TANYA LEE STONE

Don't miss this YA novel-in-verse that dares to show the truth about getting involved with the boy your mom is sure to hate. Mature themes. Highly recommended! Tanya  has been busy writing since she left her children's editor career. Lucky for us, she took the time to share her thoughts about free verse novels and poetry in general. I'm excited to add a poet for young adults to our mix!

People wonder about the new free verse novel. Do you think it is a format that is here to stay?

Tough question. I think its popularity caught on when Karen Hesse won the Newbery for Out of the Dust. I would suspect that there are more verse novels now than there may be in 5 years or so, but it's hard to tell. I think the genre has been criticized because it is uneven, which may cause editors to become more and more selective, which may in turn decrease the overall numbers of them. I do think it's a form that will survive, though.

What poets and poetry most influence you as a reader and writer?

So many poets, so little time! When I was a kid, I loved, loved, loved e.e. cummings and Shel Silverstein. As I got older, Edgar Allen Poe, A. E. Housman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, Pablo Neruda, and others were added to the mix. I went through a Leonard Cohen phase in college; actually, studying music and poetry together prompted that, as well as an interest in Robert Frost poems set to music, and Benjamin Britten's works. Lately, I've been reading a lot of Billy Collins.  

It seems like teenagers write a lot of poetry but most of them don't continue. Why do you think that is?

High school is a major time of introspection and personal revelation. I think poetry can feel like an accessible format for young writers to express themselves freely. They can either choose to follow a poetry form or explore free verse, either of which is a good vehicle for self-expression and may not seem as daunting as other forms of writing. They can jump right in and get started. I wasn't aware of any evidence that a lot of teens write poetry and then stop, but it could just be related to experimentation of form and that they then move on to other things.

Are you working on another free verse novel?

Not at the moment; I'm working on one in prose, as well as a poetry collection and a creative nonfiction project. 

THANKS!

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