This explains (much better than I ever have been able to!) why I have always felt so strongly about donating half the proceeds from my first two poetry collections to Unicef’s Gift of Education. I’ll keep giving a portion of the proceeds from those two books to Unicef’s Gift of Education Program, to give educations to girls (and boys) in developing countries. I am blogging today about http://girleffect.org/give in hopes that you too can spread the word. If you can’t give, then please blog or tweet about the incredible campaign that is The Girl Effect! Please watch this video and visit other posts for the Girl Effect campaign http://www.taramohr.com/girleffectposts/ Take two minutes, and change our world.
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American writer and poet Jamie Dedes, a former columnist and features writer, reviewed ‘Leap’ today in her Saturday Review series. I’m thrilled with her well-written, informative review (and tickled she’d put Anne Murray, k.d. lang, and Mark Vonnegut in the same sentence as my name) and wanted to share parts of it with my readers here.
“When I think of Canada, the first thing I think of is snow and Mark Vonnegut (The Eden Express, Memoir of Insanity), and voices clear and cool as mountain spring-water, k.d. lang and Anne Murray … and now I think of Heather Grace Stewart, a new-to-me poet, writer/journalist, children’s writer, and photographer,” writes Jamie.
She continues, “In this one collection, Leap, Heather deftly combines lightness and depth. It’s an honest, unpretentious look at life with all its risks and joys. We recommend that you take the Leap. The book is oversized with a paperback cover and illustrated with Heather’s photographs of family – especially her young daughter – and nature scenes. It can be purchased HERE for $9.99 with half the proceeds going to UNICEF’s Gift of Education project.
You can read the whole review and many other great posts over at Jamie Dedes’ site.
Thanks, as always, for reading and taking the leap with me.
'Poetry Rocks' copyright Meg Laufer 2010
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Look what arrived in the mail yesterday–the certificate for the latest Gift of Education donation I made on behalf of readers of Where the Butterflies Go and Leap. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and wishes for a 2011 filled with love, laughter and good surprises for all my other readers. Thanks so much to those of you who have bought my books–you’ve just helped make an entire school of young children happy.
May I ask one more thing of you? My latest poem, “Words,” with themes of anti cyber-bullying and anti gay-bashing, is, to my surprise, taking on a life of its own–over 50 comments, and readers are posting it on their own blogs, Facebooks, and even tweeting about it. I’m thrilled, because you never know who it might be able to help–and with the holidays here and so many kids off school, I’m sure cyber-bullying will be at its height. So, please do continue to pass it on (just link back to here okay? ) Thanks again for reading.
Cheers
Heather
Our December 2010 Gift of Education Through sales of WTBG and Leap, we gave a simple yet necessary gift: pencils to a whole school.
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I have found a second home here in the blogosphere, with too many benefits to mention.
I started my blog a little over two years ago, but I didn’t get really involved with the blogging community until my book Leap came out in February 2010. I had posted a few of the poems from my 2008 collection Where the Butterflies Go, but I hadn’t tried a poetry rally yet, or done an interview with any other blogger. I hadn’t hung out with you guys yet. Now I have, and I’m hooked. Plus, I’ve had people from 84 different countries visit me in the last three weeks (actual page-view visits of more than five minutes)–how cool is that?
Getting feedback on my work, reading your lovely comments about my poems and photos, checking out your posts–that would be enough for me to keep doing this forever, but wait, there’s more.
Publishers have found me through my blog and bought the rights to my photographs and poems. Young writers have found me through my blog and asked for some advice. It’s very rewarding to be able to help them out as best I can, and I’m looking forward to watching their careers unfold.
I’ve sold more books thanks to my blogging than I have at any public reading (a lot of swapping, not buying, goes on at readings) and best of all, through sales of both books, I’ve been able to donate to Unicef’s Gift of Education project three times. That’s three children who have received an education they may not have otherwise received, thanks to you readers!
Today, as a Christmas gift to thank you for visiting, commenting, giving me special awards, buying my books, and for your friendship, I’ve donated to Unicef (Canada) again. The $18 just bought 900 pencils for an entire school. Can you believe how much just $18 can do? Please do look at the Unicef link if you still have hard-to-shop-for people on your list.
My hopes for my 2011 blogging year? New friends, new projects, and more book sales so I have can get a fourth ($75) education for a child in need–or, perhaps–and this is a big reach but it’s a dream–a $500 water pump for an entire community.
I said it in 2009 to some most excellent friends (who later got me a t shirt saying I can’t rap), and I’ll say it again: I’ll be the very model of a modern networked blogger, yo!
My blogging "Mews" Sam
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Heather Grace Stewart 