Hollins Announces Children’s Literature Workshops for Summer 2023

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This summer, Hollins University’s graduate programs in children’s literature are offering three one-week intensive workshops for teachers and librarians, aspiring authors and illustrators, and alumnae/i of Hollins’ undergraduate and graduate programs.

“Whether you want to grow your skills as a picture book creator, scholar, or selector, or would like to enhance your ability to write for children, these workshops offer practical guidance through the expertise of accomplished artists and authors,” said Lisa Fraustino, children’s literature graduate programs director.

The three Summer 2023 workshops are listed below. Visit the children’s literature workshops webpage for details on registration, fees, housing, and meals. For further information, contact Cathy Koon, graduate programs manager, at ckoon@hollins.edu.

Picture Book Trends: A Curated Reading Workshop
Elizabeth Dulemba, Instructor
June 12 – 16, 2023

Are you a teacher or librarian overwhelmed by the prospect of picking out the best new picture books for your young readers? Are you a creator who needs to stay on top of today’s picture book marketplace? If so, let this expert guide you on a curated reading journey.

Dulemba, an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator, will walk you through the picture book submissions for the annual Margaret Wise Brown Prize and other bestsellers, covering current themes and trends, and pointing out the written and visual tricks that make them popular, successful, and beloved. By the end of the week, you will have a solid grasp of the current picture book landscape to better prepare you to recommend books to others or create them yourself. 

Writing Intensive: The Path to Publication
Erin Clyburn, Instructor
June 26 – 30. 2023

You’ve spent months (or even years!) writing and editing your novel, workshopping and rereading and editing again, and you are ready to seek traditional publication. Literary agent Erin Clyburn will cover the steps to take your work from manuscript to book: crafting a query letter, learning what comp titles are, researching agents to query, writing a synopsis, making sure your first page shines, learning about the market, seeing what your agent relationship might look like, and working on your platform (and knowing if you need one at all).

This intensive is intended for authors of novel-length works (chapter books, middle grade, and young adult) who have completed or near-completed manuscripts and are preparing to seek traditional publication. The goal is to finish the week with a polished query package and an understanding of how to seek out the right agent for your work.

Writing for Children Intensive: “Writing is Rewriting”
Dhonielle Clayton, Instructor
July 10 – July 14, 2023

Finished a first draft? Or have a solid chunk of a novel? Now what? The best writers are really revisers. Join this intensive to find the right ingredients to transform your rough pages into a compelling book for young people. Writing demands complex characters, high stakes, a layered world, and research.

Leading this workshop is Dhonielle Clayton, a New York Times bestselling author of The Marvellerverse series, The Belles series, and Shattered Midnight; and coauthor of Blackout, Whiteout, The Rumor Game, and the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series. The emphasis will be on the building blocks of craft: the one-line pitch, voice and character, worldbuilding, plot and pace, and revision. Participants will exchange up to 50-75 pages of work with the instructor and other writers in the class. In addition to morning sessions, there will be two optional afternoon sessions about behind-the-scenes deep dives on: publishing, including query letters, editorial letters, and the phases of a manuscript from draft to published.

 

In New Essay, Hollins Professor Looks at How 19th-century Novels for Girls Are Relevant Today

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When it comes to addressing the challenges and anxieties of modern-day girlhood, Professor of English Julie Pfeiffer believes we are contemplating the wrong question.

“What if instead of asking ‘How do we fix girls?,’” she proposes, “we ask: ‘How do we fix our understanding of adolescence?’”

That’s the focus of Pfeiffer’s new essay in Psyche, a digital magazine that sheds light on the human condition through the insight of experts in psychology, philosophy, and the arts. In “Forget ‘Little Women’: How Did Girls Learn to be Grown Women?”, Pfeiffer explores how Victorian-era novels for adolescent girls might help in finding healthier models of what it means to grow up female.

“A more nuanced understanding of 19th-century girlhood is described in early German books for adolescent girls,” Pfeiffer writes. “For the awkward, uncertain girls in their pages, adolescence does not require withdrawal from connections with adults, or a rejection of the family that supported them through childhood, but new adult mentors and friends who provide instruction and acceptance.”

