National Author's Day

“You know I love to write. You know I want to be an author or a journalist someday!” Keep It Together, Keiko Carter

She did her graduate work at NYU, and for three weeks the four of us stayed in the city and socialized with her former teachers and classmates—novelists, playwrights, screenwriters, poets. All The Bright Places

The kings and priests of ancient Sumer wanted writing to be used by professional scribes to record numbers of sheep owed in taxes, not by the masses to write poetry and hatch plots. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

“But Mr. Allen says, ‘Leave out the explanations, make it brief and dramatic, and let the characters tell the story’,” interrupted Jo, turning to the publisher’s note. Little Women

He wanted this done quickly so that as soon as the manuscript was set in type, all components of the book would be in hand, ready for the presses. The Devil in the White City

Their mother belonged to a Women’s Communications Club—women of different backgrounds writing letters to editors and sharing optimistic ideas. Habibi

She was a bibliophile from an early age and debated opening a bookstore in New York or London. The New York Times

In another one from March 1975, she says: They edited most of my lines out of the final cut. I Can Make This Promise

I decided I'd surprise Jay Cee and send in a couple of the stories I wrote in this class under a pseudonym. The Bell Jar

Agatha Christie couldn’t have erected a more chilling, more perfect plot. Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream

“Audio-animatronic books. You get to act out a whole novel along with its main characters.” Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics

I think my students will be able to identify with the teen protagonists in all of the books I’ve selected. The Freedom Writers Diary

It was a new chapter with a similar theme and a more intense antagonist. A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age

I reached for the script and flipped to the first page of dialogue. It All Comes Down to This

Hairwoman: “Do you tell your math teacher you don’t believe that three times four equals twelve? Well, Hawthorne’s symbolism is just like multiplication—once you figure it out, it’s as clear as day.” Speak

So grass is a metaphor for life, and for death, and for equality, and for connectedness, and for children, and for God, and for hope. Paper Towns

Though no writer can avoid idioms altogether—they’re part of the English lexicon, just like individual words—good writers reach for fresh similes and metaphors that keep the reader’s sensory cortexes lit up. The Sense of Style

Dear Diary is better, not just because of the double D alliteration action, but also because Diary reminds me of the name Darryl, so at least I feel like I'm talking to an actual someone. Sunny

It is an example of imagery created by non-Native artists that incorrectly suggests Indigenous people had come to the end of their existence and are no longer here. An Indigenous People’s History of the United States

He had moved from a more nationalistic, all-encompassing theme of African unity to a more parochial one addressed to the Xhosa people, of whom he was one. Long Walk to Freedom

Stories require conflict, and in order to be compelling, that conflict should come from the flawed people within them. Salon

“The English flight officer has studied the craft of the novel. She is making use of suspense and foreshadowing.” Code Name Verity

Harvard couldn’t match Troy as a setting, and in Segal’s whole novel only one person died. Middlesex: A Novel

These brief vignettes were told from the point of view of 2112's anonymous protagonist. Ready Player One: A Novel

Tolstoy, of course, as an omniscient narrator, also provides a running commentary, establishing what it was that the combatants were all, willy-nilly, conspiring to bring about. The Invention of Science

Wittgenstein was surely doing both, and he deliberately moves back and forth between the first person singular and the first person plural to convey both views. The Invention of Science

Card writes in first, second and third person, and presents one story through a journal. The Washington Post

His creator, Edgar Allan Poe, is credited with starting the detective fiction genre in 1841. Book Scavenger

In her autobiography, Stanton wrote that her father beamed with pride and was “moved to tears” when he read about her speech. Votes for Women!

This account Bilbo set down in his memoirs, and he seems never to have altered it himself, not even after the Council of Elrond. The Fellowship of the Ring

There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

“Wow! I love your graphic novel collection. Can I borrow a few?” A Place at the Table

“Amaze me!” cried Mr. Lemoncello as he dashed toward the towering fiction bookshelves and disappeared through another secret door that whooshed sideways in the shelves. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics

By twelfth grade, 70 percent of reading is to consist of nonfiction. Drama High

The idea is to cast the audience in the drama as extras, Timbers said. The New York Times