Sapling Shadow (Canon Rebel) by Madeline Male, 14; published in the January/February 2024 issue of Stone Soup A note from Laura Moran Dear Readers, I hope this message finds you well and that you’re settling into the rhythm of the new year with renewed energy and focus for the year ahead. In that vein, I have some exciting Refugee Project news to share. Firstly, I’m so excited to share that Caroline Gao, a member of the Stone Soup community and frequent participant in Refugee Project initiatives, won first place in the San Jose Library Fall into Fiction contest (10-12 age group) for her short story, titled “To My Penpal.” As Caroline explains, her story was inspired by her participation in the Stone Soup Refugee Project pen pal exchange and Half-Baked Art Collaboration. Drawing inspiration from the handwritten letters she received from young people in Kakuma Refugee camp, and the subsequent independent research she conducted on the UNESCO website, Caroline constructed a fictionalized narrative of a refugee family’s life in Kakuma Camp, seeking to represent the unique writing style of the young people with whom she corresponded. Read Caroline’s story and share in our heartfelt congratulations on this fantastic achievement! In other news, the Refugee Project is the recipient of the 2023 ruth weiss foundation School Poetry Award grant. In the words of the funding body: “The poet ruth weiss was a child survivor of World War II and dedicated her entire life to raising awareness of the ramifications of war on children. Her poetry often expresses a child’s war trauma and the joy of being safe and free to grow as a child. This year’s poetry prompt focuses on the effects of war on children and what is good for children. We feel the work that your organization is doing is incredibly important and wish to support it.” We are so honored to receive this award! To see some new Refugee Project writing, please check out the web page for our new Refugee Project collaborators, Humanitarian Service Team. Thank you for your continued support of the Stone Soup Refugee Project—without it, collaborations such as those featured here would not be possible—and happy winter writing! Yours sincerely, The Stone Soup Refugee Project 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: January 6, 2024
A World of Color (watercolor) by Leticia Cheng, 10; published in the January/February 2024 issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma Wood Happy New Year, all! Every year, I complain about New Year’s and yet every year, I enjoy the opportunity to reflect on the past year and resolve to be better, in some small ways, in the next. Every year, I also think about what I can do to improve Stone Soup! As many of you know, like many magazines, Stone Soup has struggled to find its footing in the digital era. This year, the Stone Soup board and I are continuing to work hard, re-examining the budget and exploring partnership opportunities, to ensure that Stone Soup can live on and thrive. We are extremely grateful to all of you who donated in 2023; thank you so much for helping support our mission! My high school had a weekly, student-run newspaper I was extremely involved in, as a writer and an editor. Over the break, a friend sent me an old article from that paper, reminding me just how incredible it was to feel like we were doing the work of actual journalists, just on a smaller scale. I learned so much from my time there, and it is where I first began to see myself as a writer. For some reason, I had never connected that experience with Stone Soup! But I see now how similar they are—and realizing this makes me feel even more connected to, and passionate about, what we do. This year, we will continue to run our weekly writing workshops, starting January 27, and we encourage you to sign up for Conner Bassett’s Fiction Writing class, “Six Beginnings, Three Middles, and An End,” while there is still room—we currently have six spaces left! Conner was so blown away by the novels his students wrote in the fall, and is excited to write more fiction with many of you this winter. Yours from our last day in Las Vegas, where we have been visiting family and friends the past couple of weeks, Purchase a Gift Subscription Register for Writing Workshops Support Stone Soup 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: December 23, 2023
A Light to Hope By (pastel) by Leticia Cheng, 10; published in the November/December 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Tayleigh Greene Dear readers, As a kid, I remember spending entire days of winter break curled up reading by the light of a lamp not unlike the one so beautifully drawn by Leticia Cheng, 10, pictured above. These days, it’s rare that I have the opportunity to devote several hours in a row to reading; the many to-do’s of adulthood keep me busy. By the time you read this newsletter, I will have flown from my current home in Houston to my childhood home in California, to spend time with my mom, dad, and three brothers. I am so looking forward to being there with them, and I’m also looking forward to the “getting there.” I love flying because I have the rare chance to read without distractions, no chores to take care of, no internet. This holiday break, I hope you, no matter what age you are, devote some time to the simple pleasures that we tend to neglect, like curling up with a good book—or the latest issue of Stone Soup. If you’re not yet subscribed to Stone Soup, I am so excited to announce that we’re offering 50% off print + digital annual subscriptions for a limited time only. Enter the code happyholidays! at checkout to save on the magazine 100% written and illustrated by kids. This is an incredible deal; a sale of this scale won’t be offered again for a while. So, if you’re in need of some last minute gifts for the kids or educators in your life, there’s no better present, and no better time than the present. Looking ahead to 2024, I’m pleased to share that we’re offering an all new fiction writing workshop with long-time Stone Soup instructor Conner Bassett. Fiction Writing: Six Beginnings, Three Middles, and an End will meet Saturdays, January 27 through April 6, 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Pacific time. Tickets are selling quickly, and space is limited, so I encourage you to register as soon as possible to secure your spot. Warmest wishes, P.S. As 2023 comes to a close, so does our Annual Drive. If you’re able to, please donate today using the button below and help us empower kids to be the authors of their own stories. Purchase a Gift Subscription Register for Writing Workshops Support Stone Soup 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.
