Tag: books

creativity

A Year of Yes: The gravity of books

Christa Avampato

“I feel, almost physically, the gravitation of the books, the enveloping serenity of order, time magically desiccated and preserved.” ~Jorge Luis Borges

Have you ever felt drawn to a book? You couldn’t help but take it from the shelf and turn its pages, learning one more secret at a time. What was that book, and did it live up to your hopes for it when you first met?

For me that book was and always will be Alice in Wonderland. I fell down that rabbit hole many years ago, and I’ve never been quite the same since. That book started my fascination with stories and lives that are hidden from plain sight, deep underground, that you must be lucky enough to stumble into in order to know them. The adventure, the justice, and the bravery of that story has stuck with me all these years. Alice has become as real to me as anyone I know in the ordinary world. And for that, I’m so grateful.

creativity

A Year of Yes: Leaving pieces of my book about Emerson Page all over Dublin and Northern Ireland

Christa Avampato

unnamedIn two weeks, I’m going to Dublin to do research for my second Emerson Page novel. As a gift to Ireland, I’m leaving silver charms with the quote, “She believed she could so she did”, and rose gold keys in all the different places I visit for people to find. I’ll tuck them away in museums, gardens, historic sites, bookstores, libraries, and pubs I visit in Dublin and on excursions I’m taking in Northern Ireland to Newgrange, Hill of Tara, Giant’s Causeway, Dark Hedges, the ruins of Dunluce Castle, and on the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. I can’t wait to see who finds them. They are a perfect token of Emerson’s spirit. And after all she’s given me, I wanted to return the favor to the world. Happy hunting, Ireland!

creativity

A Year of Yes: Why Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast is so good for writers

Christa Avampato

Screen Shot 2018-05-06 at 3.23.22 PMThe Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast has been improving my life from the moment I set ears on it. There are so many life lessons and conversations starters about our society throughout the Harry Potter books and this podcast explores ALL of them with two fantastically intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, and hilarious hosts. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Vanessa, Casper, Adriana, and Julia for the wonder and gift that is this podcast. I’m so grateful and can’t wait for them to do another live show from New York City!

Writers, when we think about the depth of our stories and the work it takes to create this depth, a podcast like this shows just why that work is so worthwhile. Books are a lens through which to look at our lives, the world, and our place in it. It’s a hefty responsibility and an honor to be able to impact people in a positive way through our art. It’s the very best part of being a writer.

creativity

A Year of Yes: Arlington Public Library Becomes the First Library to Carry My Book

Christa Avampato

Screen Shot 2017-10-26 at 6.04.08 PMGetting into libraries can be a conundrum for authors. That’s why I’m so grateful to my friend and reader, Shakti, for going to bat for me at the Arlington Public Library in Virginia. Shakti sent an email to them before my book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was even published (isn’t she wonderful?!)

To their credit, they wrote her a note and said that in order to be considered, the book needed to be available through one of their vendors and had to have favorable reviews in one of the professional review journals that their selectors use to make decisions about what to purchase.

Yesterday, they wrote Shakti again and said, “The book is now available from our book vendor and has a positive review from a review journal (Kirkus, 4/1/18) so we will add it to our next order.”

I’m absolutely thrilled to hear this news and immensely grateful to Shakti and the Arlington Public Library. Now I need to get to work contacting every library in the country. Be right back…

creativity

A Year of Yes: My young adult novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, won a Nautilus Book Award

Christa Avampato

Screen Shot 2018-04-30 at 11.57.23 PMI am so incredibly honored to share the news that my young adult novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, won a Nautilus Book Award for young adult fiction. The Nautilus Book Award is given “To recognize, promote, and celebrate books that support conscious living and sustainability, high-level wellness, spiritual growth, and positive social change.”

I’m especially honored to be on the list of winners with so many authors I greatly admire: Kenneth Lacovara and his excellent book Why Dinosaurs Matter (Ken encouraged me to submit my book to Nautilus), Peter Wohlleben, Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, Tim O’Reilly, Brené Brown, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eva Moskowitz, Katherine Applegate, and Ibi Zoboi.

Congratulations to all! See a PDF of all winners here.

Thank you to everyone who continues to believe in me, in Emerson, and the message of this book that the human imagination is our greatest gift for building a better world for all beings.

 

 

creativity

A Year of Yes: My book is in The New York Review of Books

Christa Avampato

Ending another week of happy book news! A few months ago I was invited to be in the Independent Press Listing of The New York Review of Books – Spring Books issue. I’m honored to be among so many fantastic books and authors in this publication that I have admired for years. You can pick up a copy of Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, and in independent bookstores everywhere. Thanks to all of you who continue to support my book and this journey with Emerson. I hope you keep writing—through all the difficulties, rejections, and doubts. It’s worth it and the world needs your story. I can’t wait to read it.

Screen Shot 2018-04-18 at 8.56.28 PMnyrb040518

creativity

A Year of Yes: What’s on your bookshelf?

Christa Avampato

“What is a bookshelf other than a treasure chest for a curious mind.” ~Anonymous

I buy a lot of e-books but every once in a while, there’s a book I have to buy in traditional print. It’s a book that I want to refer to again and again. A book I feel I need to hold, to underline, and write in the margins of. Mine is getting more eclectic all of the time—science, fairy tales, biographies, yoga, New York City history, books about writing, business books, ancient philosophy, every sub-genre of fiction. It says a lot about who I am—always changing, always learning, always curious. What’s on your bookshelf?

creativity

A Year of Yes: The necessity of rewriting and revision

Christa Avampato

“That’s the magic of revisions—every cut is necessary, and every cut hurts, but something new always grows.” ~Kelly Barnhill, author

I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot as I prep for Virginia Festival of the Book. When I think of my favorite books, plays, songs, and pieces of art, they are the ones without any fat, the ones where every word, every note, every brush stroke is carefully and purposely chosen. That concern, that love is what strikes me right in the heart. Rewriting and editing is the lifeblood of art that lasts. It’s the cuts that matter most because that’s where we find the seeds that need to be planted and nurtured.

creativity

A Year of Yes: Talking about writing to 500+ students, teachers, and staff at Charlottesville schools

Christa Avampato

“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” ~Peggy O’Mara, editor, publisher, and child advocate

I’m in heavy prep mode as I get ready to talk to over 500 students, teachers, and school staff members in Charlottesville as a speaker for the Virginia Festival of the Book. I am ecstatic to chat with with them about my book, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, the process of writing and revision, character development, the importance of a book’s setting, the publishing business, creativity and imagination, and mythology in the age of hip hop. What?! Yes, it’s true. And I can’t wait!

creativity

A Year of Yes: David Bowie on books

Christa Avampato

“Q: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

A: Reading.” ~David Bowie

As if we needed another reason to love David Bowie. He was known to be a voracious reader and traveled with a library on film shoots and concert tours. Earlier this year, his son, Duncan Jones, launched an online book club in honor of his father. The Bowie Book Club will work its way through Bowie’s list of his 100 favorite books.

Another of his quotes about books that just knocks me out:

“I’m a real self-educated kind of guy. I read voraciously. Every book I ever bought, I have. I can’t throw it away. It’s physically impossible to leave my hand! Some of them are in warehouses. I’ve got a library that I keep the ones I really, really like. I look around my library some nights and I do these terrible things to myself–I count up the books and think, how long I might have to live and think, ‘F@#%k, I can’t read two-thirds of these books.’ It overwhelms me with sadness.”

David Bowie, we will miss you forever for so many reasons. Long live your beautiful spirit and the love of books.