Clay Carmichael's Blog: Clay's Occasional - Posts Tagged "clay-carmichael"

"Wild Things"has made the New York State Reading Association's Charlotte Award Suggested Reading List for Middle School/High School.

Thanks, New York!

http://www.nysreading.org/Awards/char...

"Zoë", the German edition of "Wild Things" debuted with great success on Monday and the translation process was so extraordinary, the translator so remarkable and gifted, I posted about both here:

Dear Birgitt, The Summer of My German Translator:
An epistolary essay to celebrate "Zoë", the German translation of "Wild Things":

http://www.claycarmichael.com/Summero...

Guest-blogging about Brother, Brother, the new book and Wild Things, the old on the Through the Tollbooth blog.

Even so, it’s challenging going from one world to the other—though really, when I think about it, that’s just what authors do. The ability to be simultaneously and deeply in two or more worlds for extended periods is an author’s job description. When I’m lucky enough to have a good day of creating, I rise almost as if in a trance from my chair and step out the back door feeling momentarily dazed...

http://www.throughthetollbooth.com/

Some of you have heard me talk about my thoughtful, moving, wildly funny, often illustrated, glittered or candy-stuffed reader-mail. The following amazing, miraculous, benediction of a letter came in yesterday’s early morning mail while I was still in my bunny slippers. I asked the writer if I might share it with my readers and colleagues. Thank you, Heather.

Read the full post here:

http://www.claycarmichael.com/ClayCar...

YA: Tell us a little bit about your latest work. What is different about Brother, Brother?

CC: Brother, Brother explores customary young adult issues: coming-of-age, romance, independence; but what sets my seventeen-year-old main character, Brother, apart is that his story is also a political coming-of-age story. He starts out as a sweet, passive guy, someone who's just getting by from one day to the next, eking one out. It's all he can do to take care of Mem, his sick grandmother, and pay the bills. But when she dies on page one, he discovers he's got a twin and a rich, powerful family he never knew he had. He can't spectate and sleepwalk through life anymore; he's got to think and act.

Read the rest here:
http://www.youngadultmag.com/Browse/A...

Honored that one of my illustrations--inspired by E.B. White's frequently challenged classic "Charlotte's Web"--will be a Banned Book Week Trading Card at Chapel Hill Public Library. See the art and read why Wilbur and Charlotte have been recently challenged:

http://claycarmichael.com/ClayCarmich...

I love when so many reviewers "get" my book. Here's an excerpt from the latest if these from the BCCB:

"When seventeen-year-old Brother Grace loses the wise, warm, lively grandmother who reared him, he doesn’t know where to turn. Mem, his grandmother, had always been tight-lipped about his background, stressing only that going to visit the island where she grew up as the daughter of the housekeeper of a wealthy family was out of the question. Now that she’s gone, however, Brother makes an unsettling discovery about what the island holds, and he makes the trek to the island to uncover the secrets of his family. Carmichael deftly creates an atmospheric setting...(read the rest of the excerpt here: http://www.claycarmichael.com/)

"Brother, Brother" is a Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year. Lovely Friday surprise, BSC, thank you!

See all the BSC selections here:

http://bankstreet.edu/center-children...

This open letter, calling for the immediate repeal of the discriminatory HB2, tonight went out to North Carolina Governor McCrory and the NC General Assembly from 48 Tar Heel Children's Book Creators, including yours truly, with the support and solidarity of 17 North Carolina Bookstores. Heartfelt thanks to all:

http://www.claycarmichael.com/OpenLet...