At some point when I was in high school (in the 1950’s) and I was set upon becoming a playwright, I learned of a new three volume anthology of great plays. They were edited (and commented upon) by John Gassner, an important drama critic of the time. The volumes contained many plays, from the ancient
I do not normally quote letters from my young readers, but this one offered such good advice I feel obliged to share it: “Dear Avi, In my class, we finished a unit where we revised our writing. We took something we already wrote and tried to make it better. I tried to make my writing better
I am not a fan of e‑books. They make books ugly. It follows then, that I am not a great enthusiast for Amazon’s Kindle. That said, I own one. Being someone who occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night, I reach for my Kindle, and read, usually setting the reading level to low
I just received my first copy of The Most Important Thing [Candlewick Press]. Though it is my seventy-fifth book, it’s always an exciting moment. Perhaps you have heard of publishing parties, a celebration of the publication of a book. In all my years of publication, I have had only one such party. It was in
There is, reputably, an old Hemingway suggestion: That you should stop your day’s writing right in the middle of some plot excitement or crisis. It’s not that you can’t go on. The point is you can instantly go on when you return to your work the next day. Instead of staring at your text and
There is no more crucial and creative relationship in the book making process than that which exists between writer and editor. Note my blog of February 11, 2016, for an appreciation of my most important editor, Richard Jackson. There have been other fine editors in my writing life as well. When the communication and work input
The Most Important Thing: Stories About Sons, Fathers, and Grandfathers, will be available on April 26th. From now until midnight on April 11, 2016, you can enter our random drawing to receive one of four Advanced Readers Copies (ARCs) of this book. Good luck! This collection of short stories is a hit with reviewers. The Most Important Thing is
Avi_The Research Process from Mackin Educational Resources on Vimeo. Thanks to MackinVia for this excerpt from a longer interview I did with them. You can view more of Mackin’s videos here. If you haven’t already read my mystery Catch You Later, Traitor, here’s more about the book.
Morgan, from St. Augustine FL asks, “What inspired you to become a writer?” I grew up in a house of books. My mother read to us every night. She was interested in children’s books and gave us the best picture books there were. I learned to read at an early age and never stopped reading. There was a