deborah wiles: field notes: Back To The Sixites

Back To The Sixites

The only thing missing in this picture is me. I. Moi. And nothing will happen here if I don't take my place in this picture and say yes to the work ahead.

So:

Throat Coat tea steaming in a favorite mug: check.

Office organized (well, you can see the floor and the desk): check.

Green chaise in that office cleared off and ready for a long occupancy: check.

Manuscript printed out with all editor comments and questions in all sorts of long-winded bubbles in the right margin (I love these; I need these): check.

Laptop battery charged: check.

Nothing else on today's calendar: check.

One author showered, ready to suit up and show up: check.

Let the revisions begin.

World's Best Zinnia Grower

World's Best Baking Power Biscuit Maker

World's Worst Piano Player (but I play anyway)

2014 National Book Award Finalist for REVOLUTION

2015 NAACP Image Award nominee for REVOLUTION

2015 Jane Addams Peace Award for REVOLUTION

2005 National Book Award Finalist for EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS

E.B. White Award Winner (Speech)

Ezra Jack Keats Award Winner for FREEDOM SUMMER

Bank Street College/Josette Frank Award Winner for EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS (Speech)

PEN/Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Working Writer Fellowship Winner

Thurber House Writer-in-Residence, Columbus, Ohio

MFA in Writing, Vermont College, I have taught teachers at Towson University ("Writing Techniques for Teachers," ECED 422), and have taught in the MFA programs at Lesley University and Vermont College.

Pioneer of the Documentary Novel containing scrapbooks with primary source documents -- photographs, song lyrics, newspaper clippings, etc., and opinionated biographies alongside the story/narrative, mixing fiction, non-fiction, and biography in one book/story in a trilogy about the 1960s. COUNTDOWN 1962; REVOLUTION 1964; and ANTHEM 1969 (to be published fall 2019)

* * *

I'm a Southerner born in Mobile, Alabama, where I lived until I was five years old. My parents were Mississippi born and bred, and I spent most of my childhood summers there and grew up in Mississippi and all around the world as an Air Force dependent.

I've lived in:

Mobile, Alabama
Jasper County, Mississippi
Honolulu, Hawaii
Washington, D.C.
Prince Georges County, Maryland
Charleston, South Carolina
Clark Air Base, Philippines
Northern Virginia
Cherry Point, North Carolina
Millington, Tennessee
Frederick, Maryland
Atlanta, Georgia

After living in the Washington, D.C. area (Frederick, MD) for 25 years, where I raised a family, I moved to Atlanta 14 years ago, and now live in a little house with a purple door in a little woods. I married musician/composer Jim Pearce 12 years ago. You can hear Jim profiled by Susan Stamberg at NPR right here.

Where to find me online:

I use Pinterest as a visual resource for my books. You'll find primary source material for my books archived here, including playlists for COUNTDOWN and REVOLUTION.

Talking with Michele Norris of All Things Considered at NPR, about THE AURORA COUNTY ALL-STARS and writing with and for young people.

Visiting Spring Ridge Elementary School (video).

Back To The Sixites

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