Diversity

Maureen Crisp, Recipient of the Betty Gilderdale award!

By on January 19, 2018   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, Diversity  

As many of you know, when my publisher closed in 2016, I decided to take the leap into indie publishing. You can read that post here. As with anything new, there has been a steep learning curve, but I jumped in and joined multiple Facebook groups. It has been wonderful gleaning from other authors there and meeting some truly brilliant gems. One such person is the fabulous Maureen Crisp. Not only is she a wealth of information but she has done so much for kid lit in her country and online. Maureen was recently recognized by her peers for her contribution to children’s literature. She is the 2017 winner of the Betty Gilderdale award! Through our online interactions, I knew an interview with her would be an invaluable asset to our blog. I’m so thrilled that she has agreed to join us today!

The Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award honours Betty Gilderdale, a lifelong advocate and supporter of children’s literature, through her academic research, work as a reviewer and 30 years’ committee service to Auckland’s Children’s Literature Association. Prior to 2000, the award was known as the Children’s Literature Association’s Award for Services to Children’s Literature.
The Award is given for outstanding service to children’s literature and literacy. You can read more about the award and Maureen’s acknowledgment here. And you can read Maureen’s lecture here.
*

AMIE:  Tell us a bit about your publishing journey. How you got your agent, how many books you have published, what it was like working with your publisher, etc.

MAUREEN: New Zealand has nearly 5 million people. In the publishing industry there are few agents. Agents specialising in children’s publishing about 1 and a half. They do not make their living solely as agents. Writers wait for submission days that some Traditional publishers across NZ and Australia have. Some are twice yearly, some are monthly. A lot of publishing houses that used to have editorial offices in New Zealand have now gone. This is a result of the changes and/or amalgamation of publishers. Acquiring decisions are made out of Australia with very mixed results for Kiwi writers.

Writers submit directly to editors if they have had a previous relationship with them.

I have published in the New Zealand School Journal which is an eductional resource provided to New Zealand schools as part of the curriculum. The journal has a mix of plays, nonfiction and fiction articles, poems and activities and is published four times a year across four different age bands. Many children’s writers and illustrators get their start writing for the journal. I published Bones with Penguin as they seemed to have the best fit for a longer story. It had originally been a 10,000 word novel but they wanted it shorter to fit into a new line they were marketing for junior novels so I had to cut it down to 6000 words. That was an education!

AMIE: You mentioned BONES. Tell us a little about it. What was your inspiration?

MAUREEN: Bones was an idea that wouldn’t let go. What if your dog came back with a human bone… I wondered where the bone had come from and things developed from there. I interviewed Detectives about the idea and found out more than I wanted to know… (Apparently this is common and that’s how police find suicides). To make it more kid friendly I made the skeleton really old. So then I had to interview Museum staff. This was also topical as repatriation of human remains in museums is a big deal here.

By making it a mystery with lots of comic moments I could tell a story where the events could still be factually based without being gruesome.

Police are digging up the garden at Danny and Nicki’s house. Can their dog Patch, the chief suspect, help solve the mystery of the bones? *Bones by Maureen Crisp *Penguin, Puffin imprint * ISBN 978-0-14-330399-2

AMIE:  You run some pretty awesome websites and conferences, as well as provide other resources for children’s writers. What was the motivating factor in your creating and implementing these things?

MAUREEN: To be completely honest…. because I wanted them for myself. There wasn’t any conferences here for writers let alone children’s writers. Being far away from the rest of the world has made attending conferences really really expensive. (Everyone dreams of attending SCBWI LA- the cost would be astronomical and we are very poorly paid as writers here.)

I had lived and worked in a Retreat house so I knew how to put a weekend together; food, small group sessions, practical nuts and bolts things. Then it was a case of looking to see what I wanted to learn, asking other writers what they wanted to learn and then finding some people who would teach us. I got a team together and we worked for 18 months to put the first conference for 100 people together. It sold out in two hours so we knew the need was really there. Since then the conferences have been every two years and moved around the country to give everyone a chance to attend without paying huge amounts of money in travel. Each conference team has copied the format we started but have put their own slant/theme on them. Organisers of the conferences pick my brains for what topics are being discussed overseas that would have relevance here and use my weekly blog for ideas.

