In 1963 my in-laws, Howard and Suzanne Sugiuchi, fell in love in Mississippi. They were unable to marry because Howard was Japanese. Mississippi anti-miscegenation laws prohibited whites from marrying anyone but whites. Howard and Suzanne had to elope to Alabama in order to get married. In October I interviewed them for Storycorps. Our interview was…
Everything Else
Sugiuchi Wins Scholarship to Attend Key West Literary Seminar
Recently I was awarded a Teacher and Librarian Scholarship to attend the Key West Literary Seminar. I’ve always wanted to attend. The press release is below. Sugiuchi Wins Scholarship to Attend Key West Literary Seminar Key West, Florida – Deirdre Sugiuchi, school library media specialist at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary in Athens, Georgia, has been awarded…
Debriefing
I found out yesterday I will be presenting at AWP Portland with Laura Catherine Brown, Anjali Enjeti, Amanda Miska, and Charlie J. Eskrew (a.k.a.Sean Smith). Our panel is called Go Your Own Way: Plotting the Path to a Writing Career. We will discuss our paths to writing: the pros, cons, and alternatives to the MFA, the…
Code Red
I wrote this piece for Shondaland about what it’s like to run a hard lockdown with PreK students in an elementary school library. In some ways it’s more vulnerable than anything I’ve written before. I found the above sign on the ground after a National School Walkout at a middle school in Baldwin Park, Florida.
Faith, Fervor, and Fundamentalism Panel at AWP Tampa
In a month I’ll be packing for AWP Tampa, where I’ll be taking part in a panel called Faith, Fervor, and Fundamentalism: How Writers Are Impacted By Their Religious Beliefs. I’ll be presenting with Yvonne Brown, Garrard Conley, Sabrina Orah Mark, and Daniel Khalastchi. Each of us will read a short selection of our work,…
Books I Loved in 2017
I make my living as a school librarian which means I am constantly trying to model that readers are always reading. This year I have been writing down all the books I read to show my students, which means theoretically I could have made a book list of every book I read, but I am…
Interview with Jesmyn Ward in Guernica
I interviewed Jesmyn Ward recently for Guernica. Can’t even describe the thrill! I think everyone should read her memoir THE MEN WE REAPED, but I also feel that way about SALVAGE THE BONES, her new novel SING, UNBURIED, SING and her essay collection THE FIRE THIS TIME. One of the craft questions I asked her…
Manifesto 2017, #WritersResist- Athens,GA
I wrote and delivered the following manifesto for the #WritersResist event at Avid Bookshop. I also read it at the Athens, GA Women’s March. We must speak out. Manifesto 2017 We are gathered here because we dream. Like many of you, I grew up believing in this dream. I grew up believing in the dream…
#WritersResist: Silence- Athens, GA
Because our democracy is at risk, a group from Athens is joining with writers throughout the nation to focus attention to the ideals of a free, just, and democratic society for all on Sunday, January 15, Martin Luther King’s birthday. More about national events can be found here. Here in Athens, we will have a…
Process
Back in high school, back before Escuela Caribe, I liked to take pictures. I’d spend hours cutting out scraps of images and arranging them on cardstock, making collages from the discards. This summer I finished the final draft of Unreformed. The narrative wasn’t working so I tried something different- I cut the entire book into pieces,…