deborah wiles: field notes: something different

something different

I'm taking an art class -- two -- at Creativebug when I return from family, schools, and a conference in Mississippi. Both are on-demand work-alongs -- you choose the time and place to work on each session -- and both are Lisa Congdon classes. Sketchbook Explorations and Basic Line Drawing.

I'm a life-long doodler as well as a notebook devotee and evangelist, as you may know, and in this year of exploration, I've dedicated myself to working more with my hands, going back to my roots. I want to get out of my head -- all those words! -- and use my mind in a different way.

I leave for Mississippi on Easter Sunday and I'll be home on April 11. Wanna work/play together when I'm back? I have no expectations. I'm in this for the discovery, the exploration, totally. You've got a couple of weeks to investigate at Creativebug, and you can take a different class if you like, or no class at all. I've slowly been buying the materials for my two classes and I'm just about ready to go.

I'm off to a local school this morning. Atlanta International School. All day talking about history and stories and personal narrative with grades 4 through 8. And KEEPING A NOTEBOOK.

Gotta put on my face. Happy day, friends. xoxo

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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).