Many years ago, I found and read a book I loved,
In Hovering Flight, and wrote about it
here.
I never anticipated that Joyce Hinnefeld, that novel's author, would one day lead the writing program at Moravian College and create, as well, an extraordinary writers' conference that last year featured both Laurie Halse Anderson and Ursula Le Guin. I never imagined that I'd receive an email from the beloved teen author/Bethlehem Area Public Library Executive Director Josh Berk that contained both a question and a bridge.
But both things have happened, and this June I will have the great pleasure of spending time with Joyce as well as Josh, as I participate in the Moravian Writers' Conference as a keynoter and panelist and (to make it all even more glittering) in conversation with the very special guest A.S. King. (King, we're gonna have to take our glorious private conversation public. You ready?) There are so many opportunities for area writers during this three-day (June 5 through 7) event—so many terrific writers, teachers, publishers participating.
(Another special bonus: my friend Nic Esposito of The Head and The Hand Press will be participating in the publishing panel.)
I invite you to learn more about all the presenters and the line-up
here.
Last week I wrote
here of a new initiative in my city—a chapbook vending machine soon to be installed at Science Leadership Academy, a magnet high school created in 2006 in partnership with the Franklin Institute.
The chapbook vending machine is the brain child of the independent The Head and The Hand Press—and part of a literary project initiated by two of the school's sophomores.
Today
Publishing Perspectives shares my story about this intriguing turn of events—and reminds YA authors everywhere that submissions are still open for chapbook stories.
Read the whole story
here.
Later this morning I'll be talking about the Berlin Wall and Going Over with the students of the Science Leadership Academy, a Franklin Institute-affiliated school that is on a mission to instill the values of learning, creation, and leadership.
It's all part of the innovative 4th Floor Chapbook Series initiative spurred by Philadelphia's daring craft publishing house, The Head and the Hand.
(Don't you love how real people keep thinking?)
More on the 4th Floor Chapbook Series can be found here.
More about the Science Leadership Academy is here.
But also, since I'm talking about cool people and places, I share the photo above, taken yesterday afternoon in Old City, following the glorious final Pennsylvania Ballet performance of my friend, the principal dancer Julie Diana Hench. (More on Julie here.) This is the alley facade of the Center for Art in Wood, and the image was painted and installed by ex-offenders and probationers from the Restorative Justice Guild Program. It's all part of the Mural Arts Program, now well into its 30th transformative year. I recently had the great pleasure of talking with Jane Golden, Mural Arts founder and leader, over lunch, and I'll have more to say about her vision later this summer as I reflect on psychylustro, the new installation now going up along a several-mile stretch between Amtrak's 30th Street and North Philadelphia stations.
Take a look if you are traveling that way. Tell me what you think. I've caught early glimpses already—shocking, electric—and will be watching for those intense colorations again as I ride the rails to the city.
