Beyond (OPPO FIND X2 LITE) by Karuna Yang, 11; published in the July/August issue of Stone Soup A note from Tayleigh Greene Hello readers, This week, I want to highlight Karuna Yang’s Beyond, pictured above and featured in the latest issue of Stone Soup. Although it was captured in New Zealand, it reminds me so much of the golden, rolling hills and lush, green river valleys of Northern California—where I grew up, and where I spent the last week visiting friends and family and camping at Lassen Volcanic National Park. I climbed Lassen Peak—the view was much snowier and rockier than Karuna’s photograph, but breathtaking nonetheless. Now for the news: the deadline for our annual book contest is August 15th, a mere month from today. This year we once again plan to accept two books for publication: one novel or short story collection and one book of poems. If you need motivation for your manuscript, we’re offering two virtual writing camps that are sure to inspire young writers. There is still time to register for Advanced Novel Writing with professor, writer, and translator Conner Bassett; the class will convene via Zoom July 17th-20th. Perhaps you’re more interested in submitting a collection of poetry or short stories—register for Freedom through Constraint: Experiments in Poetry & Prose with Stone Soup Blog Editor Caleb Berg, July 24th-27th. Whichever course you decide take, happy camping and happy writing! We can’t wait to read what you’ve written. If you subscribe to the magazine, you will notice some QR codes alongside some of the art and writing, such as Lazy Cat by Tutu Lin, 13, “Dad’s Stocks” by Mia Xu, and “Dwelling on a Memory” by Micki Mermelstein, 11 in the latest issue. Scanning the QR codes will bring you to additional resources for educators—discussion questions, author and artist interviews, and more. We are so excited to share this project with you, and we are immensely grateful for all of the hard work that volunteer Amanda Barnett poured into it. Thank you, Amanda! Stone Soup has long been a valuable resource for homeschoolers, classroom teachers, and writing coaches, and it is now more user-friendly than ever. Sincerely, P.S. If you’re not yet a subscriber but still want to check out our new resources for educators, use code SUMMER at checkout for one month digital access free! Don’t miss out on this limited time offer. Terms and conditions apply. Subscribe now From Stone Soup July/August 2023 By the River by Mary Gomes, 7 A beautiful river is beside me. The forest behind me. The world is a beautiful place to live. We all love our Earth. The river brings something to my mind. What could it be? Click here to read more from the July/August issue. Explore our summer camp offerings Advanced Novel Writing July 17–20; 9–11 am PT In Writing Instructor Conner Bassett’s course, learn the basic techniques of good storytelling, such as setting, plot, character, dialogue, and more! Brainstorm concepts and share ideas for your novel that will keep readers hooked from start to finish. Freedom through Constraint: Experiments in Poetry & Prose July 24–27; 9–11 am PT In this workshop taught by Stone Soup Blog Editor Caleb Berg, campers will study and use self-imposed constraints such as omitting specific letters and patterns of repetition in order to maximize the untapped potential of their work. The goal is not necessarily to make sense but to excite the senses! Anthropology of the Everyday: The Art of Creative Nonfiction July 24–27; 1–3 pm PT Taught by Laura Moran, cultural anthropologist and Stone Soup’s Refugee Project director, this course instructs students in a method of personal writing called autoethnography that combines storytelling with details about your daily life. Playwriting August 7–10; 1–3 pm PT Conner will also teach a class about the history and craft of writing drama. Campers will ponder the practicalities and philosophies of the art form as well as work on developing their own 10-minute play! Click here to see more course offerings from Society of Young Inklings. 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.
summer
Saturday Newsletter: June 17, 2023
Silver Specks, collaborative piece (mixed media) by Georgia Marshall; created during the Half-Baked Art Exchange and published on the Refugee Project site A note from Laura Moran Greetings all, I hope everyone’s summer vacation is officially off to a great start! This Tuesday, June 20th, is World Refugee Day, a day of observance to raise awareness about the plight of refugees and to demonstrate a commitment that the world’s forcibly displaced people are not left behind. We at Stone Soup are committed to providing a platform to showcase the creative works of refugee youth. Through the Stone Soup Refugee Project, we have collected over 300 pieces of creative works—including paintings, photography, poetry and plays—from children living in refugee camps and host countries around the world. I invite you to take some time this month to explore the wealth of material displayed on the Refugee Project web portal. The Stone Soup Refugee Project has also facilitated a number of initiatives to encourage engagement between our Refugee Project contributors and our broader readership. Among these is the Half-Baked Art Exchange, the work produced in which you can now explore on our newly created web page! This workshop, offered in collaboration with My Start Project, provided an opportunity for Stone Soup participants to engage with a piece of artwork created by a young person living in Kakuma Refugee Camp. If you are interested in the Refugee Project and are looking for a way to get involved while also sharpening your writing skills, please consider joining me in my virtual studio summer camp, Anthropology of the Everyday: The Art of Creative Nonfiction, July 24th through 27th. In this camp, students will learn to write personal narrative essays using the techniques of ethnographic writing, which emphasize storytelling and “thick description,” and are a staple of anthropologists in their research and writing. As part of the Refugee Project, participants in this class will have a follow up opportunity to participate in an exchange of the creative writing they produce in class with young people living in refugee camps. Additionally, participants’ writing will be displayed on the Stone Soup Refugee