
Mitali Perkins Presented personalized copies of books by Deborah Kovacs, Grace Lin, and Ammi-Joan Paquette to my nieces and nephew.

I'm heading to Southern California today for CSLA's annual convention. I'll be presenting "Books Between Cultures" on Friday from 2:15-3:15, and then signing in the exhibit hall from 3:30 to 4:30......

Thanksgiving is my favorite North American holiday by far. It doesn't make new or poor Americans feel as left out as some of the other festival days. Why did the fat dude in red bring presents for everybody in my class except me......

Not sure how to describe your blog's "brand" or "niche"? I do an occasional check on search terms or keywords using free tools like statcounter or google analytics. For fun, you can also create a wordle to get a quick snapshot of your blog's brand......

Mitali Perkins Finished the last copyedits of BAMBOO PEOPLE just in time for Charlesbridge to get ARCs ready for ALA Midwinter in Boston! http://bamboopeople.org

I'm bullish on the power of story to inspire and revolutionize acts of justice and peace. So when I read about something as exciting as Bishop Desmond Tutu's simple yet powerful plan of universal birth registration, my mind begins to whirl around plot possibilities......

I put out a call for books published in 2009 that underline the theme of forgiveness, and received several responses in the YA category, listed below in alphabetical order by author's last name......

What does a full-time not-famous author of Kid/YA books do for an (almost) living? Taking stock of 2009, here are a few work highlights: Launched a new novel (Secret Keeper, January 2009). Organized Kids Heart Authors Day in February 2009. ......

My grandfather died a bitter man. He never recovered from the commandeering of our family jute farm in Bangladesh, hating that he'd had to resettle in Kolkata as a dependent, almost penniless old man......

Here's the brilliant Naomi Shihab Nye reading four of her poems, "Please Describe How You Became a Writer," "Fresh," "During a War," and "Truth Serum," at the Dodge Poetry Festival on 9/27/08:

I've been doing a ton of author visits this fall, for which I'm grateful, and also enjoying several new adventures with social media. But what's been happening with my primary vocation, you might be wondering? Inquiring Fire Escape visitors deserve to know......

Coming to Boston for the ALA Midwinter conference? If you're a tweeting librarian, author, illustrator, publisher, agent, editor, reviewer, blogger, or anyone interested in children's and YA lit, join us on January 16, 2010 from 4-6 in the Birch Bar at Boston's Westin Waterfront Hotel......

One of the many gifts of new media is an increased democracy in the public square (with thanks to our public libraries, who fight to narrow the digital divide)......










