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Okay all, I am quite tuckered out by the events the last week or so, but I'm still going out to dinner with people tonight. I had another interview today (yay), a ballgame yesterday (big yay), and spent the last few days a a children's literature conference. Which is what I'm here to write about today, actually. So if you are not interested in children's lit, publishing or poetry, you can go do something else.
Okay then, everyone still on board? (At this point I probably only have![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_strangest still reading. Ah well...)
Friday was the first full day of the conference. The theme of the conference was dance, but more specifically the performative aspects of children's lit, which is why we had many poets in attendance. Not everyone was so literal about the theme, but many worked it in.
9am - Douglas Florian He is quite a character. A very energetic modern Orthodox man. I had noticed him the night before, and wondered how an Orthodox man would navigate the conference. I didn't realize he was an author, and he did his talk, stayed for one more, and then left to head back to NY far before sundown. But, what a performance! He was clearly using a modified version of a talk that he gives to children on the elements of poetry. But, along the way, he performed many of his poems in a great variety of styles. Each poem seemed to have a different rhythm or voice. He vaguely reminded me of Danny Kaye when he got into a patter. He talked about writing poems as well, about how looking up a word origin can spur a poem, and saying that if it doesn't work when recited, it doesn't work as a poem. He apparent;y gives out "poetic licenses" when speaking to kids. :) He would make a great author for an author visit, and I will definitely start using his books in storytimes now that I know about them.
10am - Gerald McDermott Gerald is nothing if not dramatic. He talked about wanting to tap dance as a kid like Gene Kelly, and apparently he actually did some performing that way. His parents got him into a really prestigious art institute at the age of 4 (usually the earliest they take kids is 6). Apparently he made animated films before he was an illustrator (he was asked to turn one of his films into a book...he thought this was great, because he was actually doing all of his animating by hand and books would need far fewer pictures!), and he had never visited Santa Fe before Arrow to the Sun was published. In fact, the Pueblo Indians had been using his book to teach children their own ways for 15 years before he got out there, and it was through that book that he was able to make a connection with the native people. Now he does these great programs with the kids there teaching them to be artists again. He says that everyone can be an artist, but that society pushes you away from that very early (this was a recurring theme this conference), so he has some interesting techniques to re-awaken that passion and creativity in older kids. One that I particularly liked, was his inkblot technique. He has kids glop on paint in their favorite colors, and then fold the paper. Then they take a small brush and "find the creature hiding in the painting." All his photos of the kids and their artwork are very striking. I need to start using his Coyote book, as it is wonderful (and hearing him read it is even better). He showed us some advance images of his forthcoming work. He was friends with Joseph Campbell for years, and they always said they would do a book together. He didn't have the chance while Campbell was alive, but now he can finally do it. Researchers have been going through hours of audio recordings to find the myths that Campbell returned to most often in his talks, and are writing them down in his tellings. McDermott, will be "illuminating" them (and I'll tell you, they are luscious), because he refused to illustrate them in a standard manner. They look like old illuminated manuscripts, and the first volume is due out in Fall 2007.
More later, I must be off.
Okay then, everyone still on board? (At this point I probably only have
the_strangest still reading. Ah well...)Friday was the first full day of the conference. The theme of the conference was dance, but more specifically the performative aspects of children's lit, which is why we had many poets in attendance. Not everyone was so literal about the theme, but many worked it in.
9am - Douglas Florian He is quite a character. A very energetic modern Orthodox man. I had noticed him the night before, and wondered how an Orthodox man would navigate the conference. I didn't realize he was an author, and he did his talk, stayed for one more, and then left to head back to NY far before sundown. But, what a performance! He was clearly using a modified version of a talk that he gives to children on the elements of poetry. But, along the way, he performed many of his poems in a great variety of styles. Each poem seemed to have a different rhythm or voice. He vaguely reminded me of Danny Kaye when he got into a patter. He talked about writing poems as well, about how looking up a word origin can spur a poem, and saying that if it doesn't work when recited, it doesn't work as a poem. He apparent;y gives out "poetic licenses" when speaking to kids. :) He would make a great author for an author visit, and I will definitely start using his books in storytimes now that I know about them.
10am - Gerald McDermott Gerald is nothing if not dramatic. He talked about wanting to tap dance as a kid like Gene Kelly, and apparently he actually did some performing that way. His parents got him into a really prestigious art institute at the age of 4 (usually the earliest they take kids is 6). Apparently he made animated films before he was an illustrator (he was asked to turn one of his films into a book...he thought this was great, because he was actually doing all of his animating by hand and books would need far fewer pictures!), and he had never visited Santa Fe before Arrow to the Sun was published. In fact, the Pueblo Indians had been using his book to teach children their own ways for 15 years before he got out there, and it was through that book that he was able to make a connection with the native people. Now he does these great programs with the kids there teaching them to be artists again. He says that everyone can be an artist, but that society pushes you away from that very early (this was a recurring theme this conference), so he has some interesting techniques to re-awaken that passion and creativity in older kids. One that I particularly liked, was his inkblot technique. He has kids glop on paint in their favorite colors, and then fold the paper. Then they take a small brush and "find the creature hiding in the painting." All his photos of the kids and their artwork are very striking. I need to start using his Coyote book, as it is wonderful (and hearing him read it is even better). He showed us some advance images of his forthcoming work. He was friends with Joseph Campbell for years, and they always said they would do a book together. He didn't have the chance while Campbell was alive, but now he can finally do it. Researchers have been going through hours of audio recordings to find the myths that Campbell returned to most often in his talks, and are writing them down in his tellings. McDermott, will be "illuminating" them (and I'll tell you, they are luscious), because he refused to illustrate them in a standard manner. They look like old illuminated manuscripts, and the first volume is due out in Fall 2007.
More later, I must be off.