Pfeiffer cites the Backfisch (a German slang word for a teenage girl) books, such as Clementine Helm’s Gretchen’s Joys and Sorrows (1863). “Backfisch books suggest that the girl does not need to await her future passively….With the help of mentors and peers, these girls can make themselves into women who contribute as wives, mothers, and community members.” Pfeiffer notes that American novels published around the same time “describe girls who leave loving homes to learn to grow up with the help of aunts and teachers and friends.” As they reflected themes found in the Backfisch books, these books were translated and distributed in a German-American exchange.

“What is surprising about these 19th-century girls’ books is that they focus not on the product – a perfect Victorian woman – but on the process and effort that makes the transformation of girl into woman possible,” Pfeiffer says.

The perspective of literature centering on adolescent girls, however, began to shift in the 20th century. “Adolescence is increasingly seen as a time of ‘storm and stress,’” Pfeiffer explains, “and the assumption that teenagers will be alienated from adults gains momentum.” By 2003, a study published by Duke University’s Women’s Initiative was calling attention to “a social environment characterized by what one sophomore called ‘effortless perfection’; the expectation that one would be smart, accomplished, fit, beautiful, and popular, and that all this would happen without visible effort.”

Nineteenth-century novels for girls, according to Pfeiffer, offer “an antidote to the stress of effortless perfection by naming the ‘creaking of the wheels’ that running a household and managing a body requires. [They] don’t just train them how to become good women, they also acknowledge the hard work this transformation requires.”

She adds, “While many 21st-century adolescent girls are asked to negotiate a system of invisible labour without instruction or any acknowledgement of the difficulty of this task, Backfisch books made visible to the work that becoming a woman in the 19th century required, while assuring girls they would be loved despite their awkwardness and mistakes. These books affirmed the role of a community of peers and mentors in helping girls make the significant transition from girlhood to womanhood.”

Pfeiffer recommends emulating the mentors found in the 19th-century Backfisch books. “We can recognize the hard work of growing up, and allow girls to be tired or to slip up, and normalise messy adolescence. If we see that teenage girls need rest and praise, and care and instruction – not just from their parents, but from a whole community – then maybe we can make growing up a shared project, and relish the transformative potential of adolescence.”

A member of the Hollins faculty since 1997, Pfeiffer has published scholarly articles on the Backfisch books in Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature and Mothers in Children’s and Young Adult Literature: from the Eighteenth Century to Postfeminism. She is also the author of the book Transforming Girls: The Work of Nineteenth-Century Adolescence, published by University Press of Mississippi in 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

Hollins Authors Featured in Publishers Weekly’s 2022 Children’s Starred Reviews

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Three alumnae of Hollins University’s graduate programs in children’s literature and children’s book illustration are among the authors highlighted in Publishers Weekly’s (PW) 10th Children’s Starred Reviews Annual.

Dhonielle Clayton, who holds a Master of Arts degree, and Cassie Gustafson and Ali Standish, who both completed Master of Fine Arts degrees, are all recognized in the issue for books they released this year.

“In these pages, you’ll find nearly 400 reviews of books for children and teens published in 2022 that received a star from PW, indicating that they are titles of exceptional merit,” stated the trade news magazine that has served publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents internationally for 150 years.

In Clayton’s Middle Grade (ages eight – 12) novel debut, The Marvellers (published by Macmillan), 11-year-old Ella Durand faces significant obstacles after becoming the first Conjuror to enroll at the elite Arcanum Training Institute for Marvelous and Uncanny Endeavors. Marvellers are “born with marvels, light inside of them that allowed them to perform magical feats” and deem their powers above those of Conjurors. Nevertheless, Ella is determined to succeed and make her family proud. “Clayton imaginatively combines myriad global cultural traditions with an intersectionally inclusive, fantastical adventure that examines themes of acceptance, prejudice, and familial responsibility,” PW notes.

