The Fall issue of Hunger Mountain is now LIVE and online!Here's our Letter from the Editors, which previews the contents of the YA and Children's Literature Section:
Dear Reader,
Welcome to Hunger Mountain! Our theme for this issue is Exploring Options, Stretching Boundaries…as we strive to challenge ourselves to tell authentic stories, write from the heart and turn personal pain into powerful prose.
For our Features this issue, we asked GLBTQ authors and authors whose work touches on teen sexuality to shed some light on the many possible meanings of that exploration both on and off the page. Alex Sanchez tackles controversy, catharsis and writing alongside his own inner, angsty teen. Cheryl Rainfield shows us what to do when scars are more than skin deep. Sara Ryan reminds us of the importance of Q (for questioning). And Malinda Lo shares what her last book, Ash, taught her about her work and about herself. Their work spans genres, but these authors each use writing to explore, to question, to challenge, and ultimately, to heal.
Lee Wind, a writer of two minds, tackles The Flip Side, offering an imaginary dialogue about GLBTQ teen readers’ need for coming out stories vs. novels where being gay is not “the problem.”
Our Toolbox contributors challenge us to stretch our boundaries in other ways: Sarah Aronson teaches techniques for thinking like a film director to get a new perspective, and Sarah Sullivan helps us shape and revise picture book texts. Author and illustrator Melanie Hope Greenberg shares some INKLINGS about incorporating visual diversity into picture books.
As an Industry Insider, author and publisher Cheryl Willis Hudson of Just Us Books shares insight on the need for and presence of Black and multicultural books within the publishing industry. And Mayra Lazara Dole takes us on a journey toward understanding the need for authentic Latino characters in fiction, in The Writer’s Life.
Our last issue’s Flip Side column also generated dialogue about multicultural books—an ongoing conversation in our industry. In Response, Nikki Grimes offers her thoughts on multicultural books, who isn’t reading them, and why they should.
Finally, be sure to check out our Fiction selections: We’ve gathered a collection of touching, funny, heartfelt and sometimes shocking tales from Jennifer DeMotta, Rachel Furey, Jenny Hubbard, Angelica Jackson and Margaret Nevinski, plus excerpts from a novel in verse by Liz Clift, and a sneak preview of Ellen Potter’s The Kneebone Boy (Feiwel and Friends, 2010).
Enjoy the read!
Best,
Bethany and Kekla