My weekly blog came about the same way. I wanted to learn about marketing and publishing. I didn’t have a website so a writing friend suggested I start a blog. I combined the blog with sharing what I was finding out  and now it’s been going over ten years. Apparently it is the must-read homework of a lot of writers here in New Zealand. (LOL)

FaBo Story came about after a Facebook conversation about getting kids into writing and helping out teachers with writing prompts. We started a weekly competition where we wrote an episodic cliff hanger story every week, with prizes for the best story we received from kids who wrote what they thought happened next. It was hard work!!! Each of the original writers involved committed to two episodes and judged the entries for their week. That meant writing their chapter following on from the last writer. We were working a week ahead. The story took on a life of its own and mostly through word of mouth went a bit crazy. By the end of the story we were getting over 150 entries from around the world every week. It wasn’t until we finished that we realised what we had done; a first web serial story, a first multi author story for kids! So after eight years of trial and error we have made it a lot simpler to manage by just offering story prompts and judging what comes in while sharing tips about writing to kids and teachers. Although every now and then someone harks back to the great time they had with the pressure and energy of a short deadline and a cliffhanger chapter to write… until someone slaps me and says wake up.

AMIE: Haha! I can totally relate. Thanks for sharing all of that with us. These services are such an incredible resource to adults and children alike. Thank you so much for not only being inspired to create them but being willing to follow through with the inspiration. I know I’m guilty of great ideas but failing to execute them. It’s wonderful you stuck it out. 

We’ve talked a bit online and you’ve mentioned that you suffer from imposter syndrome (don’t we all!). What are some of the reasons you most feel like an imposter? Do you have advice for combating/overcoming it?

MAUREEN: When I first got the phonecall telling me I had been awarded the Betty Gilderdale Award, I was so stunned I couldn’t articulate anything but chicken noises on the phone. I then went into a panic that she had called me by mistake. Once I calmed down and tried to accept graciously (tho i think I was incoherent)  I went into a spiral of self doubt. I haven’t done enough. I don’t know enough, I haven’t published enough, won a major award for my work, and on and on…

Then I had to write a speech. I have attended a few of these speeches down through the years and the award winners were always so poised and calm and just looked like they had invisible crowns on their heads… and were worthy. And my friends besides laughing at me asked why I didn’t think I was worthy. While I reiterated the long list they refuted it one by one. (Treasure your writer friends!)

I recently read a comment about how writers always focus on the one star review and never the five star review. We give more attention and credence to that One star because secretly we are all worrying about being found out…. that we don’t deserve our place in the sun. One of our most talented multi award winners struggles with self doubt so much it is almost paralysing.

The Five Star review is just as valid as the One Star. Save every one in a document so that when imposter syndrome strikes you can read it and get back up on the horse ( you don’t need to save the one stars…).

The award flipped me up a level when I was told I was judging the National Children’s Book Awards… Imposter syndrome derailed me most of November and into December. At my Award ceremony the speech went well. I didn’t faint when I saw who was in the room, tho my knuckles were white on the lectern… and I was given copies of the nominating documents which made me a blubbering mess… (Thank God it wasn’t before.) I still feel like I know nothing but now I know it with authority. I review twice in my head what I say before I say it instead of once. I keep learning because I have to and sharing what I have learned because that is how I consolidate it. And fame is fleeting. ( LOL!)

AMIE:  I can relate to those bad reviews. They stay with me much longer than they deserve. 

Obviously working with kids is something you enjoy. Tell us why you like to write for children, especially middle-grade readers.

MAUREEN: They are the hardest to write for!  A good children’s story explores the human condition without talking down or dumbing down. To get an idea or story told in as few words as possible which is funny, memorable and profound is the pinnacle I aim for. I never reach it but I aim for it…

AMIE: Oh, I’m sure you reach it more than you know! What’s the most rewarding part of being a writer?

MAUREEN: Telling lies and getting paid for it… was my first thought… then I had to laugh about the getting paid for it part. If that was my focus I would have gone into advertising. Actually getting my first review from a child who loved my story. Nothing tops that!