 

Gustafson’s The Secrets We Keep (Simon & Schuster), which is cited in the Young Adult (ages 14 and up) category, centers on themes of self-harm, sexual violence, and suicidal ideation in the story of Emma, a high school student who must deal with the consequences after her father is accused of sexually assaulting her best friend. PW states in its review, “Gustafson renders Emma’s present and past in striking detail, throughout featuring Emma’s journal entries….The narrative’s dark climax and Gustafson’s visceral prose don’t shy away from the inherent trauma surrounding sexual assault, making for a vital, heart-wrenching account of one teen’s harrowing experience.”

 

 

Yonder (HarperCollins) by Standish is a Middle Grade novel that takes place during World War II in a small Appalachian town. Thirteen-year-old Danny Timmons has a friend and protector in 15-year-old Jake, and when Jake suddenly disappears, Danny is determined to find him, no matter what. PW calls Yonder an “uplifting mystery [that] tackles big themes of abuse, bullying, heroism, mental health, and prejudice. Through an elegant voice…the mystery of Jack’s disappearance unfolds alongside the story of Danny’s friendship with him, the increasing clarity with which Danny sees life as far from perfect, and the small but meaningful steps he takes to discover what bravery means.”

Children’s Literature and Children’s Book Illustration Faculty and Alumni Authors Celebrate Banner Year for Publishing

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Hollins University’s graduate programs in children’s literature and children’s book illustration are applauding what director Lisa Rowe Fraustino called “a true bounty of books published this year by our faculty and program graduates.”

Thirteen faculty and/or alumni authors enjoyed book launches or the issuing of new versions of their books. “It’s inspiring,” Fraustino noted. “There are close to 30 books to celebrate from Hollins folks in 2022.”

Here’s a list of the books published this year by the authors who have taught and/or graduated from the children’s literature and children’s book illustration programs at Hollins, as researched and compiled by  Visiting Associate Professor Hillary Homzie:

Brian AtteberyBrian Attebery Book Cover

The author of four books and numerous articles on fantasy and science fiction, Attebery has penned what has been described as “an exciting and accessible study of the genre of fantasy.” Fantasy: How It Works “addresses two central questions about fantastic storytelling: first, how can it be meaningful if it doesn’t claim to represent things as they are, and second, what kind of change can it make in the world?” The author explores facets of fantastic world-building and story creation in classic and contemporary fantasy, and looks at how prominent fantasy writers test new ways of understanding and interaction to reexamine political institutions, social practices, and models of reality.

 

Dhonielle Clayton Book CoverDhonielle Clayton

Clayton, the New York Times bestselling author of The Belles series and co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things duology, a Netflix original series, has written her middle grade fantasy debut, The Marvellers. Eleven-year-old conjuror Ella Durand enrolls at the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts, like brewing Indian spice elixirs and bartering with Irish pixies. “The Marvellers deserves the highest compliment I can give a book: I want to live in this world,” said Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson series, while Angie Thomas, whose books include The Hate U Give and Concrete Rose, called The Marvellers “a marvelous gift of a novel.”

 

Michelle Jabes CorporaMichelle Jabes Corpora Book Cover

The new book by Corpora is The Fog of War: Martha Gellhorn at the D-Day Landings, an installment in the True Adventures series that publishes in the U.S. in September. She also wrote The Dust Bowl (2021), the first book in the American Horse Tales series, and is the ghostwriter of five novels in the Nancy Drew Diaries and Hardy Boys Adventures series. She is currently writing the first book in a new series with Penguin Workshop, Holly Horror, which is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2023. After five years as an assistant editor with Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), she became an editor with book packager Working Partners, Ltd., where she has been producing concepts for middle grade series fiction for more than a decade.

 

Christopher Denise Book CoverChristopher Denise

The illustrator of many critically acclaimed books for young readers, including Alison McGhee’s Firefly Hollow, Rosemary Wells’ Following Grandfather, and Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, Denise has been recognized by the Bank Street College of Education, Parents’ Choice Foundation, and the Society of Illustrators. This year, he produced the medieval picture book Knight Owl, in which a determined owl builds strength and confidence. It’s the story about the real mettle of a hero: wits, humor, and heart. Full of wordplay and optimism, Knight Owl, a New York Times bestseller, shows that cleverness and friendship can rule over brawn.

