An Archeology of the Future by Emma Catherine Hoff. Cover art by Rebecca Wu, 9. A note from Emma Wood Hello, Stone Soup readers & writers, Earlier this month, we announced that Archeology of the Future by Emma Catherine Hoff, the poetry winner of Stone Soup’s 2022 Book Contest, was released and is available for purchase! Please support Stone Soup and Emma by buying her book today. If you have participated in one of our writing workshops recently, you have likely met Emma! Likewise, if you have been reading Stone Soup for the past couple of years, you will have encountered many of her poems (and maybe one of her photographs!) on our pages. I wish Stone Soup could take credit for making Emma into the poet she is today—and surely we have played some small role—but she came to our classes and our submission pool already a very mature poet with a strong voice and sense of style. I remember being astonished when I first encountered “The Ambassador” in our submission pool—it was dark, surreal, moving, strange. (To me, “strange” is the highest compliment any poem can receive—denoting both originality but also complexity and mystery; a “strange” poem always demands rereading.) Emma was eight years old when she wrote it, and it was the first poem of hers that we published. We are so proud, three years later, to be publishing her collection of poems, which has garnered the advance praise it deserves. Read on for a taste of what others are saying about her collection and further, to read a poem from the collection. Like the Surrealists before her, Hoff can see into the emotional lives of the things we use every day, things we toss around carelessly… If one of my friends had written this beautifully when I was starting out, I would have probably quit, and doffed my cap to her and said “you go on ahead” or more likely, “you’re already there.” — Matthew Rohrer, author of The Others Emma Hoff is a rare poet. And one of my favorites.I am tempted to use the words visionary, otherworldly, untimely, genius. I am tempted to say she flies above the earth. When I read Emma Hoff for the first time years ago, I thought: She’s not from this planet. I thought: She does not remind me of other poets; she makes me forget them. — Conner Bassett, author of Gad’s Book This collection is a garden of eurekas, a cavalcade of astonishments as, stanza by stanza, Hoff delivers the musings of a subtle intellect fed by a deep and abiding empathy for this world. The deftness of the prosody is only matched by its variety. Open it, and read for yourself. — Carlos Hernandez, NY Times bestselling author of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe The delights to be uncovered in An Archeology of the Future strike me with awe, urgency, solace, and compassion. How daring, how beautiful, how extraordinary it is, in this moment of the world when our world feels so broken, that Mt. Parnassas is still at work, and Hoff is a voice so richly sowed. — Jenny Boully, author of Betwixt and Between: Essays on the Writing Life From An Archeology of the Future The Lamp by Emma Catherine Hoff, 1o The light shines innocently, but it blinds me, my eyes become red. I shy from it and still it follows me with its intense gaze boring into me as I walk around the room. I feel the hot bulb, sense the lamp melting and perspiring under its own fever, its own light. The business is done, I think, but my dreams that night are of that still figure creeping up on me, and the next day, I find the lamp standing again. It glares at me and whispers in my ear, burning it, telling me that the sun’s light is not enough. I ask it how it knows, but the sun dies and the lamp is still glowing and I am grateful for it now. We make our way through the darkness until it parts with me, saying it must go, its filament cannot take the strain anymore and that the darkness isn’t as bad as people think. Click here to purchase An Archeology of the Future. 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.
emma wood
Saturday Newsletter: July 29, 2023
Tranquility (needle and thread) by Tatum Lovely, 13; published in the July/August issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma Wood Hello, everyone: I’m writing today with some big and very exciting news. As many of you know, I have been Editor of Stone Soup for the last six years and took over as Executive Director as well this past year. Juggling both roles with my other work commitments, a very busy family life (we have two young children), and a move, was an enormous challenge—and fun in many ways. But it quickly became clear to me that it was not sustainable for the long term. So, the board and I put our heads together, and after careful consideration about the next best move for Stone Soup, we decided that I would stay in the role of director and we would hire a new editor. The board and I spoke with many interesting, qualified, enthusiastic people, and are thrilled to share that Diane Landolf, a freelance editor, a writer, and a former senior editor at Random House Children’s Books, is taking over the editorial reins. When I first spoke with Diane, I knew that I was speaking to a natural editor: she immediately honed in on small details from a recent issue, noting what was working—but more importantly, to the editor’s eye, what could be improved or fixed. She has the attention to detail, the knack for problem-solving, the readerly openness, and the experienced eye required of an excellent editor—as well as a genuine passion for Stone Soup’s mission. Like a number of people I spoke with, she had read Stone Soup as a child. While I’m excited to see what Diane brings to Stone Soup, I am also deeply sad to be stepping away from my day-to-day work on the magazine and books. Over the past six years, I created 64 issues of Stone Soup and nine books by young authors. I learned how to create a magazine, how to edit a book, how to evaluate the work of young writers, how to read with an open mind, how to write with a sense of humor and playfulness, and so much more. I remain so grateful to William Rubel, Stone Soup’s co-founder and director emeritus, for entrusting me with the magazine (and so much more!) when I was much younger and had to rely much more on my grit and resourcefulness than my experience. I am also deeply grateful for all the young writers and artists who entrusted Stone Soup, and by extension me, with their work. Thank you! On a practical note, as I step more fully into my directorial role, I am increasingly aware of some gaps in our staff knowledge base. We remain interested in finding volunteers who have experience in marketing (and specifically Google AdWords) as well as those with educational experience who might be able to help us work toward the next iteration of our educator portal. If this is you, please write to me at emma@stonesoup.com. Onto the next chapter– 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: February 12, 2022
