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Stolen Children and the Lessons of a Duck Pond
I returned from Portugal to the news that, over the past two months, my government has snatched more than 2,300 children from their parents trying to cross the southern border or presenting themselves...
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Supportive Communities in Books Portraying Autism
I often wonder how my life would have been different had my autism diagnosis come in preschool, or elementary school, or even middle or high school instead of adulthood. Would I have received...
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“Burn It All Down”
I’ve been away at a writing retreat this week, one with limited access to phone and internet. The idea is to focus on our work-in-progress, not on social media, the news, or our day-to-day problems....
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Absurdities and Atrocities
I’ve just returned from this weekend’s SCBWI Falling Leaves workshop, where I listened to craft lectures and met with editors about my verse novel in progress. I was hoping to report more on what I...
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Introducing Debut Novelist Alison Littman
In my last blog piece, I reviewed Alison Littman’s debut novel, Radio Underground, the story of a mother and daughter whose lives become intertwined with a young man obsessed with rock ‘n’ roll and...
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The “We Are Here to Stay” Launch and Panel
The shocking victory of a white nationalist President and his political party in November 2016 led me to wonder about the fate of the many diverse books making their way toward publication,...
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Against Monoculture
With the cancellation of two YA novels already this year, the PEN America annual meeting and panel discussion moderated by PEN Executive Director Suzanne Nossel on the topic “Writing Wrongs: Call-outs,...
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A Message from Portugal to the World
Elections for the European Parliament take place this weekend, and in many of the EU countries, anti-democratic and neo-fascist parties are poised to increase their share of the vote. Among them are...
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Cautionary Tale…or Instruction Manual
This morning, U.S. president Donald Trump horrified the country and the world with a series of tweets that targeted “the squad” — four progressive female members of the House of Representatives who...
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Films for the Resistance: The Edge of Democracy
“Brazilian democracy and I are almost the same age. And I thought that in our thirties we would both be standing on solid ground.” So begins Brazilian director Petra Costa’s newest documentary, The...
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Richard’s Official Unboxing!
In the years since I’ve been on social media, a new custom has emerged — the Unboxing. This is when authors received their advance review copies, known as ARCs, or their final book. It’s an exciting...
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Women’s March
Last weekend, as the Senate trial in Donald Trump’s impeachment was about to begin, the fourth Women’s March took place in cities and towns around the country. The first march drew several million...
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Plebiscite
Son and daughter-in-law pose for a selfie with Elizabeth Warren. We are a family divided. My son, his wife and I are supporting Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary while my husband and daughter...
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Redemption: The Ugly History of a Word
I don’t think the current president knows the meaning of all the words he uses, but his advisers and speechwriters do. So when he used the word “redemption” at a MAGA rally in New Hampshire on the eve...
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“One of the Most Important Buildings in the World”
In fall 2005 my husband took our oldest child to Atlanta for his freshman year at Emory University. Derrick fell in love with Emory years before when he accompanied Richard to a conference in Atlanta,...
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We Are the Collective Protagonist
I write this blog post from a near lockdown in New York City, one of the hardest hit areas for Covid-19. As of this afternoon, more than 5,000 people in the city have tested positive for this deadly...
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Six Studs of Separation
The lockdown in New York City is now six weeks old with no end in sight. Across the country, demonstrators — many of them funded by corporate interests eager to get people back to work and to end the...
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The Covid-19 Crisis and the Decline of U.S. Power: Guest Post by Richard...
Over the past few months, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of many conferences and tours for those launching new books in 2020. I’ve tried to highlight some of those books and authors...
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A Big Announcement for TORCH!
Have you ever written a super-secret project, one you didn’t want to tell *anyone*? That was me, for years, as I worked on draft after draft of a weird, multi-POV YA historical novel for teens. I...
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Freedom and Responsibility
My son and his friends couldn’t grow up fast enough. Just before the beginning of seventh grade, the parents of one of his friends caught him and the other boy sneaking beer into their house. I worked...
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