AMIE: Haha! There is definitely truth to that! So it’s my understanding you’ve self published some titles. Tell me about your journey from traditional publishing to indie publishing. What’s that been like? 

MAUREEN: I was the first children’s writer to write an ebook here in New Zealand (2010) and I did it because I was asked to so I could tell everyone how to do it. Yeah…. sucker. It was after that experience that I started to look at adding lots of marketing ideas into my blog. Apparently just putting an ebook up on Amazon doesn’t equal instant money… who knew? (LOL)

With the contraction of the publishing industry here we were faced with very few outlets for stories across NZ and Australia. There has been a rise in authors straddling both Indie and Traditional press publishing. My blog was reflecting this move by 2012 and I thought that I may as well give it a go.  I love writing SciFi for kids but publishers kept telling me there was no market for it here. I ended up with a drawer full of stories and nowhere to publish them. Series seemed to be one way that was making some money so I started to plan and write a series of junior fiction stories and along the way start a micro press because why not? Unfortunately cancer caught up and derailed my plans for a few years. But now I’m back and learning loads about production, kerning, widows and orphans, dpi and jpeg, png and PDF.

Over the years I have had a ringside seat to what’s happening globally. Witnessed bad contracts and tanked writing careers. Having new tools to take control over the whole process and to make publishing more accessible has opened up new opportunities for writers. I want to learn how to do it. Setting up an indie micro press for myself seems to be the way to go forward. I have been watching in our national book awards the rise of books being ‘self published’ hitting the shortlists.  A few years ago it was one out of 20 shortlisted books. Last year it was  1 in 4.  I’m on the judging team this year and the quality of the ‘self published’ books is getting better and better. I prefer the term Indie myself. ‘Self published’ still has that taint of vanity about it. Indie publishers are serious in their work and publish for a wide audience.

AMIE: I definitely agree there. Indie authors are dedicated to their craft. They hire editors, cover designers, and write to market. Most of the stigma seems to have dissipated except when it comes to children’s books. Hopefully that will lift eventually as well. What advice would you give aspiring children’s writers?

MAUREEN: READ READ READ! Read in your genre and especially recent books. Study what has been published lately. If you are Indie publishing look at the production values of books coming out and match them.

Have fun channeling your inner child for writing the story but put on your Big Kid clothes for publishing. A stapled hand drawn illustrated picture book about an ugly duckling who turns into a swan is not going to cut it in an award submission. Sadly these types of stories do get submitted. (It’s heart breaking really… there is so much valuable information out there…) Research Research Research!

AMIE: Thanks so much for joining us today, Maureen! It’s been an absolute pleasure. On behalf of myself, and all of us here at From the Mixed-Up Files, I wish you all the best on your future endeavors. And congratulations on your much deserved award!

Maureen Crisp lives in New Zealand where she dreams up stories to get her out of any boring things she has to do. She loves writing for children and has published plays and junior fiction in the New Zealand School Journal and for Penguin. Maureen is a primary school teacher by trade and a geek by inclination. She writes a mix of contemporary and science fiction stories to disguise the fact that she is overly fascinated by Mars, the robot landers and space exploration.

Maureen is active in the New Zealand children’s writing community where she has planned and run two national conferences for children’s writers. She has been writing a weekly blog on publishing news from around the world along with writing and marketing tips for authors for over ten years. Maureen is a member of the FaBo collective of writers who write competition story prompts for children in New Zealand schools and the Convener of the Wellington Children’s Book Association.

In 2017 her peers awarded her the Storylines Betty Gilderdale Award for outstanding services to Children’s Literature. Currently Maureen is reading a lot more books than usual, as she is one of the 2018 judges for the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults.

You can find Maureen here.

Visit the Wellington Children’s Book Association here.

