{"id":85,"date":"2017-06-15T10:05:17","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T14:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/?p=85"},"modified":"2017-05-07T22:10:51","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T02:10:51","slug":"85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/2017\/06\/15\/85\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Adult Novelist Talks about Publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Young adult novelist Terry Farish spent two days with Elizabethtown College students, explaining her writing process, the themes in her novel, and the current state of young adult publishing.<\/p>\n

Farish has written several picture books and young adult novels.\u00a0 Her 2012 novel, The \"FarishGood Braider<\/em>, tells the story of Viola, a young citizen of Sudan who escapes the trauma and war of her native country and eventually settles in Portland, Maine. Throughout the novel, Viola considers the symbol of the elephant and how it represents her struggle.<\/p>\n

Librarians and teachers have added the award winning novel to summer reading lists because of its careful telling of Viola\u2019s story. It explores how two cultures can eventually harmonize when people pause long enough to accept each other.<\/p>\n

The Bowers Writers House made Farish\u2019s visit possible.\u00a0 Jesse Waters, director of the Bowers House, scheduled her visit to include a craft talk, an evening reading, and a visit with the Young Adult Literature class.<\/p>\n

Researching Another Culture<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Students interested in writing filled every seat during Farish\u2019s craft talk.\u00a0 She spoke about the importance of deep research and embedding yourself in a culture if you plan to write about it.<\/p>\n

Farish spent time with the Sudanese community in Portland while conducting her research, and she recounts staying up until midnight and cooking with them because she wanted to participate in the deep community ties that they enjoy.\u00a0 She felt it was ” an emergency” to learn their stories and share them.<\/p>\n

Farish talked about the challenges of publishing in the young adult literature market.\u00a0 She said the literature is driven by “the drama of first experience,” because “there is so much drama in being young.”<\/p>\n

Kirsten Ambrose, an education major who read The Good Braider<\/em> for Young Adult Literature, said that she found the experience enlightening.\u00a0 “As a future teacher, I think meeting an author is one of the most authentic experiences<\/span><\/span> for students,” Ambrose said.\u00a0 “<\/span><\/span>I think having a safe space to discuss literature is invaluable for<\/span><\/span> students, and what better way than with the actual author. I hope to implement this in my<\/span><\/span> future teaching in any way I can.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anthony Scioli, a psychology and professional writing double major attended two of Farish’s events.\u00a0 Scioli was also a member of Young Adult Literature, and he was interested to hear Farish talk about the writing and publishing process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understood that fiction writers could become attached to the stories they create, but feeling a familial closeness with characters was a novel thought for me,\u201d Scioli said.\u00a0 He said that he thought about this idea and others after the visit was over.<\/p>\n

Before she caught her train back to Maine, Farish answered publishing questions and signed books during her final meeting with the Young Adult Literature class.\u00a0 Just before she left, she gave a tiny metal elephant charm to each student, a reminder of their time with The Good Braider<\/em> and its author.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dr. Tara Moore teaches writing and literature classes at Elizabethtown College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Young adult novelist Terry Farish spent two days with Elizabethtown College students, explaining her writing process, the themes in her novel, and the current state of young adult publishing. Farish has written several picture books and young adult novels.\u00a0 Her 2012 novel, The Good Braider, tells the story of Viola, a young citizen of Sudan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,10,34],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-careers","tag-writing","tag-young-adult-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}