 

Laurie J. EdwardsLaurie Edwards Book Cover

Edwards, a former teacher and librarian, is a USA Today bestselling author of more than 60 books in print or forthcoming under several pen names. Under her own name, her 2022 releases include four books in the middle grade Unicorns of the Secret Stable series, including Unicorns to the Rescue, Lucky and the Dragon, Magical Unicorn Horns, and Mermaid Magic. As Rachel J. Good, she writes Amish novels of faith, hope, and forgiveness. This year she has produced two novels (An Amish Marriage of Convenience: Surprised by Love and the forthcoming Amish Christmas Treasure), two anthology stories (for the Amish Spring Romance Collection), and will have four novel reprints in the Amish Sisters and Friends series (Change of Heart, Buried Secrets, Gift from Above, and Big-City Amish).

 

Carrie Gustafson Book CoverCassie Gustafson

Gustafson’s work has earned honors such as the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award, the Shirley Henn Creative Writing Award, and the Ruth Landers Glass Scholarship. Publisher’s Weekly said of her debut novel, After the Ink Dries, “This all-too-believable book will open eyes and start conversations about sexual assault, toxic masculinity, and victim shaming. Her new young adult novel, The Secrets We Keep, follows a girl’s struggle to reconcile friendship, sexual abuse, and the secrets one buries deep inside to survive. The book explores the complex, powerful bonds of friendship and family.

 

Hillary HomzieHillary Homzie Book Cover

Homzie is the author of many books for children, including the Ellie May chapter books, an SLJ Webcast featured selection, and Queen of Likes, which was optioned by Priority Pictures and is a PJOur Way selection. In her new inspiring and educational picture book about princesses past and present, If You Were a Princess, three girls wonder what it would be like to be princesses themselves. Through the facts and profiles of real-life princesses woven throughout, they become empowered to try and make a difference within their own communities, and discover that anyone can be a princess after all.

 

EB Lewis Book CoverE.B. Lewis

An award-winning illustrator of over 75 books for children, including Coming on Home Soon (a 2005 Caldecott medal winner), Lewis’ has illustrated the new book Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America by Selene Castrovilla. In this dramatic Civil War Story, a courageous enslaved fugitive teams with a cunning Union general to save a Union fort from the Confederates – and triggers the end of slavery in the United States. This is the first children’s nonfiction book about a Black unsung hero who remains relevant today and to the Black Lives Matter movement.

 

Rebekah LowellRebekah Lowell Book Cover

Lowell is an author, illustrator, and surface designer with a passion for the natural world. As a survivor of domestic abuse, she has found the outdoors to be healing grounds. Her artwork has been featured on the Maine Duck Stamp five times. Her debut young adult novel in verse, The Road to After, was published this year by Nancy Paulsen Books. This poignant book is a portrait of healing, as a young girl rediscovers life and the soothing power of nature after being freed from her abusive father. Lowell’s debut picture book, Catching Flight, will be published by Doubleday Books for Young Readers in spring 2023.

 

Candice Ransom Book CoverCandice Ransom

The author of 165 published books, Ransom’s award-winning works include Apple Picking Day!, Amanda Panda Quits Kindergarten, and The Big Green Pocketbook. Her newest book, School Day!, is a Step 1 reader (big type and easy words) and features the family from Apple Picking Day! as well as Garden Day!, Snow Day!, and Beach Day! At the start of the new school year, a big sister on her first day of third grade takes time to show her little brother the ropes on his first day of kindergarten, proving it’s great to have a sibling to rely on when starting something new.

