Amanda wrote the poems LOSING TEETH IN SOUTH AFRICA, FAIRY COUNSEL, and GROOTSLANG
Gnome & UnGnome Facts About Amanda:
Amanda (she/her) is an active member of SCBWI and The Writers’ Loft as well as a graduate of The Institute of Children’s Literature and The Children’s Book Academy.
Her passion for writing and kidlit led to co-founding the writing group 24 Carrot Writing, where she blogs about goal setting and the craft of writing.
Some of her poems were included in previous Writers’ Loft anthologies and she has a poem slated to be published in Bless the Earth (Convergent Books, 2024). She is also a teacher, a potter, and an immigrant from South Africa.
Absol’s Q&A with Amanda:
Hi Amanda! Thanks for being our LEGEND of the WEEK!
If you could be any mythological creature, who or what would you be and why is it a gnome? Just kidding. But really, what would you choose
Dragon? Fairy? Winged cat? I can’t decide! Maybe a shape-shifter, so I could be all of these.
Shapeshifter is perfect for the indecisive. 😉
Can you tell us a little about how you came to be a part of this anthology?
Years ago I learned about the Loft from my friend, Annie Cronin Romano. When I picked up my copy of Friends and Anemones, Kristen pitched the next anthology to me. I have been thinking and writing about mythological creatures since.
How did you choose the topics for your poems? What inspired you?
Two of the mythological creatures in my poems hail from my country of birth, South Africa. I grew up with the Tooth Mouse, who exchanges money for baby teeth left in a slipper before bedtime. The Tooth Mouse is also active in many European and Spanish-speaking countries, and he makes special journeys to immigrant children in the US as well. He’s a busy little fellow!
South Africa is known for animals such as elephants, lions, rhinos, wildebeest, and leopards. Grootslang (an Afrikaans compound noun meaning “big snake”) is one of those little-bit scary, but super intriguing South African creatures we used to read about, with flashlights under the covers, in believe-it-or-not books.
An elephant-snake hybrid, living in a secret treasure-filled cave – believe it! (or not?). I’ve always denied that fairies might be anything less than sweet. I thought that JM Barrie grossly misunderstood Tinkerbelle’s character, and Oberon was an outlier. However, in order to grow, we must learn, and my research culminated in the poem Fairy Counsel. Proceed with caution.
You’re not wrong about the fairies, but you didn’t hear that from me!
What’s great in your life right now that you want to share, personal or professional? Some wins?
I love how one kind of creativity informs another. I’ve been taking ceramics classes for two years now and am amazed at how the discipline and focus required at the wheel unlocks plot problems or character conundrums while writing, reading, and critiquing inspire clay creations.
I hope it’s ok that I shared your ceramic gnomes below. They’re incredible. One looks just like my cousin Greg, (pronounced Reg in gnoman). Thanks for your time and gnomes.
writersloftpress.com 