A Writer's Moment: Always Art; Always Books

A Writer's Moment: Always Art; Always Books: “Even in times when it's difficult to figure out, how do you go forward, art - and books - always help.” – Alice ...

Always Art; Always Books

“Even in times when it's difficult to figure out, how do you go forward, art - and books - always help.” – Alice Hoffman

Born in New York City on this date in 1952, Hoffman started writing creatively while in graduate school at Stanford, where she earned her master’s degree in creative writing.  After a stint as an editor at Doubleday Books, she had her first book Property Of published in 1977 and was off and running.  To date, she has written 28 novels and over a dozen books for children and young adults, led by her award-winning Practical Magic, The River King and The Dovekeepers – all 3 also made into successful movies.

Hoffman’s work has been published in more than 20 translations and more than 100 foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine.  And, she is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day.”  

“All the characters in my books are imagined,” she said, “but all have a bit of who I am in them - much like the characters in your dreams are all formed by who you are.”

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A Writer's Moment: Living The Dream

A Writer's Moment: Living The Dream: “I began my writing life as a poet, so poetry has always been fundamental. I evolved from poetry to journalism to stories to novels. But p...

Living The Dream

“I began my writing life as a poet, so poetry has always been fundamental. I evolved from poetry to journalism to stories to novels. But poetry was always there.” – Ben Okri

Born in Nigeria on March 15, 1959, Okri spent his childhood years in London before returning to Nigeria and starting his writing career as a teenager.  Although convinced that he was destined to become a poet, he was encouraged by his teachers to try other writing genres, too, and had a bestselling novel, Flowers and Shadows, published at age 21.  After serving as poetry editor of West Africa magazine for half-dozen years he wrote his acclaimed The Famished Road, winner of the 1991 Booker Prize for Fiction, making him the youngest person ever (at age 32) to earn the prestigious award. 

                      To date Okri has authored 12 novels and 12 books of poetry, been awarded 7 honorary doctorate degrees and been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to literature.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is,

                                                               The Dream

We plan our lives according to a

dream that came to us in our

childhood, and we find that life

alters our plans.

And yet, at the end, from a rare

height, we also see that our dream

was our fate.  It’s just that prov-

idence had other ideas as to how

we would get there.

Destiny plans a different route or

turns the dream around, as if it

were a riddle, and fulfills the dream

in ways we couldn’t have expected.

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A Writer's Moment: From Voice to Paper

A Writer's Moment: From Voice to Paper: “I think every fiction writer, to a certain extent, is a schizophrenic and able to have two or three or five voices in...

From Voice to Paper

“I think every fiction writer, to a certain extent, is a schizophrenic and able to have two or three or five voices in his or her body. We seek, through our profession, to get those voices onto paper.” – Ridley Pearson

Born in Glen Cove, NY on this date in 1953, Pearson started writing during his collegiate years – at the University of Kansas and Brown University – and has authored more than 30 suspense and thriller novels for adults and 20-plus adventure books for children.  Over the years, his work has been published in 2 dozen languages, and been adapted for network television and the Broadway stage. His book Peter and the Starcatchers, written with Dave Barry and adapted into a Broadway play won 5 Tony Awards.

Among his many bestsellers are the Kingdom Keepers and Lock and Key series, and the suspense-crime novels Probable Cause, Beyond Recognition, Killer Weekend, and The Red Room.

Pearson and his family reside in Missouri and among his writing prizes is the Missouri Writers Hall of Fame’ Quill Award – its highest honor.

Pearson’s advice to new writers is simple:  “The way you get better is putting words on the page and getting them behind you.”       “For the first-time novelist you've got to get up at 5:30 in the morning and write until 7, make breakfast and go to work. Or, come home and work for an hour. Everybody has an hour in their day somewhere.”

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A Writer's Moment: Illustrating 'A Chunk of Life'

A Writer's Moment: Illustrating 'A Chunk of Life': “A child is just a child, no matter what his heritage might be.” – Ezra Jack Keats Born in Brooklyn on this date ...