What’s behind the explosion of novels and memoirs-in-verse? This form of storytelling is compelling for readers—and authors—because of poetry’s ability to communicate a character’s voice. Join poet, children’s author, and longtime poet-in-the-schools Laura Shovan for a hands-on webinar on verse novels and memoirs. We will discuss the key ways that verse narratives appeal to readers. Writing exercises will include poetic character-building exercises to fill your author’s toolbox, whether you write in verse or prose.
photo credit: LindaJoy Burke
LAURA SHOVAN
Laura Shovan is an editor, educator, children’s author, and Pushcart Prize nominated poet. Her books include Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, winner of the Harriss Poetry Prize, Life in Me Like Grass on Fire: Love Poems, and Voices Fly: An Anthology of Exercises and Poems from the Maryland State Arts Council Artists-in-Residence Program (co-edited with Virginia Crawford). Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools. Her award-winning novels for children are The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Takedown, and the Sydney Taylor Notable A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi. Laura co-hosts Wilde Readings in Howard County, Maryland. For more about Laura, visit: https://laurashovan.com
BOOK ORDER LINKS
Please support both Laura and The Ivy independent bookstore in Baltimore:
A Place at the Table: https://www.theivybookshop.com/book/9780358116684
The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary (verse novel): https://www.theivybookshop.com/book/9780553521405
About Laura's Books:
A Place at the Table, written with Saadia Faruqi:
Sixth-graders Sara, a Pakistani American, and Elizabeth, a white, Jewish girl meet when they take a South Asian cooking class taught by Sara’s mom.
Sixth-graders Sara and Elizabeth could not be more different. Sara is at a new school that is huge and completely unlike the small Islamic school she used to attend. Elizabeth has her own problems: her British mum has been struggling with depression. The girls meet in an after-school South Asian cooking class, which Elizabeth takes because her mom has stopped cooking, and which Sara, who hates to cook, is forced to attend because her mother is the teacher. The girls form a shaky alliance that gradually deepens, and they make plans to create the most amazing, mouth-watering cross-cultural dish together and win a spot on a local food show. They make good cooking partners ... but can they learn to trust each other enough to become true friends?
The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary (verse novel):
Laura Shovan’s engaging, big-hearted debut is a time capsule of one class’s poems during a transformative school year. Families change and new friendships form as these terrific kids grow up and move on in this whimsical novel-in-verse about finding your voice and making sure others hear it.
Please note: A Zoom link will be automatically emailed to registrants 24 hours prior to the event.
