We are happy to announce E. Kristin Anderson editor of DEAR TEEN ME: AUTHORS WRITE LETTERS TO THEIR TEEN SELVES to #ATBF13! Who doesn’t want to hear embarrassing middle school stories or tales of triumph from your favorite authors?
This is so tough for me to decide! I love so many contemporary poets. Louise Gluck is a big favorite, and I also love Philip Larkin and Galway Kinnell. But I think my favorite poem – and one that really influenced me as a poet in one of those aha moment sort of ways – is “Homer’s Seeing-Eye Dog” by William Matthews. It’s beautiful, and funny, and cynical, and it just pops with voice and character. It’s the kind of poem that I aspire to write every time I sit down with a pen.
If you had to live without tv, the radio, or the internet for 60 days which would you give up?
I don’t drive or have a car so I don’t listen to the radio much. It would be super easy for me to give up. Bit giving up music would be near impossible! I MIGHT be able to make it work for 60 days. Might.
What one piece of clothing do you wish you had from your teen years?
I actually still have my Doc Martens that I bought when I was 15. I was so obsessed with them this whole summer while I was visiting a friend in France (who had like 3 pairs), and when I got home I saved up my money and my parents matched what I had so that I could buy them. They still fit, and I still like to rock them on date night. Most comfortable shoes in the history of ever.
Do you remember the first meal you had in Texas?
This is tough for me to remember. I know there was a pit stop at McDonald’s right after my friend picked me up at the air port, and she probably made me something home-cooked for dinner that night. I do remember, though, having a big meal at Hula Hut in Austin, on the lake, and being just in absolute bliss. Also, everything was too spicy. I’m from New England, everything is still too spicy. I’m working on it.
For more information about E. Kristin Anderson and her books, check out her website.
About DEAR TEEN ME:
DEAR TEEN ME includes advice from over 70 YA authors to their teenage selves. The letters cover a wide range of topics, including physical abuse, body issues, bullying, friendship, love, and enough insecurities to fill an auditorium. So pick a page, and find out which of your favorite authors had a really bad first kiss? Who found true love at 18? Who wishes he’d had more fun in high school instead of studying so hard? Some authors write diary entries, some write letters, and a few graphic novelists turn their stories into visual art. And whether you hang out with the theater kids, the band geeks, the bad boys, the loners, the class presidents, the delinquents, the jocks, or the nerds, you’ll find friends–and a lot of familiar faces–in the course of DEAR TEEN ME.