 

 

Amie Rose RotruckAmie Rose Rotruck Book Cover

Rotruck is featured in the new book, The Seeker’s Guide to Twisted Taverns, which is “A [Dungeons and Dragons] Fifth Edition supplement filled with fantastical premade taverns, inspiring story hooks, and lovable NPCs [Non-Player Characters].” Her contributions are the taverns “Spring of Peace” (a desert oasis), “The Drunken Treasure” (an underwater vessel), “Fungal Grotto” (a giant mushroom staff with sentient fungi), “The Dungeon of Darkness” (filled with all sorts of dark and scary creatures), and “By the Frost” (a Norse mythology inspired tavern).

 

Ali Standish Book CoverAli Standish

The critically acclaimed author of The Ethan I Was Before, August Isle, How to Disappear Completely, and The Mending Summer, Standish has now written Yonder, a historical fiction middle grade novel about a boy on the home front in World War II who must solve the mystery of the disappearance of his best friend, an adventure that explores what true heroism means. In its starred review, Kirkus Reviews described Yonder as “multilayered, moving, and tremendously powerful.” Booklist, also in a starred review, called the novel, “A heartfelt tale about what it means to be a hero and take a stand against injustice.”

 

Sharon Dennis WyethSharon Dennis Wyeth Book Cover

Wyeth has written over 50 books, including picture books, early readers, middle grade, and young adult novels, both contemporary and historical. Her new Step 3 Reader (engaging characters in easy-to-follow plots and popular topics for children who are ready to read on their own) is Juneteenth: Our Day of Freedom, which explores the important holiday that celebrates the end of chattel slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, a group of enslaved men, women, and children gathered. Juneteenth marks the day when freedom truly rang for all.

 

 

 

Hollins Announces Winner of the 2022 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature

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Hollins University has honored Vietnamese author Muon Thi Van as the winner of the seventh annual Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature.

Muon will receive an engraved medal and a $1,000 cash prize for Wishes, illustrated by Victo Ngai and published by Orchard Books. Inspired by events in the author’s life, Wishes is the story of a Vietnamese family’s search for a new home on the other side of the world and how that impacts one of the family’s youngest members.

Muon Thi Van, winner of the 2022 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature.

“Muon Thi Van takes the reader on a heart-wrenching journey, from leaving the familiarity of home to navigating the perils of an ocean voyage to finally arriving at a place of hope and new beginnings,” stated the judges for this year’s prize, acclaimed children’s book authors Marla Frazee, David LaRochelle, and Meg Medina. “All of this is done with just 75 carefully chosen words. The originality of having inanimate objects voice the child’s feelings, and the depth of emotion captured in so few words, astounded [us] and made for an inventive, powerful book that has lingered in our hearts long after we read it.”

The Margaret Wise Brown Prize is just the latest honor for Wishes. It was named the Best Picture Book of 2021 by BookPage; received the 2022 ILA Notable Books for a Global Society award; and was co-winner of the Golden Poppy Award for children’s picture books. Wishes is also an NPR Best Book of the Year, a Horn Book 2021 Fanfare Pick, and a 2021 New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids List Pick.

Judges for this year’s Margaret Wise Brown Prize also named one Honor Book: The Longest Letsgoboy, written by debut author Derick Wilder, illustrated by Cátia Chen, and published by Chronicle Books. “The story is told from a dog’s point of view,” the judges said. “As Letsgoboy takes the final walk of his earthly life with his little girl, the narration and dog language are perfectly attuned to how a child takes in the word as well. The Longest Letsgoboy transports the reader on a journey which is by turns joyous, heartbreaking, comforting and full of love.”

Wishes Book Cover
Margaret Wise Brown Prize judges praised “Wishes” as “an inventive, powerful book.”

The judges added that both Wishes and The Longest Letsgoboy “explore the difficult terrain of loss using a sophisticated sense of language for children. Whether spare to capture the very essence of longing and hope in leaving a homeland, or immersive in a rich, inventive vocabulary about companionship, these works represent the power of language to help children understand the deep changes they sometimes face.”

Each year, Hollins invites nominations for the prize from children’s book publishers located across the country and around the world. A three-judge panel, consisting of established picture book authors, reviews the nominations and chooses a winner.

Hollins established the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature as a way to pay tribute to one of its best-known alumnae and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. The cash prizes are made possible by an endowed fund created by James Rockefeller, Brown’s fiancé at the time of her death.

