Articles & Opinion
In addition to this year being the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards, it is also fifty years since I graduated from high school. My foundational education provided very few opportunities to read books by African American writers, either for school or pleasure. Interestingly,...
A poem written on the occasion of Ashley Bryan's 96th birthday. What a Morning! Sing to the Sun! Walk Together Children! Uh-Huh! Uh-Huh! Dancing Granny’s movin’ her feet. It’s Ashley’s day! Flying-High sweet! It’s been said that The Night Has Ears. Now the story’s told — his birthday’s...
Good Coretta-Scott-King-Book-Awards-Breakfast-Sunday morning! I stand before you as the fifth recipient of the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement in the category of practitioner and in the company of the distinguished colleagues who have come before me: Dr. Henrietta Mays Smith, Demetria Tucker, Deborah D. Taylor, and Dr....
I’ve been marinating in childhood memories this past year as I worked to complete my upcoming memoir, Ordinary Hazards. Among the memories there were, as you might imagine, many moments that marked my path as a writer: my first poetry reading at Countee Cullen Library in Harlem, receiving my first...
There is no sure-fire, never-fail road map for research. There certainly is no GPS with a reassuring British voice guiding you when you make a wrong turn (“recalculating…”). Research takes you into unexplored, wild, rocky terrain, and each book teaches you how to research that book. Sure, there are techniques...
I love chocolate. I love fruit. But I prefer to enjoy them separately. If, on the off chance, I do bite into a clever combination of the two, it is generally after I’ve been given some kind of heads-up — perhaps one as simple as the label on the inside...
Her father’s well-remembered voice came to save her. “When you’re sad, my Little Star, go out of doors. It’s always better underneath the open sky.” — Eva Ibbotson, A Countess Below Stairs I am writing about Eva in my back garden. A bowlegged wasp is exploring the pages of my notebook, and...
The Brownie has had our house all to himself for ever so long, for Wendy and I have been away. We went to a lovely place down by the sea where we learned to swim, and now if you come to see us you’ll find that we’re not the children...
Scene: Sitting-room of Alice-Heidi’s House Alice-Heidi: (enters from hall) O dear! O dear! That child Wendy has left all the scrapbooks all over the floor! She is a nice child to have around, but I do wish she would remember to pick up the things she plays with. Wendy! Wendy!...
261 articles
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