Project portal. Finally, please consider donating to the Stone Soup Refugee Project in order to ensure the continuation of this creative outlet for refugee youth and the further development of Refugee Project initiatives such as those described above. With thanks and best wishes, Donate to the Refugee Project today Register for Anthropology of the Everyday Anthropology of the Everyday: The Art of Creative Nonfiction July 24–27; 1–3 pm PT Taught by Laura Moran, cultural anthropologist and Stone Soup’s Refugee Project director, this course instructs students in a method of personal writing called autoethnography that combines storytelling with details about your daily life. Explore more summer camp offerings Intro to Publishing June 19–22; 1–3 pm PT Once your story is written, where does it go? Join Carmela Furio, Stone Soup’s production coordinator, in a deep dive into the basics of publishing. Campers will also learn how to start and run a literary magazine! Intro to Poetry: The Image and the Line June 26–29; 9–11 am PT In this class, Emma Wood, Executive Director & Editor in Chief of Stone Soup, invites you to immerse yourself in what a poem is and what it can do. Students will write their own poetry, shaking themselves out of established modes of thinking. Genre 101 June 26–29; 1–3 pm PT Carmela is teaching a second camp about some of your favorite types of fiction! Explore science fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and magical realism, and learn new techniques to confidently write in different genres. The Art of the Personal Essay July 10–13; 9–11 am PT Emma’s second course will introduce you to the beauty of creative nonfiction as well posit some ethical questions for consideration and discussion—such as “What if my mom reads it!” Campers will also experiment with the form by writing their own essays. Advanced Novel Writing July 17–20; 9–11 am PT In Writing Instructor Conner Bassett’s course, learn the basic techniques of good storytelling, such as setting, plot, character, dialogue, and more! Brainstorm concepts and share ideas for your novel that will keep readers hooked from start to finish. Freedom through Constraint: Experiments in Poetry & Prose July 24–27; 9–11 am PT In this workshop taught by Stone Soup Blog Editor Caleb Berg, campers will study and use self-imposed constraints such as omitting specific letters and patterns of repetition in order to maximize the untapped potential of their work. The goal is not necessarily to make sense but to excite the senses! Playwriting August 7–10; 1–3 pm PT Conner will also teach a class about the history and craft of writing drama. Campers will ponder the practicalities and philosophies of the art form as well as work on developing their own 10-minute play! Click here to see more course offerings from Society of Young Inklings. Buy one, get one half off! Share the gift of Stone Soup with your friends and family! Free submissions to the magazine, access to 20+ years of digital archives, and new issues bimonthly. When you buy one Annual Print + Digital subscription to Stone Soup, we’ll send you a coupon code to purchase a second, half off! Don’t miss your chance to save on the magazine 100% written and illustrated by kids since 1973. Shop our Summer Sale 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: June 3, 2023
Peaceful Pond (oil) by Christopher Zhang, 13; published in the May/June 2023 issue of Stone Soup A note from Tayleigh Greene Hello, Although it’s not yet officially summer, it certainly seems it here in Houston. Many of our schools are already out on vacation. And it’s hot. Really hot. For that reason, Christopher Zhang’s Peaceful Pond, featured above, beckons me to sit beside the cool water with a good book. Speaking of which, Sarah Hunt’s Foxtale and Sabrina Guo’s Catalogue of Ripening have been announced as finalists in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards Young Authors Category. If you haven’t read them yet—and even if you have—you will want to add them to your summer reading list. If you’re looking to sharpen your writing skills this summer, look no further than our virtual studio camps, which we’re offering collaboration with fellow literary nonprofit Society of Young Inklings. Next week, Stone Soup Book Club Facilitator Maya Mahony will be teaching Middle Grade Fiction Writing. Later this month, Stone Soup Production Coordinator Carmela Furio will be teaching Intro to Publishing, and Stone Soup Editor in Chief Emma Wood will be teaching An Introduction to Poetry: The Image and the Line. For more details and our full summer course schedule, please see below. One great way to escape the heat is to visit your local, air-conditioned library and read the latest issue of Stone Soup! On behalf of the entire Stone Soup team, I’d like to thank all of the generous donors who contributed to our library campaign. Last month, we donated over 1000 issues of Stone Soup to libraries and schools across the United States and Canada. I’d also like to thank everyone who attended our 50th Anniversary Open House and Giveaway. It was so fun to celebrate with you all, to learn more about what Stone Soup means to each of you, and to hear some of our truly brilliant contributors read their work. It’s hard to believe that Stone Soup has been in print since 1973. It’s a testament to the hard work of our dedicated staff, and also to the importance of an organization that takes children and their work seriously. As part of our fiftieth anniversary celebration, we’ve been interviewing past contributors in a project we’ve titled Fifty Years of Excellence: From the Archives, published exclusively on our Instagram and Facebook profiles. One sentiment we’ve heard again and again from our former contributors is that there really was (and is) nothing like Stone Soup. Rather than seeing children’s writings and illustrations as transitional works to be passed over, we see them as finished statements in themselves, having an intrinsic value that can be appreciated by adults as well as children. As Emma Catherine Hoff, winner of our 2022 Annual Book Contest, said, “Stone Soup doesn’t ask that I ‘grow up’ before becoming a writer. It encourages and respects me, as a writer, today.” Cheers to 50 years, Explore our summer camp offerings 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.