“The Margaret Wise Brown Prize is one of the few children’s book awards that has a cash prize attached,” said Lisa Rowe Fraustino, director of the graduate programs in children’s literature at Hollins.

The engraved medal presented to the winners was conceived by award-winning sculptor, painter, and Hollins alumna Betty Branch of Roanoke. Winners and Honor Book recipients are presented an original linocut certificate designed and donated by Ashley Wolff, author and/or illustrator of over 50 children’s books.

Margaret Wise Brown graduated from Hollins in 1932 and went on to write Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and other children’s classics before she died in 1952. Hollins celebrated her life and work with a year-long Margaret Wise Brown Festival in 2011 and 2012, which featured stage and musical adaptations of her work along with readings, workshops, guest lectures, and other activities for all ages.

The study of children’s literature as a scholarly experience was initiated at Hollins in 1973; in 1992, the graduate program in children’s literature was founded. Today, Hollins offers summer M.A. and M.F.A. programs exclusively in the study and writing of children’s literature, an M.F.A. in children’s book writing and illustrating, and a graduate-level certificate in children’s book illustration.

This fall, Hollins’ children’s literature program will release information on how to submit books for consideration for the 2023 Margaret Wise Brown Prize.

Children’s Literature M.F.A. Student Wins New Voices Award

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Maleeha Malik, a student in Hollins University’s Master of Fine Arts program in children’s literature, is the winner of Lee & Low Books‘ 22nd annual New Voices Award.

Established in 2000, the award is given annually by the children’s book publisher for a picture book manuscript by a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writer.

Malik, a second-grade teacher from Baltimore, Maryland, was honored for At Home in My Skin. The manuscript features a child with vitiligo – a skin disorder that causes depigmentation – who embraces their individuality by drawing connections between their skin’s ever-changing patterns and the designs in nature. Malik was inspired by her experiences living with vitiligo and a solo camping trip she took where she found patterns in nature that mimicked those on her own skin. She wrote the manuscript last summer in her African American Children’s Literature class at Hollins taught by Michelle Martin, the Beverly Cleary Endowed Professor for Children and Youth Services in the Information School at the University of Washington. The renowned author, essayist, lecturer, book critic, and community literary activist helped Malik shape the manuscript for publication.

“Malik hopes young readers, especially those with noticeable skin conditions, will read At Home in My Skin and know they belong in this world – that there is space for everyone to love and thrive in their unique skin,” Lee & Low Books said in a statement.

Malik will receive a $2,000 cash prize and a publication contract.

 

Submission Deadline for 2022 Margaret Wise Brown Prize Is January 15

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Publishers of picture books released in 2021 are invited to have their works considered for the 2022 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature. The deadline for submissions is January 15, 2022.

Presented annually, the Margaret Wise Brown Prize recognizes the author of the best text for a picture book published during the previous year. The award is a tribute to one of Hollins University’s best-known alumnae and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. Winners are given a $1,000 cash prize, which comes from an endowed fund created by James Rockefeller, Brown’s fiancé at the time of her death. Each recipient will also receive an engraved bronze medal as well as an invitation to accept the award and present a reading on campus during the summer session of Hollins’ graduate programs in children’s literature.

Judges for the 2022 prize include:

  • Meg Medina, author of the 2021 Margaret Wise Brown Prize winner Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away and the Newbery Award winner Mercie Suárez Changes Gears.
  • Marla Frazee, author-illustrator, recipient of the Boston Globe Horn Book Award for The Farmer and the Clown and two Caldecott Honor medals.
  • David LaRochelle, recipient of multiple children’s choice awards for his many picture book titles, including Geisel Award-winner See the Cat.

The publisher should submit four copies of each book they wish to nominate for the Margaret Wise Brown Prize: one copy to Hollins University and one copy to each of the three judges. Books must have been first published in 2021; reprints and translations are not eligible. The winner will be announced in May 2022.

