Search Results for: Stone Soup author interview

Current Interns Michaela Ye-Hyang Frey (2023) Michaela Ye-Hyang Frey is a fifteen-year-old who attends Langley High School. She is a debater, poet, painter, web designer, and admirer of long, winding blocks of prose. She has been a violinist since 2011, and talks about it in her writing quite often. She received a scholarship from JSA Women’s Leadership Institute, canvassed for political campaigns, and won a Scholastic Writing Award. She is passionate about emphasizing non-Eurocentric art history, and founded the Gliese Art Collective, a local nonprofit that gathers and compiles resources to preserve valuable history. Mostly, she writes about matters concerning the intersections of cybernetics, artistry, outer space, and identity. Sage Millen (2020–) Sage is fifteen years old and lives in Vancouver, Canada. She enjoys photography, (including dance, animal, and portrait photography), reading, and writing. She also loves playing ultimate and spending time with her dog, Kiwi. As a Stone Soup intern, Sage is involved in various projects, such as writing creativity prompts, judging flash contests, and researching past Stone Soup contributors, among other things. She recently held a silent auction to raise money for Stone Soup as part of its 50th Anniversary Drive. Aditi Nair (2023) Aditi Nair is a rising sophomore at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School. She lives in Midlothian, Virginia, with her parents and younger brother. Aditi is an award-winning children’s book author and writer. In addition to her writing pursuits, Aditi actively participates in various publications and organizations. She has published pieces in Stone Soup, Skipping Stones, Story Monsters Ink, and her community magazine. Aditi loves traveling and often finds inspiration from nature and current events for her writing. In recognition of her efforts in promoting environmental awareness and conservation, Aditi received the Skipping Stones Youth Honor Award in 2021. When she isn’t engrossed in books or creative writing, she enjoys playing music on the violin, making hand-lettered greeting cards, and baking. Furthermore, Aditi is a STEAM enthusiast. In her passion for promoting inclusivity, she founded I’mPossible, a non-profit dedicated to fostering inclusiveness in STEAM education for children with learning challenges. As a Stone Soup Intern, Aditi focuses on formatting and editing pieces to prepare them for publication in the magazine under the guidance of the production coordinator, Carmela Furio. Eori Tokunaga (2023) Eori is a current graduate student in the San Jose State University MLIS program. She graduated with a B.S. in Human Development with dual minors in Japanese & Psychology from UC Davis in 2018. Using her previous experiences working in Animation/Visual Development, Psychology, Public Health, and Social Work, Eori intends to pursue a career in Digital Marketing. Eori currently lives in Los Angeles, working as a library assistant for a public library and as a graduate student assistant while attending school full-time. When she’s free, she likes to play with her dog Hana, create watercolor illustrations, and write picture book manuscripts in the hopes of becoming an established Author/Illustrator for children’s books one day. As a marketing intern, Eori will assist with increasing engagement on Stone Soup’s social media platforms and help codify and streamline Stone Soup’s promotional messaging. Former Interns Anya Geist (2020–21) Anya Geist is a ninth grader who lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, with her parents and dog, Freya. She has liked writing from a very early age—particularly vignettes—and has been published in Stone Soup several times, for both writing and photography. Additionally, she enjoys swimming, tennis, and Model UN, and, this past fall, she started a literary journal at her high school. As a Stone Soup intern, Anya ran a series of interviews with Stone Soup contributors, co-facilitated the Book Club alongside Laura Moran, and helped publish writing workshop pieces on the website each week! Gina Gruss (2020–21) Gina Marie Gruss (she/her) is a senior at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of FAU, double majoring in Creative Writing and Visual Art. She is a born-and-raised south Floridian. She is an award-winning writer, artist, and photographer, and her works have been featured by Amazon Prime Video, Mensa America, Wattpad, and FAU. She recently received a grant in creating a piece that fuses art and technology, called “Hotspot.” Her eclectic works often touch on underrepresented and liminal narratives. When not making her next creative work, she loves planning events, swimming, cooking, baking, and spending time with her two cats, Athena and Apollo. As a Stone Soup intern, Gina worked on multiple projects to boost engagement across the website and various social media platforms in order to further solidify Stone Soup’s visual identity and branding. Ryan Hudgins (2020–21) Ryan Hudgins is a rising junior at the University of Richmond, double majoring in Journalism and Leadership Studies. She currently resides in her hometown of Chicago, a few blocks away from the mailbox where she submitted her first Stone Soup story, which appeared on the “Honor Roll” of the September/October 2016 issue. As the editorial intern for Stone Soup’s Editor-in-Chief Emma Wood, Ryan conducted a first read of fiction and personal narrative submissions and assisted with the production of the monthly issues. Claire Jiang (2020–21) Claire Jiang is currently a freshman at the Lawrenceville High School. She lives in New Jersey with her family of three (yes, plus the dog). She is an avid reader and writer, submitting multiple works to Stone Soup in the past. Her other passions include music, singing, and being a classical pianist. Stone Soup and its artists have always been a source of inspiration for her and she was very excited to further contribute to the magazine as an intern. Sim Ling Thee (2020–21) Sim Ling Thee (she/her) is a young Southeast Asian writer. She has placed in numerous writing competitions, including being the youngest finalist for New Zealand’s NFFD Youth Competition 2020, and her work has been published or is forthcoming in Stone Soup, Shameless Magazine, and Skipping Stones. She is also a staff writer for Gen Z Writes, Plastic-Lite SG, and The Augment Review, among others. Outside of writing, she’s a cybersecurity enthusiast and a proud INTJ! You can read