Back to Top

Folk Storytelling in South Asia, Author interview with Sayantani DasGupta, and Giveaway

By on January 15, 2018   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, Diversity, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, New Releases, News  

Like many countries, South Asia is a source and inspiration for folk storytelling.  You can see folk storytellers like our mothers and grandmothers at homes as well as performers on the streets and marketplaces in rural villages, small towns, and even in some of the bigger cities. Men and women perform in elaborate style, using colorful costumes, large picture cloths, and scrolls. They perform in groups, accompanied by the narrator, actors, and musicians. They tell stories in stage performances, in areas where there is public attraction, courtyards of homes, wedding ceremonies, or special gatherings.  Their repertoire is usually wide and consists of historical tales, myth, episodes from the two Great Indian epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata, Christian scriptures, Sufi stories, as well as local folklore.

Today, I am delighted to welcome Sayantani DasGupta to Mixed-Up Files to talk about her experience writing Bengali folk tales in middle-grade fiction. Sayantani’s middle-grade novel, THE SERPENT’S SECRET is available to pre-order and will be released on February 27, 2018.

Sayantani, thank you for stopping by at Mixed-Up Files. The protagonist of THE SERPENT’S SECRET, Kiranmala is an interdimensional demon slayer. Could you tell us more?

Thank you so much for having me! It’s a joy to be back on The Mixed Up Files!

So Kiranmala thinks she’s just an ordinary sixth grader living in Parsippany, New Jersey, until the morning of her 12th birthday. That day, her parents go missing – transported to an alternate dimension because of an expired spell – and two mysterious princes show up at her doorstep, promising to help her find her family. She’s a little skeptical (she’s a Jersey girl, and as she’ll tell you herself, Jersey girls are no dummies), until a drooling rakkhosh demon slams through her kitchen, totaling her suburban split level. Kiranmala’s forced to fly off with the princes Lal and Neel on their flying pakkhiraj horses, through a transit corridor that’s a lot like the customs and immigration lines at an airport, and to a magical dimension called The Kingdom Beyond Seven Oceans and Thirteen Rivers. There, she has to solve riddles, battle the evil Serpent King and vicious Rakkhoshi Queen, who may or may not also be a black hole, and find her parents before the spell protecting them entirely expires and they get eaten by a newborn rakkhosh baby! All that and make it home in time to finish the sixth grade…

Tell us why the subject of Bengali folktales is important to you. What inspired you to write this story?

Toni Morrison has that great quote – “If there’s a book you want to read, and it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” The Serpent’s Secret is the funny and fast-paced fantasy adventure with a kick butt brown skinned heroine that I always needed, but never found, as a young reader. So that’s the short answer to what inspired me to write this novel.

The longer answer is that my parents immigrated to this country in the late 1960’s and so I was born and grew up in the Midwest at a time when there weren’t a lot of people of color, nonetheless South Asians, in the community where I lived. Back then, I didn’t see anyone who looked like me in media or advertisements. I was a big reader, but there was still a big disconnect between me and Laura Ingalls, Meg Murry or the other heroines I loved. But when I went back on my long summer vacations to my grandparents’ homes in Kolkata, India, that’s when I saw others who looked like me, that’s when I found a sense of belonging and history, that’s when I felt seen and heard in a deep and real way that I didn’t find in my life in America.

Of course, stories are such an important way that anyone finds ‘home’ in any community. So when we’d gather on those sweltering summer nights, under the whirring fan and the gently swaying mosquito net, and my grandmother would tell us cousins these fantastic folk stories about flesh eating rakkhosh and flying pakkhiraj horses, evil serpent kings and brave princes and princess, my imagination would be completely captured. I loved those stories so much that I translated/adapted several in a 1995 folktale collection for grownups I wrote with my mother called The Demon Slayers and Other Stories: Bengali Folktales (Interlink, 1995).

Fast forward many years, to when my now teenage son and daughter were becoming big middle grade readers. I was impressed with the increased range of diverse titles they had access to. The problem was, most of those books (at least then) were realistic fiction, and my son in particular was a big Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl fan. I was so frustrated to realize that he and his sister were experiencing that same lack of literary mirrors I had suffered as a kid. There were more diverse titles, sure, but mostly in contemporary or historic realistic fiction. Intentional or not, this still sent out the message that kids of color and kids of other marginalized identities weren’t allowed to be heroic, or funny, or central to the saving of the universe. So I went back to those Bengali folktales I had loved so much, those stories which were such an important part of my finding my own identity. In the same way I had found myself in West Bengal, India – the land of my ancestors – the heroine of my novel would have to travel to the magical Kingdom Beyond Seven Oceans and Thirteen Rivers to find her own strength and power. Eventually, the book I began as a family project for myself and my children took wings and became The Serpent’s Secret, first in the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series!