Please contact Lisa Rowe Fraustino at fraustinolr@hollins.edu for the judges’ addresses and further submission instructions.

The study of children’s literature as a scholarly experience was initiated at Hollins in 1973; in 1992, the graduate program in children’s literature was founded. Today, Hollins offers summer M.A. and M.F.A. programs exclusively in the study and writing of children’s literature, an M.F.A. in children’s book writing and illustrating, and a graduate-level certificate in children’s book illustration.

For more information about the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature, visit www.hollins.edu/mwb.

Obamas to Produce New Netflix Project Based on Collection Co-Written by Dhonielle Clayton M.A. ’09

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In 2020, Dhonielle Clayton M.A. ’09, an alumna of Hollins University’s graduate programs in children’s literature, joined with five other bestselling African American young adult authors to create Blackout, a collection of stories about Black teenagers navigating love during a power outage in New York City.

Now, Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions is partnering with fellow production company Temple Hill (Twilight, The Fault in Our Stars, Fatherhood) to develop Blackout as what The Hollywood Reporter (THR) describes as “a film and TV ‘event'” for Netflix. “The project,” THR explains, “is being developed concurrently as a TV series and film adaptation. That means that some of the six stories could wind up in the film, while others are in the TV show.”

Netflix says of the project, “From the perspective of 12 teens with six shots at love, Blackout takes place as a heatwave blankets New York City in darkness and causes an electric chaos. When the lights go out and people reveal hidden truths, love blossoms, friendships transform, and all possibilities take flight.”

In addition to Clayton, Blackout features stories by Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon. Since its publication in June, the collection has earned wide acclaim. NPR’s review states, “In Blackout, young Black love with all its insecurities, mistakes, emotion, honesty, and humanity makes for a lush read. Even amidst their fears, these characters are wonderfully respectful of each other’s choices. You will root for them all to find their own right love at their own right time. And though it was written for young adults, Blackout is a must-read for all generations.” Publishers Weekly calls it a “joyful collaboration” that “brings a necessary elation to stories of Black love, queer love, and alternative forms of affection, all of which are all tenderly highlighted in these narratives.” And, the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books remarks, “There’s plenty to smile, sigh, or swoon at here, and readers will happily keep the lights on to see these charming romances to the end.”

All six of Blackout‘s authors are on board as screenwriters for the Netflix adaptation. An air date has not been announced.

Blackout will be Clayton’s second association with Netflix. In 2019, the internet TV network ordered 10 episodes of Tiny Pretty Things, an hour-long series based on the novel co-written by Clayton and Sona Charaipotra. The first season of the series premiered in December 2020 and follows the triumphs and challenges of students at an elite dance academy where the competition to succeed is fierce.

Originally from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., Clayton holds a B.A. from Wake Forest University. After earning her M.A. in children’s literature at Hollins, she completed her M.F.A. in creative writing at The New School. A former secondary school teacher and elementary and middle school librarian, she is co-founder of CAKE Literary, which is described as “a creative kitchen whipping up decadent – and decidedly diverse – literary confections for middle grade, young adult, and women’s fiction readers,” and is also chief operating officer of the nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. Her other works include The Belles (her debut solo novel, released in 2018) and The Everlasting Rose (Book Two in The Belles series, published in 2019). She has also contributed to the story collections Black Enough: Stories of Being Young and Black in America; Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet; and Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens. Her middle grade fantasy series, The Marvellers, is forthcoming. She joined the faculty of Hollins’ graduate programs in children’s literature in 2020.

 

 

 

 

M.F.A. Student Wins Essay Award from the Children’s Literature Association

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Amanda Becker, who is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts degree in children’s literature at Hollins, has been honored with a 2021 Graduate Essay Award by the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA).

A four-member committee of children’s literature scholars selected Becker’s essay, “A Story in Fragments: An Analysis of Poetry and Perspective in October Mourning,” as the winner of this year’s master’s level award.

The Graduate Student Essay Awards recognize outstanding papers written on the graduate level in the field of children’s literature. They are considered annually and awarded as warranted. In 2008, the ChLA Board approved giving two separate awards each year, one for an essay written at the master’s level and one for an essay written at the doctoral level.

