Philly friends, come hear me read next Friday (4/27) at the Sellers Library in Upper Darby, PA, at 7:30. Hope to see you there!
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Celebrating Young Writers in Pretzel Park
Though the skies about Manayunk, PA, were gray and drizzly yesterday, Pretzel Park was the place to be for young writers and fans of Young Adult fiction. Five talented, prize winning young writers read from their work and visited with YA authors. Pictured from left to right are Elizabeth Mosier, me, Ann Tetreault of the Spiral Bookcase Bookstore, Beth Kephart (who organized the whole shebang), Susan Campbell Bartoletti, and A. S. King.
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The ARC for Catherine has arrived! Here I am, taking it with me to hear Jesse Malin at Kennett Flash in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. A rocker with his own night club,
The Bowery Electric, Jesse provided some of the inspiration for the novel. So I gave him a copy and showed him the acknowledgments page, and he said it was the Bowery Electric's first-ever dedication.
And here, for your listening pleasure, is a link to Jesse in action. If a book could have "opening credits," this song would be playing under them.
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The Bowery Electric, Jesse provided some of the inspiration for the novel. So I gave him a copy and showed him the acknowledgments page, and he said it was the Bowery Electric's first-ever dedication.
And here, for your listening pleasure, is a link to Jesse in action. If a book could have "opening credits," this song would be playing under them.
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My review of the Bruce Springsteen Exhibit at the National Constitution Center is up at Greasy Lake. And here I am, caught in the act. (That's me lingering in the lobby, taking pictures of Bruce's Corvette, and wondering what would happen if I hopped in.)
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The wonderful Beth Kephart, on our upcoming teen event in Manayunk, PA.
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Jane will be out soon in the Czech and Slovak Republics, where my name is April Lindnerova!
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The Young Adult Library Services Association named Jane one of its 2012 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults--in the Forbidden Romance category.
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제인은 한국으로 이송 중입니다! Jane is going to Korea, for publication by SAE NU Press.
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I'm happy to say that Jane has been nominated for a Rosie Award. Thanks to Indiana's high school students.
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A new interview at Mostly Reading YA.
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Some
very good news: Able
Muse Press will be publishing my second poetry collection, This Bed Our Bodies Shaped, in 2012.
Melissa Kelly/SJU Press
Welcome to my web page. I'm the author of Jane, a contemporary retelling of the classic novel Jane Eyre, published by Poppy, and of Catherine, a Wuthering Heights retelling, due out in early 2013. I'm also a poet. My new poetry collection, This Bed Our Bodies Shaped, is forthcoming from Able Muse Press in 2012, and my first collection, Skin, received the 2001 Walt MacDonald First Book Prize from Texas Tech University Press. I also write literary criticism and edit poetry anthologies. Last but far from least, I'm a professor of English at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.
Here are a few things to know about me:
Here are a few things to know about me:
- I was born in North Merrick, NY, and though I've lived many places since then, I will always be a New Yorker at heart.
- I've been writing stories and poems ever since I could hold a pen.
- I started out majoring in art but soon realized my talents lay elsewhere. But I'm still a champion doodler.
- My sister is a roller derby queen and one of my best friends.
- Jane Eyre is my favorite novel of all times, with Wuthering Heights a close second.
- I love rock and roll, so put another dime in the juke box, baby. (Apologies to Joan Jett.)
- I'm the mother of two teenage sons. My older son, Eli Saint Amant, is a music producer, and goes by the name of Mister Mantis. Here's a link to one of his songs. Don't be freaked out by the visual, even though I am, a little.
- My younger son Noah is pretty great too, and after several summers at zoo camp is an experienced handler of rabbits and hedgehogs. He hopes to graduate to owls.
- I teach creative writing, freshman composition, and literature at St. Joe's.
- My favorite color is electric blue.
- I'm seriously addicted to Facebook.
- I love to cook, especially Italian food.
- I'm mom to two lab mix dogs--Reuben and Ophelia--and two little rescued guinea pig girls, Tootsie Roll and Leeloo Dallas Multipass.
- I play acoustic guitar (badly) and attend way too many rock concerts.
- I met my husband at the University of New Hampshire where we both lived in a dorm for the creative arts.
- I'm secretly shy but I work hard to hide it.
- When I was 22, I backpacked solo around Europe and had all kinds of fun and misadventures.
- In high school I wrote a rock opera about the tragic love between punk rocker Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungeon.
- My current favorite t.v. show is Glee. Old favorites are Northern Exposure, Six Feet Under, The West Wing, and Moonlighting.
- Jane has a Facebook page of its own, and I hope you'll consider "liking" it. Here's a link.
- Coffee, dark chocolate, Bruce Springsteen, thunderstorms, exploring cities I've never been to before: these are a few of my favorite things.
