Candice Iloh talks about how the very real feelings of her high school students helped her keep the right focus in her writing.
Jessica Kim reflects on her journey from teacher to writer and on the themes she wished to explore in her first book.
Stopping to smell an orange or closing our eyes to notice a spring rainfall are things everybody can enjoy and learn from – no matter our age.
How to Live on the Edge was inspired by a combination of questions that materialized in my mind six years ago, after I discovered that I had a BRCA gene mutation. [...] The following questions spun in my mind...
Discussing about race in the classroom can be uncomfortable for some teachers but provides a powerful experience for all [...] Just like teaching about race in the classroom, you have to start at the base and build a foundation.
As we worked to complete the project, we always had in our minds the many students we’ve met — students who have moved us and changed us with their strength and vulnerability.
Tackling what frightens us and discovering things are not as scary as they seemed is one thing; finding out that our worst-case scenario is indeed at hand is another. That is when courage asks something deeper of us.
The inspiration I felt leaning back on the brilliance of the original book, even as I forged new, unexpected writing paths forward, afforded a world of creative possibility and play that enchanted me as I wrote the book.
In book terms, we were all partners in the best senses of the word. And the book was made better because of that.
Birdsong is a celebration of relationships, an intergenerational friendship between two neighbors, an older artist named Agnes, and a young girl, Katherena, told from the child’s point of view. Agnes sees Katherena as an equal, and I hope readers will be able to find themselves in this book.