Stone Soup publishes work by young people up to age 13, but as our writers and artists get older they still want to keep creating–and publishing–their work! To help our readers, writers and artists move on to the next stage of their creative journey we have put together a list (in alphabetical order) of publishing options for teens and older kids, below. If you know of, or find out about, another venue for teen writers that you think ought to be on this page, then please write to us at stonesoup@stonesoup.com. We want make sure all of our Stone Soup writers and artists keep on making and sharing their creative work far into their futures, and that we and our readers hear about it! The Blue Pencil Age Range: 12-18 Accepts: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, plays The Blue Pencil is a publication edited and produced by the Walnut Hill Writing, Film & Media Arts Department, and publishes literary work by high school writers, ages 12–18, from around the world. The publication recently revised its format, to include more film and other media arts. Browse their previous issues and connect with them via the link. Website Canvas Age Range: 13-18 Accepts: Fiction, poetry, plays, creative nonfiction, new media, art Established in Spring 2013 in conjunction with the Writers & Books Literary Center in Rochester, New York, Canvas is a quarterly literary journal edited by teens. It’s available in print, ebook, web, video, and audio formats. Website Celebrating Art Age Range: grades K-12 Accepts: Art in the form of still digital images This publication holds regular periodic art contests, and publishes the winners in an art book anthology (around 20% or so of the submissions get chosen). Works are judged in four divisions: grades K–3, grades 4–6, grades 7–9, and grades 10–12. Winners receive prizes, listed on their website. Website The Claremont Review (publication currently on hold) Age Range: 13-19 Accepted: Fiction, poetry, plays, interviews, art in the form of still digital images First published in 1992, The Claremont Review published short stories, poems, short plays, graphic art, photography, and interviews each year in the spring and fall, although no fall 2018 or spring 2019 issues are planned. Visit their facebook page for updates on this publication’s current status. Website Launch Pad Age Range: 6 to 14 Accepts: Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and illustrations by assignment Launch Pad publishes stories, art, poetry, nonfiction, and book reviews by kids ages 6–14, matching up authors and illustrators. The material is offered in PDF format that readers can read on screen or download for offline viewing. Website The Milking Cat Age Range: teenagers/high school Accepts: Comedy The Milking Cat is an online comedy magazine dedicated to teen comedians. Run by high school students across the country, the website publishes original comedy of all media types and takes submissions. The Milking Cat is the place to be for young comics. Website Submissions Student staff applications New Moon Girls Age Range: girls 8 & up Accepts: Fiction, poetry, personal essays, how-to articles, art, comics, photography New Moon Magazine is aimed specifically at female tweens and teens, and offers them a place of inspiration, connection and support where they can stay deeply connected to their true interests, abilities, and hopes.  The magazine is offered in both print and electronic format, and their website offers an online community with a moderated forum. Website Polyphony Lit. Age Range: grades 9-12 Accepts: Fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction Polyphony Lit is a student-run international literary magazine for high school writers and editors. Submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction are accepted through May 31 of each year and are eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards for Young Writers. We invite high school students to join our student editorial board, which provides editorial feedback for every submission. Website Teen Ink Age Range: 13 to 19 Accepts: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reviews, art  Teen Ink is a national magazine, book series, and website devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos, and forums. For over 25 years, it’s offered teens a place to publish their creative work and opinions on issues that affect their lives. Website Underlined Age Range: 13 and up Accepts: Poetry, fiction, plays, nonfiction Underlined’s structure is different from a traditional magazine. It is an online community where, rather than being organised by a team of editors, students publish their own works, and earn badges by participating as both a writer and reviewer. Underlined hosts contests, polls and quizzes, and online groups. Website Young Writers Project Age Range: “youths” Accepts: Writing and digital media Young Writers Project welcomes participants from outside of its home base of Vermont and publishes a range of titles including young writers’ work. These include YWP Anthologies and The Voice digital magazine, as well as further publication opportunities with local and national newspapers and other digital publishing venues. It seeks out the best work of