Editor’s Note: our Former Contributors Interview Project showcases former contributors of Stone Soup and the wonderful things they’ve gone on to do. Abby Sewell wrote “On the Headland,” from our March/April 1996 issue. SS: What are you doing now? AS: I’m a journalist, currently based in Beirut. I’m a staff reporter for The Daily Star, the primary English-language newspaper in Lebanon, and freelance for a number of international publications. I cover a variety of subjects, but I’m particularly focused on human rights issues, including the situation of Syrian refugees. I also do some volunteer work, primarily teaching English, and am part of a group called Hakaya that puts on storytelling events. SS: What did Stone Soup mean to you? AS: From the time I was around seven years old, I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. Stone Soup gave me an early taste of what it would be like to be published, and of course it boosted my confidence to see my work in print. I think I also enjoyed seeing what “the competition” (aka my peers) were writing. SS: Do you have any advice for current readers, writers, and artists who contribute to Stone Soup? AS: When you’re learning a craft, whether it’s writing or art, it’s important to expose yourself to works that you can learn from and that will give you inspiration; but at the same time, to develop your own voice and your own vision. Experiment with different styles and subjects. For fiction writers, the classic advice “write what you know” still holds true, but that doesn’t mean that your characters and situations have to come directly from your life. What it does mean it that you should draw from your own experience and observations of the world as you tell your story, even if that story takes place in an imaginary world or in a setting very different from your own. Ursula Le Guin, one of my favorite novelists, called this “imagination working on observation.” Also, try to meet as many different types of people as you can and listen to their stories. And as with any skill, practice. SS: How old were you when you started writing or creating art? Do you remember what motivated you at the time? AS: Even before I could write, I used to tell stories (there’s a cassette tape somewhere with some of them on it). My parents both shared their love of books with me. Before I was old enough to read a lot of the classics myself, they used to read to me — everything from Little Women and Tom Sawyer to the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula Le Guin. Naturally, I became a voracious reader myself as I grew up, and seeing the power of stories, I was inspired to tell my own. SS: Are you still writing or creating art, and have you since published works anywhere else? Please provide links, if you’d like! AS: Yes, I write for a living, although it’s a different type of writing. As a kid, I always wanted to be a novelist, but I remember at one point deciding that I should work as a journalist first to learn more about the world before trying to write fiction. And indeed, I do know more about the world now, but I haven’t yet gone back to writing fiction! But it’s certainly possible that there’s still a novel in my future. For those interested in seeing my journalistic writings, you can find some of them here. Thanks so much, Abby! If you have any questions that you’d like to ask former contributors, contact sarah@stonesoup.com and let us know!
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Saturday Newsletter: October 5, 2019
Magic Flowers by Analise Braddock, 8 (Katonah, NY) illustrating “In a Jar” by Hudson Benites, 11 (Excelsior, MN) Published in Stone Soup September 2019 A note from William Rubel Firstly, before getting into today’s feature story and art, I’d like to thank everyone who responded so quickly to our Refugee Project appeal. You almost completely met our $5,000 goal in less than a week! Wow! Thank you all! There are several exciting things happening with the project that just came up this week, but I will wait to report on them until details are more fleshed out. I was 20 years old in 1972 when I thought of the idea of publishing a magazine of writing and art by children. The first issue of Stone Soup was published the following year. I am now older than most of the parents of Stone Soup writers and artists. And yet, despite the huge amount of creative work I have seen by young people, I continue to be amazed by the artistic power of the works that many of you in primary and middle school produce. In the October issue, Editor Emma Wood paired the drawing Magic Flowers by Analise Braddock with the short story “The Jar” by Hudson Benites. Both are powerful works of imagination, and they share a theme: the passage of time. Hudson’s story of climate change and magic is well paired with Analise’s Magic Flowers. I haven’t written at length about a drawing for a while, so that is why I am going to focus on that today. Emma chose these two works to go together, so please look at the art and read the story. You will think about the world differently. Magic Flowers is an extraordinary work of art. It speaks to me. I could look at this drawing every day and not get tired of it. When my colleague Jane Levi selected this image for today’s newsletter, she told me, “It reminds me of your work.” Indeed, if you knew my work, you would see there is something Williamesque about it—but Analise’s drawing is more well-observed, more delicate, and has a greater dynamic range than my work. There is so much that could be said about this drawing. It obviously falls within the great tradition of the still life in Western art. If you know your flowers, you can identify each of them in the drawing: poppy-seed pods, bachelor’s buttons, peonies, and more. This work is not just a still life, not just a drawing of a vase of flowers. Emma selected it to illustrate Hudson’s story because it falls within another tradition of Western art: the memento mori. In the context of Hudson’s story, she could not have made a better selection. Memento mori is Latin. It means, “Remember you must die.” For hundreds of years, European artists made paintings and drawings that were intended to help the viewer think about the passage of time. We all get very caught up in the day-to-day. Analise’s still life, with its actively dropping leaves and poppy-seed casings, reminds us that life is dynamic. Even the beautiful flower dies. Life is about catching the moment, but you cannot hold on. Analise is the master of pencil. I want you to pay attention to the dynamic range she brings to the work. Wispy grey lines and heavy black ones. There are multiple layers of images to catch the eye. If you focus on line—the stems—then there is a dynamic crossing and recrossing of stem and leaves that almost makes the work vibrate with motion. If you look down at the two knobs on the table, then let your eye flow up to the first peonies, you find there are many directions to go. Analise forces us to follow shapes up and to the left, but it is easy to break away and move around the image, as one could a real vase of flowers. That this is a drawing about ideas—about the passage of time—is made clear by the actively falling leaves and the poppy-seed pod. The poppy petals are long gone. The seed pod will dry out, and the seeds will then be fertile. If spread onto soil, they will make new life. So there is something here that speaks to birth, death, and regeneration, which is also a theme in Hudson’s story. For this week’s project—and I am intending this for all of you newsletter readers, regardless of age—I want you to either write about this drawing or to make a still life of your own. If you write about the drawing, use it as a starting point for your thoughts. You may go in the direction that I have—into thinking about how life changes, shifts, goes through stages, and comes to and end that may actually suggest a new beginning. But this is me talking. What are your thoughts? If you decide to make a still life of your own, then pick yourself a flower arrangement and depict it in whatever media you like, including photography. As always, if you are age 13 or under, send your finished work to Stone Soup for Emma to review it for publication. I think in this case we’d be on the lookout for web-publication material. Until next week, Our Fall Fundraiser, 2019: The Refugee Project We are raising funds to support the production and publication of creative work by children in refugee camps around the world. We have almost reached our preliminary target of $5,000 to support a special issue of Stone Soup and associated projects—and we want to keep going! You have already helped us fund workshops in the Za’atari camp, Lebanon, and put us in touch with other organizations we can work with to expand our efforts. Please help us raise the money to continue this work. You can read more about this initiative at our website and help us by sharing the link with others. Thank you. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! We’ll be publishing a series of essays by Marco Lu, 13, on our blog on the subject of science fiction. Wednesday, we published Marco’s first post, which includes a short introduction and a discussion
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