Longhorn in Bluebonnets (acrylic) by Shaivi Moparthi, 12; published in the April 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Caleb Berg Hi Friends, Happy April Fools Day! (Though I promise everything in this newsletter is 100% true.) I know that those of you living in California have seen more than enough rain, but here’s to hoping that the rain brings flowers as vibrant as those in Shaivi Moparthi’s beautiful painting Longhorn in Bluebonnets, the cover photo for our April 2023 issue. Having moved from California to Texas, this painting is particularly resonant; it reminds me of the longhorns and fields of flowers Tayleigh and I drove past as we made our way to Houston. A few notes on the blog. I wanted to remind everyone that we no longer accept fiction or poetry for publication, unless they’re apart of our COVID-19 blog, which is still alive and well! The fact is that we are still living with the effects of COVID, and we want all your art — prose, poetry, non-fiction, visual art, etc. — that explores how you have navigated and/or are navigating a world forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Please check out some recent publications on the COVID-19 blog, “Home Sick,” a poem by Carolina Ulloa-Compton, 12, and “Out of It,” a poem by Madeline Male, 14. We also receive a vastly disproportionate number of book review submissions, so if you’re looking for a way to get involved as a regular blogger, I’d suggest sending us movie, game, or album reviews, as well as general writing about the world. Get involved! Send me your blog proposals directly at caleb@stonesoup.com, and send me your work via Submittable. Lastly, I’d like to spotlight the work of a Stone Soup alum, Tara Prakash. Tara is a tenth grader who created her own non-profit, Write to Right, in order to teach creative writing to underserved communities in the scope of social justice. Via Write to Right, she has also launched the online literary journal, Between the Lines. Between the Lines is looking for previously unpublished submissions related to any and all social justice issues (gun reform, climate change & the environment, race & identity, etc.) from writers of all ages and geographic locations. They welcome all kinds of written submissions: creative, academic, and journalistic. You can submit to Between the Lines here. For those of who approaching the age cut-off for Stone Soup (and anyone interested in this kind of work), Tara’s initiative is a great one to consider. The world needs more writers and it needs more journals to publish those writers, so why not consider starting one yourself! Regarding our classes: Our spring session is also now open for enrollment. You can purchase tickets here. We decided to cap enrollment at 20 students and to increase tuition accordingly. While we would love to work with as many students as possible, our instructor has found larger class sizes limit his ability to connect to his students and offer feedback. This was the reasoning behind our registration cap. And to make the change sustainable, we needed to increase tuition. Subscribers will now pay $22 per session and non-subscribers will pay $27.50. Please write to stonesoup@stonesoup.com with any questions or concerns. Regarding our book contest: Our 2023 Book Contest has officially launched! If you haven’t already started working on your manuscript, now is the time! If you’d like some help kickstarting the project, we encourage you to sign up for the Design a Novel workshop, run by our partner, Society of Young Inklings. Till next time, 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: March 18, 2023
Dream Dream (oil) by Sophia Zhang, 12; published in Stone Soup March 2023 A note from Emma Wood Hello, readers! I am sitting in the attic of our house with the wind blowing so hard that it is shaking the whole structure. It’s a cold, blustery day, and yet it has been raining not snowing—so not that cold. It has been a strange winter here in coastal Connecticut, in the village where we are living for the year. I can count on one hand the number of times it has snowed. And I have been experiencing some climate grief (and not for the first time). Margot, my daughter, loves snow—it dominates her imaginative play—and yet she has barely gotten to play in it. As my husband said, “She’s young!” But (I countered) she is only two this winter, and this winter, she didn’t get snow in a place where you are supposed to get snow! The image I selected for the newsletter is spring-like, however, because my thoughts have been tending that way as April, Easter, and the spring equinox approach. Soon, we will put winter, and my sadness about the lack of snow this year, behind me and enjoy warmer weather, green grass, and flowers. One of the best things about becoming a parent, for me, has been how it renews the world: seasons, holidays, simple errands—all those things that had lost their luster are once again imbued with meaning and magic. This month, I encourage you to write about an event or an activity that was once special to you, but which you now take for granted. Can you write about it in a way that makes it strange and exciting once again? As for Stone Soup business! We have a number of announcements this week. Regarding our classes: For anyone interested in getting a taste of our writing workshop in advance of our spring series, we are offering free attendance to the makeup session of the Winter 2023 Workshop, taught by Conner Bassett, on April 1st at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time/2:00 p.m. Eastern time. You can sign up here. Our spring session is also now open for enrollment. You can purchase tickets here. We decided to cap enrollment at 20 students and to increase tuition accordingly. While we would love to work with as many students as possible, our instructor has found larger class sizes limit his ability to connect to his students and offer feedback. This was the reasoning behind our registration cap. And to make the change sustainable, we needed to increase tuition. Subscribers will now pay $22 per session and non-subscribers will pay $27.50. Please write to stonesoup@stonesoup.com with any questions or concerns. Regarding our book contest: Our 2023 Book Contest has officially launched! If you haven’t already started working on your manuscript, now is the time! If you’d like some help kickstarting the project, we encourage you to sign up for the Design a Novel workshop, run by our partner, Society of Young Inklings. Till next time, 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: March 4, 2023
Space Mushrooms (acrylic) by Delilah Prager, 10; published in Stone Soup March 2023 A note from Tayleigh Greene Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve written a newsletter, but you may have communicated with me if you’ve ever needed customer service at Stone Soup. Since January of this year, I’ve also been the person behind Stone Soup’s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and I am so excited for this opportunity to take Stone Soup’s online presence to the next level. It’s difficult for me to imagine a world without the Internet. But 50 years ago, Stone Soup was born in a college dorm room—ten years before the official birthday of the Internet. Naturally, Stone Soup has experienced plenty of changes over these past 50 years, and the shift to the digital age has been a major one, if not the major one. Like most journals and newspapers, Stone Soup is finding its way in the digital era, and we’re trying new things. In 2020, we began hosting our virtual writing workshops, which have proven to be wildly successful and would never have been possible if not for the Internet. In January, we launched our first ever GoFundMe campaign. Last week, we posted our first Reel to Instagram. We have some exciting projects in store for our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages, and I encourage you to keep up with Stone Soup by following us on our social media platforms. And, if you’d like to help us expand our online presence, I am pleased to announce that we are now accepting interns. If you are interested in working with me as a social media intern, please email tayleigh@stonesoup with a description of why you’re interested in the role, a little bit about yourself, and any applicable skills you would bring to the position. I look forward to hearing from you! I also want to share that our GoFundMe campaign has raised nearly $10,000! Thank you to all who have joined us so far; we are so grateful for your support. We ask once again that you consider contributing to our campaign and share our page with anyone who might be interested in supporting our mission. Help us get to $10,000 and beyond! My best, 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.
