forthcoming, June 2018. Click on the cover to learn more.
This is me.
I am the award-winning author of 22 books, editorial director of the PBS arts and culture show "Articulate with Jim Cotter," an adjunct teacher at the University of Pennsylvania, a co-founder of Juncture Workshops, an essayist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a book reviewer for the Chicago Tribune. I take photographs. I hope for peace. All blog text and photographs copyrighted.
Tell the Truth. Make It. Matter.
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HANDLING THE TRUTH: on the making of memoir
Winner, Books for a Better Life/Motivational Award. Named Top Writing Book by Poets and Writers. Featured in O Magazine. Starred Reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus, a Top Ten September Book at BookPage. For more on this book please tap the image.
This Is the Story of You
"This beautifully written book works on many levels and is rich in its characterization, emotion, language, and hint of mystery." SLJ Starred Review. “A masterful exploration of nature's power to shake human foundations, literal and figurative.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review. "Kephart (One Stolen Thing) establishes relatable characters and a poetic style that artfully blend the island days before and after the storm.” — Publishers Weekly. A Junior Library Guild and Scholstic Book Club selection. Chronicle Books. Click on the image to learn more.
LOVE: A Philadelphia Affair
"... another excellent nonfiction book for the general reader." Library Journal. LOVE is the Upper Dublin/Wissahickon Valley Libraries Let's DIscuss It Pick. More more on the book and events, click on the image.
One Thing Stolen
2016 TAYSHAS Reading List, Parents' Choice Gold Medal Selection. Shelf Awareness Starred Review. Booklist Starred Review: "An enigmatic, atmospheric, and beautifully written tale." "Kephart at her poetic and powerful best. ONE THING STOLEN is a masterwork—a nest of beauty and loss, a flood of passion so sweet one can taste it. This is no ordinary book. It fits into no box. It is its own box—its own language." — A.S. King. Amazon Editor's April Pick. Top 14 Teen April Novel, by Bustle. Find out more about this Florence novel, due out from Chronicle Books in April 2015, by clicking on the image.
Going Over
GOING OVER is a 2014 Booklist Editors' Choice, the Gold Medal Winner/Historical Fiction/Parents' Choice Awards, an ABA Best Books for Children & Teens, 2015 TAYSHAS Reading List, YALSA BFYA selection, a Junior Library Guild selection,voted as a 100 Children's Books to Read in a Lifetime, a Booklist Top Ten Historical Novel for Youth, a School Library Journal Pick of the Day, an Amazon Big Spring Book, an iBooks Spring's Biggest Book, and has received starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Shelf Awareness.. Click on the image for more information.
FLOW: Now available as a paperback!
"There is no more profound or moving exploration of Philadelphia’s history."—Nathaniel Popkin Originally released in 2007, Flow is now available as an affordable paperback. More on this book—the autobiography of a Philadelphia river—can be found by clicking on the image.
Nest. Flight. Sky.
NOW AVAILABLE through Audibles."... strives to give all those who grieve the hope that there is peace, a peace that we can live with and thrive with, as long as we remember to breathe and be alive." — Savvy Verse and Wit. Click the link to get your copy for just $2.99
Small Damages
2013 Carolyn W. Field Honor Book/Pennsylvania Library Association. Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year List. New York Times Book Review feature, BookPage feature, LA Times Summer Reading Guide Selection, Starred Review, Publishers Weekly. Starred Review, Kirkus. Starred Review, Shelf Awareness. "Stunning."— Ruta Sepetys Click the image for more information and reviews.
Several years ago, when I was just beginning to understand the transcendent possibilities of young adult literature, I wrote an essay for the Chicago Tribune, which the Tribune then titled "Welcoming posture of youngsters lures more writers." (February 5, 2006) Why, I asked, were Adam Gopnik, Isabel Allende, Michael Chabon, Louise Erdrich, Sue Halpern, Marilyn Nelson, and so many others writing for younger readers? I posited this possible explanation:
While some might claim that the wild success of the Harry Potter series has raised the stakes of--and interest in--writing for the younger reader, I'd like to suggest that something else might also be at work, something about the very hospitability of the young reader's mind. For aren't young readers typically blessed with capacious hearts and souls? Don't they tend to welcome the slightly askew into their midst? Don't they walk straight into topsy-turvy worlds, hail the wraith, admire the ghost, listen with care to the talking tree? Young readers, by and large, care more for stories than for labels. They censor less. They want the writer to get it right, or so it seems to me.
Today, in a wonderful essay for the New York Times Book Review, Pamela Paul explores why so many books labeled "young adult" are bought and savored by those well past their teen years (while also discussing the book club phenomenon Kidlit). Among the reasons put forth:
...good Y.A. is like good television. There's a freshness there; it's engaging. Y.A. authors aren't writing about middle-aged anomie or disappointed people. (Amanda Foreman)
A lot of contemporary adult literature is characterized by a real distrust of plot. I think young adult fiction is one of the few areas of literature right now where storytelling really thrives. (Lev Grossman)
There's an immediacy in the prose. I like the way adolescent emotions are rawer, less canned. (Darcey Steinke)
I know that many of you who read this blog read across genres and labels (and I am grateful). I wonder how you, then, might answer the question, Why are so many adults reading books that are (at the very least) marketed to teens?
I think there are more possibilities for young adults -- they are on the edge of their lives with all doors open, which makes storytelling more unpredictable.
I know when I read good young adult books it conjures a combination of nostalgia and fresh possibility that is appealing. Also the heightened emotions of that age...living in the now with the intensity and importance of every little thing supplies a different energy.
I was going to leave a rather lengthy comment - I really enjoyed that article on the NY Times - and then realized I was drafting an entire blog post of my own on the subject! :) Anyway, thank you for inspiring me to take a second look at Pamela Paul's essay and think about it in more depth.
When I read "young adult" books, it's almost like being in a time machine. My outlook changes, is fresher, simpler, cleaner - as if the experience of age gets stripped away and I recall the purer, less jaded emotions of myself as a young person.
I second what you say. For my first venture in English (I previously published a book of short stories in Spanish) I decided on a YA book for the freedom it offered to write a real plot and deal with a mature and healthy teenage central character. You and some of your readers may like my book (the first in a series of three). Anyone interested is welcome to visit my blog, leave a comment and read about the book on the website. Thanks!
5 comments:
I think there are more possibilities for young adults -- they are on the edge of their lives with all doors open, which makes storytelling more unpredictable.
I know when I read good young adult books it conjures a combination of nostalgia and fresh possibility that is appealing. Also the heightened emotions of that age...living in the now with the intensity and importance of every little thing supplies a different energy.
I was going to leave a rather lengthy comment - I really enjoyed that article on the NY Times - and then realized I was drafting an entire blog post of my own on the subject! :) Anyway, thank you for inspiring me to take a second look at Pamela Paul's essay and think about it in more depth.
When I read "young adult" books, it's almost like being in a time machine. My outlook changes, is fresher, simpler, cleaner - as if the experience of age gets stripped away and I recall the purer, less jaded emotions of myself as a young person.
It's alchemy.
I second what you say. For my first venture in English (I previously published a book of short stories in Spanish) I decided on a YA book for the freedom it offered to write a real plot and deal with a mature and healthy teenage central character. You and some of your readers may like my book (the first in a series of three). Anyone interested is welcome to visit my blog, leave a comment and read about the book on the website. Thanks!
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