Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet

Arrrwoooo - Just a heads' up that I'll be one of the featured children's authors at the Dahlonega Literary Festival this weekend. I'm presenting a session on WOLVES at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, in the St. Luke Parish Hall.

Other Southern Breezers appearing this weekend will be my good buddy Janice Hardy and Mark Braught and Laura Knorr.

I'll be at The Crimson Moon for "lunch with the authors" Saturday at 11:30. Click here for festival information and a schedule. Most events are free and open to the public.

Thanks to my friend Scotti Cohn who interviewed me on her great Wolf and Cat blog.

My pack has been doing a bit of summer travelling - will catch up with Poetry Friday again next week!

Hope you are having a wonderful July.

Twenty poets gathered in the north Georgia mountains last weekend for an SCBWI Southern Breeze poetry I coordinated with special guest,
Rebecca Kai Dotlich. That thunderstorm mentioned at the end of last week�s post from Rebecca�s poem visited us more than once at the Center for New Beginnings
in Dahlonega, Georgia. We enjoyed sessions with Rebecca, who said her favorite poems offer a *surprise*, wonderful food and fellowship, individual critiques, and sparks of new poems begging to be written.

For more information and pictures, visit my POETRY page and also attendee Jean Matthew Hall�s blog. Doraine Bennett blogged as well at Dori Reads.

This week I also had the privilege of speaking to some upper elementary and middle school writers at Lakeview Academy�s Writers Camp! What a talented group of creative young people.

But wait � there�s more. It was also Zoofari Camp this week at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve, and I popped in over there, too. I love talking about writing and also wolf education, so it was a great experience. I even brought Rio down from his pen to say hello to the campers (from a safe distance!). See pictures on my WOLVES and STUDENT GALLERY pages.

Back to the retreat � Rebecca was a terrific good sport out in the woodsy, rustic environment � particularly considering we learned �woodsy� and �rustic� are not really her thing! I have to say I loved running half-wild through the woods as a kid, and I guess I�ve never outgrown it.

Thinking about that, I dug out this poem written soon after I started volunteering with wolves three years ago. (I know � it�s a little strange! But it still applies.)


"Breath of Fresh Hair"

Sometimes the wolf smell lingers
on my skin or in my hair �

I like catching a whiff on my sleeve
in the grocery store.

I hate to wash it off in the shower.

It�s not a scent for civilized company.

It�s the smell of secrets,

of murky mist �

heady and heavy,

wild and holy.

�Robyn Hood Black
All rights reserved.

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Just a quick shout-out to folks who might know youngsters in the Dahlonega, Ga., area who are crazy about wild animals - There's about a week left to sign up for the "Zoofari" Summer Camp at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve. The camp is for kids ages 7 to 12 and is scheduled for June 13- 18, 9:30 to 3:00 each day. Click on over to the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve website and find the "Summer Camp" tab to learn the details.

I'll be there sometime during the week presenting a session on wolves. Arrwooooooo!

It's been a fun month of featuring nonfiction nature writers! For our last visit, I'm happy to host Scotti Cohn. I �met� Scotti online when her fellow Sylvan Dell author and my good friend Gail Karwoski told me about Scotti�s gorgeous rhyming picture book, ONE WOLF HOWLS (illustrated by Susan Detwiler). Needless to say, Scotti and I discovered we are pretty much from the same pack! The Illinois writer, who is planning to move to South Carolina in a few months, tackles a wide range of subjects for readers of all ages, and you should check out her great blogs. Today we welcome her for a sneak preview of her new book from Sylvan Dell, also illustrated by Susan Detwiler, BIG CAT, LITTLE KITTY.

Welcome, Scotti! We share a lot of passions, including members of the canine and feline families � wild or domestic. Tell us about your new book, BIG CAT, LITTLE KITTY. What does it have in store for young readers, and how did you come up with the idea for it? (more…)