October has become the new November. People are already crazy busy, so much so that I wanted to bring to your attention a few things that I don’t want you to miss:
First of all, Derek and I had the great pleasure of interviewing Jessica Abel a few days ago about her new book Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio. You might think from the title that this is a work focusing only on producing quality radio programs, but the book is essential reading for people interested in creative work in any field. You don’t even have to be a creator to enjoy the book. Reading it will give you a fuller (and perhaps new) appreciation of how quality narratives of all kinds are made.
Out on the Wire is also a podcast which expands on the ideas from the book and gives readers/listeners a platform for sharing and discussing their own work. This is a great idea and a podcast you should definitely check out.
Second, Gwen Tarbox and I recently recorded our second Young Readers Edition of The Comics Alternative Podcast. Each month we discuss one graphic novel for young adults (YA) and one for younger readers. On this month’s show we discussed Veda: Assembly Required by Samuel Teer, Hyeondo Park, and Kelly Fitzpatrick (Dark Horse) and Little Robot by Ben Hatke (First Second), two robot books. Yes, we know it’s October, so Gwen and I also gave our picks for good scary graphic novels. Grown ups, the Young Readers Edition is a podcast we invite you to listen to with your children. We hope you’ll give us a listen!
Finally, I’ll be giving a presentation in a couple of week at the Severna Park Library where I work. It’s called Developing Lifelong Readers, a program for adults of school-age children. We’ll talk about several strategies for getting kids to love reading, one of which is the use of graphic novels. The program is on Wednesday, October 28 at 7 pm.
Journeys in Darkness and Light 