Jane wrote the poem LITTLE GIANT
Gnome & UnGnome Facts About Jane:
Jane Yolen’s (pronounced Jayne Yo’len) 420th book will be published in 2023, though which one it will be is not known as of this writing!
She writes a poem a day, sending it out to over a thousand readers, and has been doing this since 1914.
Her published poetry count—in collections, anthologies, poetry picture books, educational books, songs, and lyrics for individual singers, bands, and operas, in literary magazines and in SF/fantasy magazines, verse novels, as well as online magazines, are numbered in the many thousands.
You may know her HOW DO DINOSAURS books which are rhymed, and Owl Moon which is an unrhymed picture book. Or her nonfictional rhymed books EEK YOU REEK, and YUCK YOU SUCK which she wrote with her daughter Heidi E. Y. Stemple. And many more.
She has won many awards, plus six honorary doctorates for her body of work.
She teaches writing at places like Highlights, SCBWI, and elsewhere.
Jane Yolen’s books and stories and poems have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, three World Fantasy Awards, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, two Golden Kite Awards, the Jewish Book Award, and the Massachusetts Center for the Book award.
Absol’s Q&A with Jane:
Jane, I am honored to interview you, a living legend! You’re probably the busiest of the bunch and the first to answer my call for an interview. Thank you!
Someone once asked me what legendary creature I’d be if I weren’t already a gnome and I answered, “Jane Yolen!”. True story. So, assuming you’re not going to say, Absol, if you could be any magical or legendary creature, who or what would you be?
Either a unicorn or a mermaid, depending on the weather. Actually, everyone already knows I am the most recent incarnation (Ukrainian style) of Baba Yaga.
Hahah. I’ve met Baba Yaga (in passing anyway, very quickly I should say, perhaps running) and you two have notably little in common.
And how did you come to be part of your third Loft anthology?
I had written a poem for just about (I think) all the LOFT books, so the editors have never taken my name off the invite list. I assume they found me because I knew a bunch of them already. (We children’s book authors and illustrators tend to stick together. And honestly, I am old enough to be almost every one of the editors’ Nana.
How did you come to write your poem, LITTLE GIANT?
Well, by the time they got around to the Y’s, almost everything else I might have written about had been taken. So, I just pivoted and found something new to me. Or Newish. I have been writing and publishing fantasy poetry and prose for over sixty years and taught fairy and folklore in the literature of childhood at Smith College for 7 years and have written a bunch of books about fairies and fantastic folks for years as well. My pivot point is very good. (I studied ballet at Balanchine’s School of American ballet for seven years as a child, though pivots in toe shoes at. my age is out of the question!).
Well, thank Gnome you wrote a Giant poem because no one else took on this monumental friend of mine.
What’s great in your life right now that you want to share, personal or professional? Some wins?
A new husband, a grandchild finishing law school (wrote two picture books with me, both out), another grandaughter and I wrote and sold a picture book together, and she is starting an MFA in writing come the fall.
I am proud of all my children and grands, but these are the writing ones for now.
What else brings you joy?
I feel enormously lucky to have been able to work at my perfect job for such a long time. Writing is not a second home for me, it’s a first. And yes, I work a lot, but it never feels like work, it feels like fun.
Jane, thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions!
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