égalitariste (watercolor) by Verona Hofer, 12; published in the November/December 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Diane Landolf Dear readers, I hope those of you in the U.S. had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now let’s all get ready for another kind of celebration! It’s our annual student reading, and everyone’s invited! On Saturday, December 2, at 11:00 am Pacific/2:00 pm Eastern, Stone Soup is hosting a virtual reading by students in our Stone Soup Writing Workshops. Join our student authors—along with their friends, family, teachers, and the workshop instructors—as they read their favorite pieces aloud. The online event is free, but a reservation is required. To reserve your spot and find out more about the reading, click here. If you participated in one of our workshops in 2023, we’d love to have you participate in the reading. Please submit the piece you’d like to read via Submittable under the category “Annual Writing Workshop Reading” by November 30. The maximum reading time per author is five minutes. We can’t wait to hear your work! Registration for our 2024 workshops will open soon, so check back for information about course offerings and how to sign up. With an open heart and a very full stomach, Register for our Annual Reading Submit your work to our Annual Reading From Stone Soup November/December 2023 Within the Stars by Mia Atkinson, 11 Olive didn’t know how long she’d sat on her bed staring at the stars. They were so bright that night, shining like thousands of little suns in the sky. It brightened up the window next to her bed, its paper-white curtain fully open. Olive sighed, a sound like a balloon deflating. She felt like that. Ten years ago, Olive had sat on this very bed, holding her breath and silently praying to the stars as her husband took his last breaths from a fever. They were too poor to pay for a doctor to come to their house, and going there would just take too long. That was when she lost her husband. That was when she became no one. That was when she became just an old woman with frail hands. Just. Olive wiped away a tear, staring at the full sky. The wind through the open window tickled her cheek as she stared out at the stars. She imagined that they were reaching out to her, glowing brightly. Her husband was up there too, waving at her and telling her that she would be all right, even though they both knew she wouldn’t. Not without him… Click here to find out what happens next. 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: November 11, 2023
Golden Muse and Sun Flowers (acrylic) by Arwen Gamez, 14; published in the November/December 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma Wood Dear readers, It is that time of year again: when more leaves fall from the trees with each gust of wind or heavy rain, and when we announce the winners of our annual book contest. The 2023 winner is His Tower of the Night: A Nathalia Kitzmiller Mystery by Siri Nelson, 12, of Illinois. His Tower of the Night is a murder mystery set in the fictional Maine town of Little Rose; its heroine is the spunky Nathalia Kitzmiller, who, as one of eight kids, seizes every opportunity she gets to sneak away from the chaos and responsibilities of family life. Nelson’s novel manages to be simultaneously suspenseful and playful, realistic and also fantastical, silly and sweet. We can’t wait to share it with you soon! While I am excited to announce our winner, I always do so with a heavy heart, as I know a win for one means a loss for many others. Writing a book is a difficult task, and putting it out into the world can be even harder. We thank all of you who wrote this year and who dared to submit. Please know that we read your work carefully and that we are sorry we don’t have better news to share. Below, you can find our full list of finalists. And, as a reminder, if you have not yet purchased our 2022 winner, the truly visionary poetry collection, An Archeology of the Future, by Emma Catherine Hoff—please consider doing so today! The authors and everyone at Stone Soup put so much time, effort, and love into each book, and we want nothing more than to share the work with all of you readers—young and young-at-heart alike. Yours from Cincinnati which recently turned to winter overnight— Buy An Archeology of the Future 2023 Stone Soup Book Contest Winner (Fiction) His Tower of the Night: A Nathalia Kitzmiller Mystery Siri Nelson, 12 We did not select a poetry winner this year. Finalists Fiction Secrets and Blueberry Pie by Oola Breen-Ryan, 12 Waterfall Rocks by Anika Burst, 11 The Exchange by Yutia Li, 14 Cherry Knots by Chloe Ruan, 14 The Groundworld Heroes by Adrian So, 13 Traten by Alexandra Steyn, 14 Kingdoms of Glass by Isabella Washer, 14 Glimpse of Another World—a Collection of Short Stories by Samantha Wu, 14 Poetry Poet in 5 by Madeline Cleveland, 13 Tree Alone by Amity Doyle, 13 rainbow dreams by Xi Huang, 10 Little Bay Soup by Marilena Korahais, 13 and Petros Korahais, 10 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: October 28, 2023
Arriving in Kakuma by Bus (mixed media, paper, straw, and card) by group of young teenagers in Kakuma Refugee Camp originally from DRC, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi, South Sudan, and Somalia; published on the Stone Soup Refugee Project portal. A note from Laura Moran Dear Stone Soup community, I am thrilled to share that we, through the Stone Soup Refugee Project, are now able to extend the opportunity to participate in our writing workshops to young people living in refugee camps in many parts of the world. This week marks the first of a four-part series of creative writing workshops offered to young refugees living in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Nakivale is one of the world’s largest refugee settlements and currently hosts approximately 120,000 refugees, mainly from Northeastern and Central Africa. In our first session, thirteen young people gathered around a laptop in a church hall at Nakivale, from 5:00 to 7:00 in the evening. I ran the session over Zoom with the help of our co-facilitator and founder of Humanitarian Service Team, our partner organization based in Nakivale. Though we had to be creative to overcome various technological challenges (using the video function on Zoom, the audio function on WhatsApp, and the chat function on both!), the session was productive and, according to student feedback, invigorating for all. This workshop is based on the Anthropology of the Everyday summer course Stone Soup offered over the summer in collaboration with Society of Young Inklings. We will eventually facilitate creative writing exchange opportunities for those who participated through our summer programs and participating refugee youth. The material produced in the workshop will also feature on our Refugee Project web portal. Our deepest thanks to all of those who have contributed to make this and other Stone Soup Refugee Project initiatives possible. I humbly ask for your continued support. If you are able to donate, please click here. In addition to Stone Soup operating costs, a portion of your funds will go directly to Nakivale Refugee Settlement in order to help with the data costs to run the workshop via Zoom and to provide tea and snacks to participants. In gratitude, Visit the 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.
