For Activist and About-To-Be-Activist Writers and Readers: A Reading and Workshop

Poet Frances Payne Adler, one of 3 co-editors of Fire & Ink: An Anthology of Social Action Writing, appears on the Wieden+Kennedy stage on Sunday, Oct 11th at 11 am, with Ralph Salisbury, Paulann Petersen, and Cindy Williams Gutierrez. Adler will also be giving a workshop on social action writing that same day at 3 pm.

About the reading: Ralph Salisbury and William Stafford are two of the 100 contemporary social action writers in the book. Ralph Salisbury will be reading and talking about his poem. Paulann Peterson will be reading William Stafford’s poem. Cindy Williams Gutierrez will be reading one of the Latina/o writers in the collection. And you’ll also hear a sample of their social action writing.

How I Got Started Writing Social Action Poems: It’s 1984, I’m in grad school in San Diego, and Edwin Meese, our then-Attorney General, says, “There is no hunger in America,” and a month later, a Presidential Task Force concludes, “There is no documentable evidence of rampant hunger in America.” I can’t ignore my body reaction. This is where my social action story begins. “Someone needs to do something,” I rail. “Someone?” a friend asks, “Why not you?” “Me?” I say. “What can I do? I’m just a student.”

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Addie Boswell, recent recipient of the Oregon Spirit Award  for her children’s novel The Rain Stomper, appears Saturday October 10th at 12 P.M. on the Target Children’s Stage and then at 1 P.M. the following day on the Target Stage with Jennifer and Matthew Holm.

What Do Kids Want?

We children’s writers generally spend a lot of time talking about this.  In our critique groups, with librarians and our editors, through conferences, blogs and market surveys. But are we any closer to the kids?  I was in a state of panic before my first school visit for The Rain Stomper. What if they don’t like it?  What if they don’t get it? Only by reading my story to elementary students (repeatedly), did I understand what they liked.  It wasn’t my poetic voice, my multicultural characters, or the underlying lesson about ‘feelings’ (things the publishers and awards committees liked.) What kids like most is this one word: BOOM!  Specifically, they like that the BOOM is in big enough typeface that they can read along with me.  Boom walla BOOM BOOM! The sound words and the stomping: that’s what they like. That’s it. 

Though publishers increasingly want more bang for each children’s book (licensing opportunities, series potential, online tie-ins), it seems that kids want… pretty much the same thing they’ve always wanted. Funny, scary, fun-to-read stories. The following poll breaks it down a little more, as reported by Connie Epstein.

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