deborah wiles: field notes: birthing a revolution

birthing a revolution

Friends, I am Mississippi as I write this. I have an essay at the Nerdy Book Club blog today, about birthing Revolution in Mississippi. I wrote it on the eve of my trip. I am still in Mississippi, with family, until tomorrow, when I come home and write about my adventures in schools, in bookstores, and in my own heart.

In the meantime, you can read the Nerdy post and then catch up visually with this past week's adventure on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Most of the photos are at Instagram.

It has been an emotionally packed week that has walloped me upside the head more than once, has surprised me at every turn, and has been one of the most gratifying experiences of my writing life.

More soon -- I'm soaking up kinfolks today. Thank you for reading. Peace. Love. Revolution.

Love, Debbie

The Leflore County Courthouse in Greenwood, Mississippi, the location for so much of the action in Revolution, and in 1964 Freedom Summer.

I met one of my heroes.

Mrs. Jaume's second-grade class.

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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).