#KidLitChat Hmmm. I think I'd say "Keep writing that poetry. You're gaining skills you're going to find so useful later on." and "You are going to have room to breathe and create. Contrary to what you've been told, you can create space in your adult life. And it's healthy to do that."

“I think as a young poet I looked for what Keats called ‘a fine excess,’ but as an old poet I look for spareness and rigor and a world of compassion.” –Stanley Kunitz

"She asks the profound question, “Can I listen to all the girls I’ve ever been?” I cry when I read how she ends this section: “The girls I blamed are the girls who saved me, too.” -- Amanda MacGregor, thank you! ❤️

“The book I was meant to write may be the book I long avoided writing. I didn’t want to feel vulnerable and messy, but maybe someone could see a bit of herself in what I was long counseled to hide. We might all be less lonely.”

The Art of Returning, a guest post by Jeannine Atkins I always needed the girl I tried to leave. Every word we write shapes a chance to see the world and ourselves in new ways. teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/08/04/t... @tltkaren.bsky.social @jeannineatkins.bsky.social

Answering questions about how I came to write this memoir, its impact on me and how I hope it affects readers, the significance of the title, and more.

Thank you, Amanda, for always recognizing a book is more than its cover. And thanks to all at Atheneum Books and @simonteen.bsky.social for putting a poem instead of blurbs on the back cover. ❤️

★ “With empowering eloquence,” Jeannine Atkins “reflects on suffering, survival, and sexism” in her “searing” YA memoir KNOCKING ON WINDOWS

Thank you, Stephanie for sharing, and Publishers Weekly for the star and special words!

A *massive* roundup of the 2025 YA novels in verse that have or will hit shelves this year: bookriot.com/2025-ya-vers...

Than you for reading! Science always happens in a social/political context.

So sad to hear of the loss of the beautiful talent that was Roberta Flack. “The Green Piano” by Roberta, #TonyaHolden and #HaydenGoodman is a beautiful autobiographical picturebook recounts how her father got a battered piano and this led her to chase her dreams #RIPRobertaFlack #PicturebookPage

History could not be more relevant these days, so coming up next week, Nadine Pinede and I are offering a two-part mini on THE POWER OF HISTORICAL VERSE NOVELS with @highlightsfound.bsky.social. We would love for people to join us! #versenovels #poetry #history #yalit #mglit #kidlit

Celebrating #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience with this NEW novel in verse by @jeannineatkins.bsky.social ! Cannot wait to dive in! Jeannine's words are always 'just right' to inspire and transport me to another time, another life, another amazing woman. #kidlit #STEM #womeninscience

KNOCKING ON WINDOWS, by @jeannineatkins.bsky.social, is a beautifully rendered memoir in verse that brought me to tears and to rage and, ultimately, to a fierce pride in women everywhere (and every when) who lose their voices and, with help from people real and imagined, find them again. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eavan Boland writes of being young and wanting to hear the narrative of a woman and poet “who had made the life meet the work and had set it down: the difficulties and rewards, the senses of lack. I remember thinking that it need not be perfect or important. Just there; just available.”

Book Review: All the Love Under the Vast Sky edited by Kip Wilson A great read about love of all kinds around the world and throughout time. Definitely check it out! teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/01/14/b... @tltkaren.bsky.social

“The shhh-shhh-shhh of the lead on the page and the satisfying scritch of crossing out feels like I’m making something – while the click of the keyboard sounds like high heels walking in circles to nowhere in particular.” – Aimee Nezhukumatathil @nezhukumatathil.bsky.social @pw.org

Thank you, Christiana!

Kelly Link captures the magic of going outside to write under the moonlight “as part of a coven of writers” and opening a door to “nighttime logic”—that uncanny, slant space where storytelling operates outside of “everyday rules and everyday order.” buff.ly/4fn5Ntl

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for your favorite history lover, poetry lover, or aspiring verse novelist? Register them for this upcoming mini-workshop with Nadine Pinede and me, and we will help them jump start their project! www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshop/the...

I created this starter pack for #VerseNovel authors yesterday while waiting in car line to pick up my daughter. If you see authors who are here who I’ve missed, could you tag them so I can add them? ❤️ go.bsky.app/HJUWbCY

Looking for hope in harsh times? (I know I am, oof.) Please come to our panel at #NCTE24 and learn how historical verse novels can help. And please find me to say hello!