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Tag Archives: VCFA

Nicole Valentine–What Was on Her . . .
Guest Edition

Nicole Valentine–What Was on Her . . .

Posted on September 18, 2019 by sandranickel • 8 Comments

Nicole Valentine joins us today in celebration of A Time Traveler’s Theory of Relativity. I first got a peek at this brilliant middle grade novel when Nicole and I were studying for our Masters of Fine Arts, and I am thrilled that you too will be able to read it soon. It’s coming out on … Continue reading →

Laura Sibson–What Was on Her . . .
Guest Edition

Laura Sibson–What Was on Her . . .

Posted on April 26, 2019 by sandranickel • 3 Comments

Today I’m excited to be celebrating Laura Sibson and her debut novel, The Art of Breaking Things, slated to be released June 18. The Art of Breaking Things tells the story of Skye, whose party-first-ask-questions-later lifestyle starts to crumble when her mom rekindles a romance with the man who betrayed Skye’s trust and boundaries when … Continue reading →

Miriam McNamara–What Was on Her . . .
Guest Edition

Miriam McNamara–What Was on Her . . .

Posted on July 7, 2018 by sandranickel • 4 Comments

This week, the spotlight is on Miriam McNamara, the author of The Unbinding of Mary Reade, a novel based on the life of a female pirate who lived during the golden age of piracy. The real Mary Read’s mother masqueraded Mary as a boy for inheritance reasons, and Mary later moved through the world as … Continue reading →

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what was on…

A blog about the writers and illustrators of children's and young adult literature. Here, we get to the heart of their work and lives by asking What Was on Their . . . minds, desks, play lists, refrigerators, and more.

Sandra Nickel

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Sandra Nickel writes books and poetry for young readers. Sandra has two forthcoming picture books with Abrams Books for Young Readers and one with Lee & Low Books. Her poetry can be found in SCOOP magazine. Sandra holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has presented workshops on writing for children and young adults throughout Europe and the United States. Sandra is the winner of Hunger Mountain‘s Katherine Paterson Prize for picture books for two years running.

Please visit Sandra’s website at sandranickel.com

Sandra is represented by Victoria Wells Arms of the Wells Arms Literary Agency.

 

Poetry . . .

‘The Sun Has a Secret,’ my poem about the sun falling for the moon, is in SCOOP’s 1st anniversary issue. If you haven’t yet picked up an issue of SCOOP, do. It’s a brilliant children’s magazine that counts among its contributors Neil Gaiman, Sir Tom Stoppard, Herbie Brennan, and Jacqueline Wilson.

 

Antagonists . . .

I started thinking about antagonists when I was working on my MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts. It wasn’t too long before I came to the conclusion that antagonists—yes, antagonists plural—were at the core of the very best stories. In fact, as I examined my favorite stories more closely, I realized that there are 13 Antagonist Archetypes, each capable of producing different reactions in the protagonist and reader. This realization turned into a presentation I gave in Amsterdam, morphed into a three-hour workshop I gave in Switzerland, and then was condensed into a breakout session for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s Annual Summer Conference in Los Angeles. For those of you who missed it, you can find it here: Enter the Antagonist–no scratch that–Enter the Antagonists, Plural.

THE PARIS REVIEW . . .

The Paris Review celebrated James Fenimore Cooper’s birthday by picking up and republishing portions of my April 30, 2014 blog–The Voracious Child Readers of Russia. If you would like to read the Paris Review’s Natty Bumppo, Soviet Folk Hero (September 15, 2014), click below.

WRITING AND ACTING

Melanie Fishbane invited me to join her series on Embodying Character, where she interviews the actors of Anne & Gilbert, a musical adapted from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, all toward the end of investigating the overlaps between writing and acting.

Before taking up writing, I studied acting for three years in New York City. If you were a fan of New York’s acting scene, you might have caught me in some very dark, very serious off-off-Broadway showcases and as a nurse on The City or serving up coffee as ‘Sandy’ on As the World Turns. So, as you can imagine, I’m endlessly fascinated by the similarities between writing and acting and was thrilled to participate in Mel’s series.

You can discover the Embodying Character Series by clicking below:

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  • Nicole Valentine–What Was on Her . . .
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