Silver Specks, collaborative piece (mixed media) by Georgia Marshall; created during the Half-Baked Art Exchange and published on the Refugee Project site A note from Laura Moran Greetings all, I hope everyone’s summer vacation is officially off to a great start! This Tuesday, June 20th, is World Refugee Day, a day of observance to raise awareness about the plight of refugees and to demonstrate a commitment that the world’s forcibly displaced people are not left behind. We at Stone Soup are committed to providing a platform to showcase the creative works of refugee youth. Through the Stone Soup Refugee Project, we have collected over 300 pieces of creative works—including paintings, photography, poetry and plays—from children living in refugee camps and host countries around the world. I invite you to take some time this month to explore the wealth of material displayed on the Refugee Project web portal. The Stone Soup Refugee Project has also facilitated a number of initiatives to encourage engagement between our Refugee Project contributors and our broader readership. Among these is the Half-Baked Art Exchange, the work produced in which you can now explore on our newly created web page! This workshop, offered in collaboration with My Start Project, provided an opportunity for Stone Soup participants to engage with a piece of artwork created by a young person living in Kakuma Refugee Camp. If you are interested in the Refugee Project and are looking for a way to get involved while also sharpening your writing skills, please consider joining me in my virtual studio summer camp, Anthropology of the Everyday: The Art of Creative Nonfiction, July 24th through 27th. In this camp, students will learn to write personal narrative essays using the techniques of ethnographic writing, which emphasize storytelling and “thick description,” and are a staple of anthropologists in their research and writing. As part of the Refugee Project, participants in this class will have a follow up opportunity to participate in an exchange of the creative writing they produce in class with young people living in refugee camps. Additionally, participants’ writing will be displayed on the Stone Soup Refugee Project portal. Finally, please consider donating to the Stone Soup Refugee Project in order to ensure the continuation of this creative outlet for refugee youth and the further development of Refugee Project initiatives such as those described above. With thanks and best wishes, Donate to the Refugee Project today Register for Anthropology of the Everyday Anthropology of the Everyday: The Art of Creative Nonfiction July 24–27; 1–3 pm PT Taught by Laura Moran, cultural anthropologist and Stone Soup’s Refugee Project director, this course instructs students in a method of personal writing called autoethnography that combines storytelling with details about your daily life. Explore more summer camp offerings Intro to Publishing June 19–22; 1–3 pm PT Once your story is written, where does it go? Join Carmela Furio, Stone Soup’s production coordinator, in a deep dive into the basics of publishing. Campers will also learn how to start and run a literary magazine! Intro to Poetry: The Image and the Line June 26–29; 9–11 am PT In this class, Emma Wood, Executive Director & Editor in Chief of Stone Soup, invites you to immerse yourself in what a poem is and what it can do. Students will write their own poetry, shaking themselves out of established modes of thinking. Genre 101 June 26–29; 1–3 pm PT Carmela is teaching a second camp about some of your favorite types of fiction! Explore science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, and learn new techniques to confidently write in different genres. The Art of the Personal Essay July 10–13; 9–11 am PT Emma’s second course will introduce you to the beauty of creative nonfiction as well posit some ethical questions for consideration and discussion—such as “What if my mom reads it!” Campers will also experiment with the form by writing their own essays. Advanced Novel Writing July 17–20; 9–11 am PT In Writing Instructor Conner Bassett’s course, learn the basic techniques of good storytelling, such as setting, plot, character, dialogue, and more! Brainstorm concepts and share ideas for your novel that will keep readers hooked from start to finish. Freedom through Constraint: Experiments in Poetry & Prose July 24–27; 9–11 am PT In this workshop taught by Stone Soup Blog Editor Caleb Berg, campers will study and use self-imposed constraints such as omitting specific letters and patterns of repetition in order to maximize the untapped potential of their work. The goal is not necessarily to make sense but to excite the senses! Playwriting August 7–10; 1–3 pm PT Conner will also teach a class about the history and craft of writing drama. Campers will ponder the practicalities and philosophies of the art form as well as work on developing their own 10-minute play! Click here to see more course offerings from Society of Young Inklings. Buy one, get one half off! Share the gift of Stone Soup with your friends and family! Free submissions to the magazine, access to 20+ years of digital archives, and new issues bimonthly. When you buy one Annual Print + Digital subscription to Stone Soup, we’ll send you a coupon code to purchase a second, half off! Don’t miss your chance to save on the magazine 100% written and illustrated by kids since 1973. Shop our Summer Sale Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
Newsletter
Saturday Newsletter: June 3, 2023
Peaceful Pond (oil) by Christopher Zhang, 13; published in the May/June 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Tayleigh Greene Hello, Although it’s not yet officially summer, it certainly seems it here in Houston. Many of our schools are already out on vacation. And it’s hot. Really hot. For that reason, Christopher Zhang’s Peaceful Pond, featured above, beckons me to sit beside the cool water with a good book. Speaking of which, Sarah Hunt’s Foxtale and Sabrina Guo’s Catalogue of Ripening have been announced as finalists in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards Young Authors Category. If you haven’t read them yet—and even if you have—you will want to add them to your summer reading list. If you’re looking to sharpen your writing skills this summer, look no further than our virtual studio camps, which we’re offering collaboration with fellow literary nonprofit Society of Young Inklings. Next week, Stone Soup Book Club Facilitator Maya Mahony will be teaching Middle Grade Fiction Writing. Later this month, Stone Soup Production Coordinator Carmela Furio will be teaching Intro to Publishing, and Stone Soup Editor in Chief Emma Wood will be teaching An Introduction to Poetry: The Image and the Line. For more details and our full summer course schedule, please see below. One great way to escape the heat is to visit your local, air-conditioned library and read the latest issue of Stone Soup! On behalf of the entire Stone Soup team, I’d like to thank all of the generous donors who contributed to our library campaign. Last month, we donated