Last night, my enormously gracious hostesses at St. Joseph's University—Ann Green and April Lindner—shared their students with me. Some had read
Dangerous Neighbors. Some had read
You Are My Only. All of them, many in the graduate program, spend their days thinking about words and writing.
I talked about the future of young adult literature. I also continued to talk about sentences. Why they matter. How they are crafted. What we put at risk if we, as a nation, a culture, foist only plots upon one another, and not song.
Yesterday on this blog,
I shared some of my own sentences in the making—a beginning place, a mid place—as well as a reminder of a NaNo
contest I am conducting. Last night, at St. Joe's, I read from that same
James Wood essay in
The New Yorker that I celebrated here not long ago—that lesson in beautiful writing.
Today I mean only to share these few words from a Pablo Neruda poem. These are simple lines, simple words. No pyrotechnics, no self-conscious gloss, no unnecessary intricacies. Good sentences, I am saying, don't have to be complex. But they must always be true.
From Neruda:
Only the shadows
know
the secrets
of closed houses,
only the forbidden wind
and the moon that shines
on the roof
Just a few things, should they be of interest:
Tomorrow evening, November 7, beginning at 6:30 PM, I'll be at the Haub Executive Center of St. Joseph's University talking about the future of young adult literature, reading from
You Are My Only, and convening (and cavorting) with some early readers of the book. A huge thank you to April Lindner and Ann Green, as well as to Jane Satterfield, who introduced me to April more than a year ago.
On Wednesday, November 9, starting at 7:00 PM, I'll be in West Chester, at the fabulous Chester County Book & Music Company (West Goshen Center) for a
You Are My Only reading. Last week I read from Emmy's chapters. That night I plan to read from Sophie's. Whatever happens, I'll be grateful to be inside this fantastaic independent bookstores. A big thank you to Thea Kotroba.
Finally—and this won't happen for a few months yet, but I'm so excited about it that I want to share early word—some of the very best in the business will be gathering at
The Spiral Bookcase, another indie!, in Manayunk, PA, next March 24 for an afternoon extravaganza of teen literature. We're still working out the details, but know this: Susan Campbell Bartoletti, A.S. King, April Lindner, Keri Mikulski, Elizabeth Mosier, and I will join together for an afternoon that promises to be all kinds of wonderful.
Ah, Neruda! Wonderful words and love him. Thanks for sharing these moments in writing...I hope to stay motivated.
True. Yes. I like these words you share.