“A Story in Fragments” focuses on Leslea Newman’s October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, a novel in verse responding to the 1998 murder of Shepherd, a gay 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming. “Written with love, anger, regret, and other profound emotions, this is a truly important book that deserves the widest readership, not only among independent readers but among students in a classroom setting, as well,” noted Booklist in its review. “Most importantly, the book will introduce Matthew Shepard to a generation too young to remember the tragic circumstances of his death. Grades 8-12.”

Of Becker’s essay, a judge stated, “One thing good scholarship does is strengthen its readers’ commitment to the literature it discusses: it prompts some to return to works they thought they knew and others to pick up those works for the first time. I think this is good scholarship. The analysis of the poetic effects of diverse perspectives…is sharply focused, sensitive to textual detail, and above all resists the temptation of reductive readings.” Another judge called it “original and interesting – not just related to interpretation of the specific text but also to the larger genre of poetry.”

Becker will receive a $400 award, a one-year complimentary ChLA membership, and an invitation to present her paper at the ChLA’s annual conference, which will be held virtually this year, June 9 – 13.

ChLA is a nonprofit association of scholars, critics, professors, students, librarians, teachers, and institutions dedicated to the academic study of literature for children.

Hollins Announces Winner of the 2021 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature

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Hollins University has honored Newbery Medalist and New York Times bestselling author Meg Medina as the winner of the sixth annual Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature.

Medina will receive an engraved medal and a $1,000 cash prize for Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away, a story of friendship and change illustrated by Sonia Sánchez and published by Candlewick Press.

“Evelyn Del Rey Is Moving Away is all at once poignant and hopeful, poetic but utterly child-centered,” the judges for this year’s prize stated. “From the moment you meet the moving truck ‘with its mouth wide open’ you know you’re in their world – these nearly twin mejor amigas who are having to say goodbye. Thankfully, Medina and Sánchez make the experience – even the really sad parts – sing.”

Medina’s other books include Merci Suárez Changes Gears, the 2019 John Newbery Medal winner; Burn Baby Burn, long-listed for the 2016 National Book Award; and The Girl Who Could Silence the Wind, a 2012 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. She resides in Richmond, Virginia, and in addition to writing, she works on community projects that support girls, Latino youth, and/or literacy. She serves on the National Board of Advisors for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and is a faculty member of Hamline University’s Master of Fine Arts program in children’s literature.

Judges for this year’s Margaret Wise Brown Prize also named one Honor Book: You Matter by author/illustrator Christian Robinson and published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers. “A quirky, whimsical, nearly circular text that can be read in more than one way, helping young readers understand that they might be both specks of stardust and the stars themselves,” commented the judges. “Lyrical and affirming but also funny and particular in such a Margaret Wise Brown way.”

Hollins established the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature as a way to pay tribute to one of its best-known alumnae and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. The cash prizes are made possible by an endowed fund created by James Rockefeller, Brown’s fiancé at the time of her death.

“The Margaret Wise Brown Prize is one of the few children’s book awards that has a cash prize attached,” said Lisa Rowe Fraustino, director of the graduate programs in children’s literature at Hollins.

The engraved medal presented to the winners was conceived by award-winning sculptor, painter, and Hollins alumna Betty Branch of Roanoke. Winners and Honor Book recipients are presented an original linocut certificate designed and donated by Ashley Wolff, author and/or illustrator of more than 50 children’s books.

Margaret Wise Brown graduated from Hollins in 1932 and went on to write Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and other children’s classics before she died in 1952.

The study of children’s literature as a scholarly experience was initiated at Hollins in 1973; in 1992, the graduate program in children’s literature was founded. Today, Hollins offers summer M.A. and M.F.A. programs exclusively in the study and writing of children’s literature, an M.F.A. in children’s book writing and illustrating, and a graduate-level certificate in children’s illustration.

This summer, Hollins’ children’s literature program will release information on how to submit books for consideration for the 2022 Margaret Wise Brown Prize.