Let me ask you about Bengali folklore, since that’s the heart of Serpent’s Secret. What types of Bengali folklore do you write about in THE SERPENT’S SECRET? Could you explain how the local folklore is different from Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata, or stories from other religions?

Thanks so much for asking! First, these are stories from Bengal – a region which used to be one united area but is now comprised of the state of West Bengal in India, and the country of Bangladesh. In 1947, when the British rulers of India were leaving, they split up the subcontinent into the independent countries of India and Pakistan (In 1971, East Pakistan would win its independence from Pakistan to become Bangladesh). This was a time fraught with a lot of violence between religious communities – people who had previously been neighbors and friends were suddenly pitted against one another – and these bloody tensions have in many ways been South Asia’s postcolonial legacy, influencing politics and religious strife in the region today.

All this to say that the folklore that I’m drawing from is actually pre-partition – these are stories shared by Bengalis of India, of Bangladesh and of course of the diaspora. They are also stories loved by Bengalis of multiple faiths, including Hindus and Muslims. These hilarious stories of rakkhoshi demons disguising themselves as beautiful maidens and marrying human kings, these adventures of princes and princesses riding on pakkhiraj horses, wise cracking tia birds playing tricks on silly humans – these are all our collective stories. Although it’s inevitable The Serpent’s Secret novel is colored by my own particular background and my own particular experience, I wanted to honor and celebrate the fact that the folktales and other children’s stories that inspired the novel aren’t bound by any one country or religion. I wanted to celebrate our commonly loved stories.

As oral tradition, these folktales are also different than myths, which tend to have more spiritual significance. Epics like The Ramayana and The Mahabharata, which are wonderful, and were a big part of my growing up as well, are linked to a religious tradition – to Hinduism – and are beloved across multiple regions of the subcontinent. In contrast, the folktales collected in 1907 by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumdar in a collection called Thakurmar Jhuli (Grandmother’s Satchel) and the other Bengali children’s stories which influenced The Serpent’s Secret are regional, not necessarily religiously bound. That’s a really important distinction for me as I want to resist artificial separations based on nation or religion.

Do you see Kiranmala’s story as a fracturing of Indian folktales like the fractured fairytales of Snow White or Cinderella or Goldilocks? If you could use fairytales to pitch your book, which two stories or characters would you choose and why?

I definitely fractured the Bengali folktales and children’s stories I was inspired by – playing very fast and loose with multiple stories. For instance, my protagonist is inspired by a character who appears in a folkstory called “Arun, Barun and Kiranmala” in which the youngest sister, Kiranmala, has to go save her two older brothers. I was inspired by this story because it’s about female strength and smarts saving the day. But I didn’t stay true to the tale at all beyond that core message about an empowered and heroic girl. My Kiranmala lives in New Jersey and is the only daughter (or so she thinks) of loving convenience store owners. The heroic princes she meets early on in her adventure, Lalkamal and Neelkamal, come from a totally different folktale. People who know these stories will hopefully recognize references I make, but I really don’t stay true to any one story or tale. Rather, the entire novel is kind of a love story to the Bengali children’s stories which helped link me to my own heritage and identity as a child.

The one big difference between The Serpent’s Secret and traditional Western fairytales is that, although Kiranmala does turn out to be a princess, she’s a pretty reluctant one. In fact, she hates all things princess-y, so she’s certainly not waiting around for anyone to rescue or marry her (I mean, she’s only 12!). So rather than liken my novel to traditional Western fairy tales (I’m not sure there’s a good comparison), I might say that like Harry Potter, Kiranmala has to discover her hidden powers and potential. Like Percy Jackson, her story is inspired by traditional tales. Like Katniss Everdeen, she’s a bow and arrow wielding warrior, and like Meg Murry, she has to travel across time and space to rescue her parents. Finally, like Mia Thermopolous, Kiranmala is a wise cracker, making references to Bengali and American pop culture all the time. But of course, although she shares commonalities with Harry, Percy, Katniss, Meg or Mia, she’s her own intergalactic, demon-fighting joke-making heroine!