Midnight Buck (Watercolor) By Aspen Clayon, 11 (Lisle, IL), published in the February 2022 issue of Stone Soup A note from Caleb Happy Saturday! First off, I’d like to congratulate members of the Stone Soup team Emma Wood and Conner Bassett on the birth of their child, Sawyer Cruz Bassett-Wood! On the business side, if you or anyone you know is a writing teacher up to eighth grade, you may be interested in a Stone Soup site license. In order for Stone Soup to succeed, we need to get back in the classroom! If you or a teacher you know might be interested in a site license, then please, with their permission, send us the teacher’s name, grade, and email address. You can write to us at education@stonesoup.com. This week, I’d like to shine a light on the Stone Soup blog. While there is no comparison to the brilliant issues compiled monthly by Emma Wood with the outstanding work of our contributors—for example Aspen Clayton’s stunning, impressionistic February cover art Midnight Buck—the Stone Soup blog provides a platform for a greater breadth of writers and artists. For those who haven’t yet found success within the magazine and for those who have, the blog offers a space to express themselves on a more regular basis and with more freedom of topic. For example, Emma Hoff, 9—one of our regular bloggers—recently wrote and published a hybrid book review/critical essay entitled “Conservatives Want to Ban All my Favorite Books.” While the magazine is the perfect medium for poetry, prose, and art, this type of writing is not often featured—though no less important! With the recent banning of books like Art Spiegelman’s Maus—a graphic novel about the Holocaust—Emma’s message has never been more relevant. Writing with more nuance and with a sharper eye than most of those I worked with in college, Emma dismantles the argument that “young people don’t have the ability to read difficult texts and think about their meaning,” arguing that “if [people] are concerned that young people will struggle with understanding these books on their own, all the more reason to teach them in schools.” As blog editor, I want to foster and empower voices like Emma’s. I am always looking for new contributors in all realms: poetry, prose, art, reviews, sports, videography, gaming, business, history, music—anything that you are passionate about and feel needs to be said. So please, don’t hesitate to submit your work via our Submittable to the standard blog, or our COVID blog. If you are interested in becoming a regular blogger, write a short paragraph explaining the type of work you’d like to contribute in the corresponding field. Sticking with the theme, for this week’s weekend project I’d like you to write about (or draw) whatever it is you are most passionate about, without thinking about if it is relevant or worth saying. Remember, anything you believe in is worth articulating. More than the “quality” of the writing, a reader will recognize passion and find themselves compelled. If you like what you’ve written, please send it to me or Emma for the blog or the magazine! Until next time, Emma Hoff, 9 (Bronx, NY) From the Stone Soup Blog Conservatives Want to Ban All My Favorite Books By Emma Hoff, 9 (Bronx, NY) Something I know from personal experience is that Melissa, by Alex Gino, is an amazing book that has been praised widely for its inclusion of the LGBTQ community. In 2016, it was awarded the Stonewall Children’s Book award. The book is about a transgender girl who wants to be Charlotte in her class production of Charlotte’s Web, but is not allowed to because her teacher says she is a “boy.” The novel used to be called George, but people complained that Alex Gino was deadnaming their character, and the title was changed to Melissa. While a lot of people think that Melissa is a great book that addresses the problems that transgender kids face, it has been banned by many school districts. The book has been moved up and down the American Library Association’s Top Ten Most Challenged Book list, from number three to number five to number one on the list, before becoming the first most banned book ever. The Wichita, Kansas public school system banned the book from its district libraries, and when the book was included in the Oregon Battle of the Books, two school districts removed their students from the competition in retaliation. Those critical of the novel said the book had “sexual content,” of which there is none whatsoever, thereby mixing up sex with gender identity. Some critics went as far as to say that Melissa just did not go with or reflect “community values.” However, it is important to learn about real issues like this in the world, and these “community values” should be expanded to include all people. Some people simply disliked the novel because they thought a book about a transgender girl was not appropriate for children. Children should know about the real world, and they shouldn’t be banned from learning about what actually happens. Insisting that young people shouldn’t read these books signifies that transgender people or members of the broader LGBTQ community are somehow “wrong” and that their existence should be hidden. ../MORE 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. Stone Soup’s advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts, Emily Tarco, Rebecca Ramos Velasquez, Susan Wilky.
