Super happy with the cover of the next Boreas adventure! Boreas and the Four Winds, in which Boreas travels up and down the US East Coast, to Cuba and Colombia, through the Panama Canal and on to Polynesia. But will they make it? Because – global warming! – where did that hurricane come from… Boreas en de vier windstreken will hit the shelves in April 2017.
As I’m working on the final tweaks of the third book in the Boreas series, I’m happy to see that Boreas en de duizend eilanden (Boreas and the Thousand Islands) was one of the five editor’s picks at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year, and both Boreas books featured the Ploegsma rights guide at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Boreas sails the seven seas and visits the seven continents. Soon his books will follow in his footsteps. The third book is scheduled to appear in April 2017: Boreas en de vier windstreken or Boreas and the Four Winds, where our hero has riveting adventures in the US (think Florida, New York and Maine), sails the Panama Canal and crosses the Pacific.
the soles of my shoes scuff black-spotted concrete pavers i wind my way past withered faces tied up bags a crumpled newspaper never read city doves flock the streets innumerable like the homeless equally maligned i slip into gough’s sanctuary sit and listen to the opening of my heart i watch the smile inside my eyes and strain to look beyond the vagrant paintings from outside
I love writing! Particularly in a month like this, with the Spanish translation of Mia’s Nest – El nido de Mia – coming out with Panamericana in Colombia. They delivered a truly gorgeous book with the awesome work of one of the most talented author/illustrators I know, Angela Peláez Vargas. And yesterday Boreas en de duizend eilanden – Boreas and the Thousand Islands – had its book birth, which made me super happy. Both books are on their way to San Francisco and I can’t wait to hold them in my hands, my book babies. I hate writing, too! On nights like this, when I wake up at 2:30 am with my brain reeling like a kite caught in a tailspin, because I remember something my muse must’ve whispered…
Or sea serpents. Or dragons. Uncharted waters. That’s what I plunged myself into. I’m spending this summer in San Francisco to rewrite my novel. It’s not San Francisco, the uncharted waters, but the solitude I seek. I’m hoping to be able to concentrate fully on this story and bring my writing to the next level. A level I think I need to forward my career here in the US after some setbacks. It’ll be hard without my loved ones, but we’re all dedicated to making this work. So I checked into a tiny but adorable studio in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district to write and take in the San Francisco vibes, to listen to the noises floating up from the street, to observe the homeless scurrying around the church across…
So proud of the Spanish version of Mia’s nest! El nido de Mia came out this week and had its book birth at the Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá, Colombia. It was such an honor to work with the super talented Angela Peláez Vargas and bring my words to her wonderful and sweet story and illustrations, a story that gripped me from the moment Angela showed me the first illustrations and told me her story idea. My son’s hair shows you why…
In just a little over a week I will be back in my beloved San Francisco, the feedback of my critique buddies in my back pocket and a fresh Scrivener doc at the ready on my laptop. I have carved out three months of solitary writing in that inspirational city to do a full rewrite of my Young Adult novel, the one I was working on back in January, also in San Francisco. The book is still a hard one, but the sharpest edges have gone now the first draft is done. I think I’ve created enough distance between the story and my memories, and I am ready to plunge back in. What’s the book about? A sixteen-year-old girl, the betrayal of a sibling, guilt and self-loathing, and…
Mina Witteman 