youths, regardless of where they live. Website Sample Issue of The Voice The WEIGHT Journal Age Range: High School Students Accepts: Writing Started by teachers, The WEIGHT Journal who wanted a place where high school students could publish the creative writing they are producing while in self-isolation because of COVID-19. Website Write the World Age Range: 13-18 Accepts: Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, reflections, journalism, plays Write the World is a free online global writing community for ages 13-18 from around the world. It’s a supportive, moderated environment where young writers can post their work, respond to ever-changing prompts in a variety of genres, enter monthly writing competitions, give and receive feedback, and much more! Writers also have the opportunity to be featured in Write the World Review, our literary journal publishing the best writing from the site. Website Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology Age Range: 13-16 Accepts: Poetry, fiction, art, flash fiction Auroras & Blossoms is publishing an anthology specifically for authors ages 13 through 16. They are looking for poetry, art, short stories, six word stories, essays and flash fiction created in 2020 and 2021 for potential inclusion in a digital anthology that will be

How to Use Stone Soup in the Classroom The Stone Soup website has ready-made curriculum materials to use with your students to supplement your writing program, or as self-directed projects for your more motivated students. Creative Prompts  Weekly Prompts. Short prompts perfect for warmups, drawn from the Stone Soup Weekly Prompt Newsletter. Activities. Longer, more detailed projects that teach fundamental writing concepts. Each activity is linked to a story that has been published in Stone Soup Magazine; students read the story before working on the activity. Contests Stone Soup holds a monthly flash contest, an annual book contest, and from time to time, other contests. Contests offer motivation for writers to get their ideas down on paper. Check out our current contests. Please keep in mind that we receive a lot of entries, and the contests are highly competitive. Book Contest. The Annual Book Contest is posted around the beginning of Spring with the book manuscript due mid-August. The winner of the contest gets a book published. This is a big deal and a highly competitive prize. Through the Society for Young Inklings, we provide guidance for students in a weekend workshop to help them get started. Scholarships are available. Stone Soup also provides a free monthly check-in for students working on a book-length work of prose or poetry for this contest led by Stone Soup Founder, William Rubel. William has no contact with the judges of the contest. Students read from their works in progress and talk about how they are planning out their extended works. Book Reviews Reading and writing go together. Authors are readers. Stone Soup welcomes book reviews by young writers; writing reviews gives students the opportunity to engage with texts they are reading in the classroom in ways that are more creative and more personal than the more conventional English essay or response paper. Please note that our reviews are not book reports; we recommend reading samples with your class if you assign them to write a review for us! Writing Workshops Stone Soup offers writing workshops. The format for the workshop is a 30 minute PowerPoint followed by 30 minutes of writing—then readings and critique. The work is extraordinary! Every week we post work from that week that has been submitted to us by workshop students. All writing submitted is published. So, what you see in this section is what students ages 8 through 14 can do in a first draft in thirty minutes. As you will see, there is no way to tell who is 8 and who is 14 or somewhere in between. All of your students can become proficient writers. Started during the first Covid lockdown in April 2020, this program has been very successful and is growing! Students can register for these classes. To be notified of classes, go to our home page and scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up for our Newsletter. To access recordings of the writing workshops, check out our YouTube channel. Stone Soup Young Author Interviews  On the Stone Soup YouTube channel, we have a treasure trove of interviews with young writers and artists who have been published in the magazine and on the website. Intern Anya Geist spoke with all kinds of creative Contributors about their process, their inspirations, what it meant for them to be published, and so much more. You can also find these interviews individually on the Stone Soup blog. Used in the classroom, these interviews can help students see that writing isn’t just an “exercise” or “activity.” It is an art and a practice, and writing and publishing makes you an author no matter your age! Stories and Poetry Read Aloud To give students a break from screen time, have them listen to stories and poetry read aloud by authors on the Stone Soup Soundcloud. The stories on our Soundcloud entertain, inspire, and challenge students to find their own ways of expressing themselves. Mentor Texts and Examples for Students With a subscription, you have access to the stories, poems, personal narratives, and art published in the magazine, plus the more informal writing we publish on the blog. For the blog, you can explore our specific Covid-19 section, our broader Young Blogger category, and our multimedia section. Motivate your students by showing them exemplary poems, stories, and book reviews written by their peers.   Please contact us if you’d like to blog for us and publish suggestions of your own for how to use Stone Soup with students, to engage them as readers and encourage them as writers. We’d love to hear from you and share your expertise with our community.