a kind poetry collective based in the historic city of New Delhi. She aims at reviving this literary spirit in the youth of India which she believes is dwindling at a panther pace.
Her poems are widely anthologized across the globe, Earl of Plaid (USA), A Poet's View of Being (Canada), The Taj Mahal Review (India), Acerbic Anthology (Nigeria). Her sophomore poetry anthology, Musings of Miss Yellow was recently published. It started its journey from the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Salerno, Italy.

Find the book here.
Musings of Miss Yellow is divided into six sections: A Tryst with Tales in Rhyme, Arcadia, Gobbledygook, If, Rumination and Saudade respectively.
Sharing her experience from the recent 100 TPC World Conference in Italy, Supriya says:
"People often mock and giggle when I tell them I am a poet. They end up patting my back over a ruthless comment, 'You’re just a young woman deciding who she will be.' Last month, I took a leap of faith and traveled to Salerno, Italy to attend the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference. I met poets from so many countries that I failed to maintain a count.
"When I boarded my last plane from Dubai with a heavy heart, I felt as if I had seen the entire world in one shot. The organizers of the conference, Alfonso Gatto Fondazione and 100 Thousand Poets for Change, translated a few poems from this sophomore poetry collection into Italian and posted a stanza of my poem “If I have a Daughter” with my picture on their Facebook page.
"One fine evening, when almost everyone was high on poetry and alcohol, nearly about to explode with euphoria while dancing on the tunes of Campagnia Daltrocanto, a local traditional Neopolitan band, a man who spoke only Italian and no English walked by my side to examine my face. He then took out his phone, opened up that particular picture of me on conference’s Facebook page, posted with a stanza of my poem 'If I have a Daughter' in Italian and moved his fingers to confirm if it was me. I smiled and nodded. He said something then, which I failed to understand, still I smiled and nodded and resumed dancing on those energetic beats. After a few minutes, he came to me again. This time he had the Google Translator opened on his phone window. He handed me his phone. He had got the Italian word 'mosso' translated for me into English. 'Mosso' is synonymous to 'moved'. He wanted to tell me he was moved by my poem. My eyes felt heavy. I bowed and said 'grazie' (thank you). I guess I’ll master the Italian language one day and translate Musings of Miss Yellow into Italian myself. I’ll then go to Salerno again to gift him the first copy of 'Riflessioni di Perdere Giallo.'

Supriya in Salerno.
"Being a young poet in India is almost like waking up to a challenge every day. Well, to me, poetry is something that I’d envisaged for my future since the day when I was not even a teenager. I had always wanted by bind my illicit and unripened verses into a slice of surreal treatise.
"It may sound strange, but there were actually two things that inspired me to write this book. Firstly, it was the sarcastic tone of the society. Though it wasn’t threatening or scathing, but I’d always wanted to upshot the basic convictions of the world around us. Secondly, the nature around me has always fascinated and inspired me beyond any possible levels of anticipation. We were, rather are, always taught at the school that these trees and flowers are categorized as living creatures and they differ us only by the means of communication. So since my early teenage, I have always tried to place myself at their place and speak up a language that perfectly fits in this universal natural maze."
Recommended poet:
"There's this one poet who has always stayed with me, her name is Amrita Pritam, a very prominent female poet in the Indian literary scene who wrote in my mother tongue Punjabi. Ajj aakhaan Waris Shah nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah – "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy written by her to the 18th-century Punjabi poet, an expression of her anguish over massacres during the partition of India never fails to touch me in the most poignant manner every time I read it."
[Note: You'll find the poem in English and Punjabi, with historical background about the massacres, at this blog.]
Although I met Supriya at the 100 Thousand Poets for Change conference, I feel that I have met her again through the biography and statements she shared with us today. She was kind enough to share two poems. The first is recommended for upper elementary and older. The second is appropriate for high school and up.
Power of Hope
by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal (at age 15)
from The Myriad
When all memories leave you with gloom
And you are left with nothing but doom
When you are crippled and you need a rope
Hold your breathe and give yourself a chance of hope
By ignoring the brain and following the heart
Give your life a new start
Build your way when it is hard to climb
Have no fear, because you haven’t done a crime
Taking small steps, learn to cope
Slowly and slowly build you’ll build your hope
Memory
by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal
from Saudade, Musings of Miss Yellow
Like an
infinite number of concentric circles,
it stretches its existence
beyond an unfelt level.
And like the rings
that increase in number
every year
under the skin of
a tree’s trunk-
it keeps on adding
time, maybe years
to itself.
Yes, I’m talking
about your memory.
You are the center
of my concentric circles.
Your memory, I’m sure
will gaze like an addled sage
till what they call- eternity
on my love’s age.
One day
your indifference
I’ll assume
to be a stone.
Out of angst,
I’ll let it moan
on the lake’s water.
The ripples
will refuse to stay
and I wonder
if your memory
will forever sway.
It's exciting to meet young adults who have a deep love for and commitment to poetry. I applaud Supriya for being so involved in the poetry community. All of the 100 Thousand Poets members are looking forward to watching (and reading) what she does in the future.