over 1000 issues of Stone Soup to libraries and schools across the United States and Canada. I’d also like to thank everyone who attended our 50th Anniversary Open House and Giveaway. It was so fun to celebrate with you all, to learn more about what Stone Soup means to each of you, and to hear some of our truly brilliant contributors read their work. It’s hard to believe that Stone Soup has been in print since 1973. It’s a testament to the hard work of our dedicated staff, and also to the importance of an organization that takes children and their work seriously. As part of our fiftieth anniversary celebration, we’ve been interviewing past contributors in a project we’ve titled Fifty Years of Excellence: From the Archives, published exclusively on our Instagram and Facebook profiles. One sentiment we’ve heard again and again from our former contributors is that there really was (and is) nothing like Stone Soup. Rather than seeing children’s writings and illustrations as transitional works to be passed over, we see them as finished statements in themselves, having an intrinsic value that can be appreciated by adults as well as children. As Emma Catherine Hoff, winner of our 2022 Annual Book Contest, said, “Stone Soup doesn’t ask that I ‘grow up’ before becoming a writer. It encourages and respects me, as a writer, today.” Cheers to 50 years, Explore our summer camp offerings Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
Saturday Newsletter: May 20, 2023
We interviewed critically acclaimed author Joanna Ruth Meyer as part of Fifty Years of Excellence: From the Archives. Illustration by Madeline Clark appeared alongside Joanna’s short story “The Hummingbird” in the May/June 1998 issue of Stone Soup. A note from Sage Millen Hi everybody! As you probably know, this year is Stone Soup’s 50th anniversary. Because Stone Soup has been such an important part of my life over the past five years (I was a frequent contributor and am now an intern), I wanted to do my part to ensure this wonderful organization has the resources to keep going for another fifty years. So, in about November of 2022, I started brainstorming fundraising ideas with my mom. We settled on a silent auction. My family had held two successful auctions in the past to raise money for Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Not only did the events raise money, they were also really fun. To start, I picked a date several months away so I would have time to plan everything. Then, I sent out an email to almost everyone my parents and I know, explaining my initiative and asking for donations of handmade items we could sell at the auction. I also made several items to contribute, such as some cards with my photos on them, a loom-knitted toque, and some jewelry. I was very lucky to have such an artistic and generous circle of friends, because I received over fifty items! The next step was to create auction sheets; these include a photo and description of each item as well as the person who donated it, and space for bidders to fill in their bid amount and contact information. Before the event, I shared this document with everyone we had invited so those who couldn’t attend in person still had a chance to bid. The night before the auction, I closed access to the document; the online bidding was over. Then, I helped prepare our house for the auction by cleaning and setting up the items on tables and mantelpieces—even the piano. My mom and my nana made a variety of treats and snacks for guests to enjoy. Finally, people started arriving. I walked them around the house, showing them the various items, including knitted caps, weavings, paintings, baked goods, books, and even services such as gardening and pet photoshoots. We also set up a stand of Stone Soup issues by the door so people could see what their money was going towards. Soon, our house began to fill with people chatting and making bids, while my dad played soft music in the background. After an hour and a half, we ended the auction. People gave us the bidding sheets for the items they’d won along with payment and we gave them their item. Overall, we raised $1,748 CAD! That’s a much higher sum than what I was hoping for, so I’m very proud of the result. I also had multiple people tell me what a fun event it was, and how they were excited to learn about Stone Soup and would be introducing it to the young people in their lives. I had a great time hosting the auction, and I would recommend a similar project to anyone who wants to raise money for Stone Soup, or any other cause in your life in a fun way. However, it does take a lot of work—I was very lucky that my parents (especially my mom) helped me a lot with the process. Luckily, there are many other ways to raise money that also require less planning—there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned lemonade stand! I wish you the best of luck in your future philanthropic endeavors. Donate to Stone Soup today! A note from Emma Wood On behalf of the whole Stone Soup team, thank you, Sage! We are grateful for the work you put into this auction and the money you raised for Stone Soup, but also incredibly proud of you. This is what Stone Soup is about: empowering youth to act now. To all the young people reading this, know that you can do things that matter now. You don’t have to wait until you’re out of college to publish your writing, to write a book, to have an exhibit for your artwork, to raise money for causes you believe in, to start organizations or a literary magazine; you can do that all now. We believe in you, and we are here to support you. On that note, I am really excited to share a project that my colleagues and I have been working on since January. We have been tracking down and interviewing historical contributors to the magazine—contributors who are now grown up. Until a few years ago, submissions were received via snail mail, and no emails were collected. And, for much of Stone Soup’s now-fifty-year history, personal email didn’t even exist! In the intervening years, many of these former contributors have married and changed their names, moved cities or states, and pursued professions outside of the arts. So you can imagine this was quite a challenging project. It is still ongoing. However, we have been able to connect with a number of former contributors, whom I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing about what Stone Soup meant to them and about what they’re up to now. These interviews have confirmed that Stone Soup has truly been succeeding in its mission to instill confidence and authority in young people, and that a Stone Soup publication is something many carry with them throughout their lives—in many cases literally as well as figuratively. I spoke with one former contributor from the 1970s who still had her original issues of Stone Soup! My colleague Tayleigh is publishing the interviews on Instagram and Facebook—they are truly inspiring, and I encourage you to check them out, and to follow us on social media so you can continue to see these inspiring interviews as we post them. I encourage you to also be sure to read
