A Blast with Joyce Sidman

I took my handy dandy FlipCam with me to the 8th annual ALSC Poetry Blast and made short one minute (more or less) movies of the poets reading their works to share with you. Next: Joyce Sidman.

Here's the short, lovely intro written and presented by host and poet Marilyn Singer and used with permission.

When asked where she gets her ideas, Joyce Sidman states: “I firmly believe (lecture coming . . .) that everyone needs ‘pondering time.’ Time alone, without noise and distraction. This is when ideas come-- when things sort themselves out, when you see visions and solutions. Not just for writing, but for life. My pondering time happens during walks in the woods, where I watch the seasons change and let my thoughts wander. The natural world sustains and inspires me. I could never live in a city for long.”




Born in Connecticut, but now a resident of Minnesota, Joyce Sidman says she’ll always be a Yankee at heart. From an early age, she felt compelled to write—especially, poetry. As she says, “Poetry is so vivid and sleek--like a race car. No extra words. I love using image and metaphor; it's such a powerful way of explaining your thoughts and feelings (as in poetry=race car).”


She’s driven that race car right into our libraries. Her beautiful books such as The World According to Dog, Butterfly Eyes, This is Just to Say, and Ubiquitous, include two ASPCA Henry Bergh Children's Book Award winners, three Cybils winners, and several ALA Notables and Lee Bennett Hopkins Award winners and honor books, as well as Caldecott Honors for Song of the Water Boatman and Red Sings from Treetops.

This year, poets everywhere celebrated her Newbery Honor for Dark Emperor.
 When asked if she’s famous, Joyce replies, “Yes—to my dog. And to my children, on good days. And there's a lady I met at the library who says my poetry makes her cry (but I'm not sure if that's good or bad).”



Here Joyce reads the title poem from the Newbery honor book, Dark Emperor. Watch for the little baby outburst in the middle which Joyce handles with aplomb!


Note: Three more poets and videos will be featured in both the next two days.


Image credit: Sylvia Vardell



Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2011. All rights reserved.