Catherine at Reading to the Core
is hosting Poetry Friday this week.
Stop by her blog
for all of this week's links.
In the World Poetry Series:
World Poetry: India, featuring Menka Shivdasani
World Poetry:Poland, featuring Danuta Kosk-Kosicka and Lidia Kosk
World Poetry: Israel, featuring Michael Dickel
World Poetry: Ireland, feature Siobhan Mac Mahon
Published on August 20, 2015 08:46
August 13, 2015
Leaving Home, Part 2
Thank you for all of the kind, supportive words as we send our son off to college, Poetry Friday friends! I appreciated your comments last week.
Today was the big day. I dropped the kid off at the airport first thing this morning. I was teary, but I did not cry! By noon, he had made his way to CWRU, found his dorm room, and met some fellow early-arrivals. His texts started to get a little cagey after that. When he began to tease me for being nosey, I knew he was fine. Whew.
Sending our guy off into the world got me thinking. Robbie had just finished 5th grade when I began working on the manuscript that became THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. This summer, Advanced Reader's Copies of the book began making their way into the world. The ARC has been traveling around the country, paying reading visits to my fellow 2016 debut authors.
(Where in the heck is THE LAST FIFTH GRADE? Find out on this map.)
It's an odd feeling, knowing that the book (and child) you spent years preparing for this moment is finally *out there.* It's out there having experiences with people you've never met. They are forming opinions about something (someone) that's not you, but is a huge part of you.
I'm grateful for author friends
who have welcomed Ms. Hill's
fifth grade class into their homes.
There's always a comfortable
place to stay during a visit.
Sometimes the book gets to go
on field trips, like this one to Lake Erie.
And there are new friends to meet,
like Abby Cooper's Lou,
and his pal Squishy Giraffe.
I am amazed at the parallels between a child leaving home and a published book. As a parent/author, you've reached the point where you've poured every skill, lecture, ounce of wisdom, and experience that you can into your baby. He's had teachers, mentors, coaches, and relatives to support his growth. Now he has to put everything he's learned and experienced to use and make the best of it.
Thanks to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for sharing this poem with me when I was feeling anxious about packing our son up this week. Sharon Olds' observations speak to me, both as a mom who is launching a child, and as an author getting ready to launch a book.
The Summer-Camp Bus Pulls Away from the Curb
by Sharon Olds
Whatever he needs, he has or doesn't
have by now.
Whatever the world is going to do to him
it has started to do. With a pencil and two
Hardy Boys and a peanut butter sandwich and
grapes he is on his way, there is nothing
more we can do for him. Whatever is
stored in his heart, he can use, now.
Whatever he has laid up in his mind
he can call on. What he does not have
he can lack. The bus gets smaller and smaller, as one
folds a flag at the end of a ceremony,
onto itself, and onto itself, until
only a heavy wedge remains.
Whatever his exuberant soul
can do for him, it is doing right now...
Read the rest at The Writer's Almanac.
My dear friend Heidi Mordhorst is hosting Poetry Friday this week. Get out your fresh fruit and your juicer and join her for a cup full of delicious poetry at My Juicy Little Universe.
Thanks to the Sweet Sixteens debut author group for the photos! You guys are the best. Let's just hope my son is as good about sending pictures home as you are (ha).
Today was the big day. I dropped the kid off at the airport first thing this morning. I was teary, but I did not cry! By noon, he had made his way to CWRU, found his dorm room, and met some fellow early-arrivals. His texts started to get a little cagey after that. When he began to tease me for being nosey, I knew he was fine. Whew.
Sending our guy off into the world got me thinking. Robbie had just finished 5th grade when I began working on the manuscript that became THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. This summer, Advanced Reader's Copies of the book began making their way into the world. The ARC has been traveling around the country, paying reading visits to my fellow 2016 debut authors.
(Where in the heck is THE LAST FIFTH GRADE? Find out on this map.)
It's an odd feeling, knowing that the book (and child) you spent years preparing for this moment is finally *out there.* It's out there having experiences with people you've never met. They are forming opinions about something (someone) that's not you, but is a huge part of you.

I'm grateful for author friends
who have welcomed Ms. Hill's
fifth grade class into their homes.

There's always a comfortable
place to stay during a visit.

Sometimes the book gets to go
on field trips, like this one to Lake Erie.

And there are new friends to meet,
like Abby Cooper's Lou,
and his pal Squishy Giraffe.
I am amazed at the parallels between a child leaving home and a published book. As a parent/author, you've reached the point where you've poured every skill, lecture, ounce of wisdom, and experience that you can into your baby. He's had teachers, mentors, coaches, and relatives to support his growth. Now he has to put everything he's learned and experienced to use and make the best of it.
Thanks to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for sharing this poem with me when I was feeling anxious about packing our son up this week. Sharon Olds' observations speak to me, both as a mom who is launching a child, and as an author getting ready to launch a book.
The Summer-Camp Bus Pulls Away from the Curb
by Sharon Olds
Whatever he needs, he has or doesn't
have by now.
Whatever the world is going to do to him
it has started to do. With a pencil and two
Hardy Boys and a peanut butter sandwich and
grapes he is on his way, there is nothing
more we can do for him. Whatever is
stored in his heart, he can use, now.
Whatever he has laid up in his mind
he can call on. What he does not have
he can lack. The bus gets smaller and smaller, as one
folds a flag at the end of a ceremony,
onto itself, and onto itself, until
only a heavy wedge remains.
Whatever his exuberant soul
can do for him, it is doing right now...
Read the rest at The Writer's Almanac.
My dear friend Heidi Mordhorst is hosting Poetry Friday this week. Get out your fresh fruit and your juicer and join her for a cup full of delicious poetry at My Juicy Little Universe.

Thanks to the Sweet Sixteens debut author group for the photos! You guys are the best. Let's just hope my son is as good about sending pictures home as you are (ha).
Published on August 13, 2015 15:03