What do you want readers to take away from this book?

Being from an immigrant family is to be a superhero. Being able to straddle multiple worlds, code-switch between multiple languages and cultures – that’s a kind of a superpower! I hope that, particularly in this time that is so fraught with anti-immigrant sentiment, readers of The Serpent’s Secret are able to recognize and celebrate the strength of kids from immigrant families.

I also love fantasy as a genre, because while all books can strengthen readers’ imaginations, fantasy in particular is in the business of radical imagination. And I truly believe that to save our own universe, to imagine and then bring about a better and healthier world for all of us, we’re going to need a lot of brave young people armed with radical imagination. So my hope is that, on reading The Serpent’s Secret, readers’ imaginations are caught on fire!

Ultimately, I hope that, like Kiranmala, readers of The Serpent’s Secret can embrace their own inner heroism and slay whatever demons come their way!

Enter the giveaway for an advanced reader copy of THE SERPENT’S SECRET by leaving a comment below.  You may earn extra entries by blogging/tweeting/facebooking the interview and letting us know. The winner will be determined on January 21, 2018 and will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (US/Canada only) to receive the book.

If you’d like to know more about Sayantani and her novel, visit her website: http://www.sayantanidasgupta.com/writer/  Or follow her on twitter : https://twitter.com/Sayantani16

 

 

Back to Top

Keys. Journal. Imaginations.

By on January 12, 2018   /   Book Lists, Diversity, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Nonfiction, Writing  

I recently read Wishtree by Katherine Applegate. I loved this story of children creating change in their community through innocent acceptance.

At the heart of story lies a mysterious key. What does it belong to? And, once discovered, what secrets would be revealed from its home?

I was looking for my extra set of car keys the other day, and I came upon these.

23 keys.

They’ve all traveled with us as we moved into our new home six months ago, and yet, not one of them serves a purpose here. Except one, which is to my garage door. I guess I’d better figure out which one that is.

But, where do the rest belong? Their secrets remain with their notched blades, their wards a mystery.

Samar and Stephen, the two young protagonists of Wishtree, discover that their key, bestowed upon them by Bongo, an animated crow, opens a journal which holds a wish from the distant past. Their sleuthing changes the fate of Red, the long-standing neighborhood oak.

The keys now sit on my desk, as I’ve resolved to figure out which portals they fit into, or likely not, before repurposing them. They have found a temporary home next to a journal that is significant to my personal storyline.

It is a journal given to me by my friend Michelle Houts, editor of the Biographies for Young Readers series I’ve written for. My first contribution shares the life journey of Mildred “Millie” Benson, the original ghostwriter of Nancy Drew. The cover and contents of my gift are from The Secret of Red Gate Farm, a Nancy Drew Mystery Story written by Millie. There are lined journal pages in between the text. How cool is that?

I’ve got over a dozen journals, filled with reflections from our family adventures to all 50 states, notes from writing workshops, and musings.

Yet, this one was special, and its purpose needed to be just that.

I’ve determined it is to be my story idea journal. I get inspirations for stories, both imagined and real, daily. My challenge is finding that one, perfect idea, sticking to it, and finishing it.

I’m certain that my fellow Mixed-Up blog contributors are the same. Life presents us with story all the time. And, for those of you teachers and librarians whose days are filled with characters and plots, I encourage you to start writing them down too.

Find that one key that fits somewhere, and explore it. Use it to unlock your imagination and share the journey with children. They need our stories of acceptance, kindness and empathy.

This is my wish and goal for 2018, and it will be discovered in my journal. All I need to do is look, unravel that one unique, shiny, mysterious idea, and then help it find its place in the world.

As for those other keys? This may be their perfect ending.

Back to Top