Family Lore & Other Stories we Love: An Interview with Elizabeth Acevedo [S5 E165]

Listen to the full episode below:

When we started this podcast at the beginning of 2020, it stemmed from a desire to create a space for like-minded teachers. We wanted to have the conversations that you craved, but might not be getting at your schools. It’s turned into something bigger than we ever could have imagined. We appreciate you doing things to support this show like listening every week and leaving your reviews on Apple Podcasts.

YOU are one of the big reasons that we have been able to get an interview with today’s guest, Elizabeth Acevedo. We are beyond thrilled that we had the opportunity to sit down with her and now have the opportunity to bring the conversation to you.

In this interview, we talk to Elizabeth about her new novel, Family Lore, which is her first publication in the adult fiction world (don’t worry, she’s not done with YA!). It’s an absolutely magical multi-generational story that you will love. You’ll hear all about her experience writing this story, plus an excerpt from another novel, Clap When You Land, and so much more.

Meet Elizabeth:

Elizabeth Acevedo is the Young People’s Poet Laureate and the New York Times-bestselling author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, the Carnegie medal, the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and the Walter Award.

She is also the author of With the Fire on High—which was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal—and Clap When You Land, which was a Boston Globe–Horn Book Honor book and a Kirkus finalist.

She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC with her love.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

  • What draws Elizabeth into writing

  • The importance of authenticity when it comes to hooking teens into novels

  • The story behind ‘the mud poem’

  • Elizabeth’s perspective of what it’s like to completely revise a novel you’ve written

  • How can teachers establish a new standard of revising with their students?

  • Rewarding the process over the product

  • The challenge of finding what intrinsically inspired your students 

  • How characters are used as windows and mirrors for our students

  • What Elizabeth hopes her readers will walk away with, specifically with Family Lore

connect with elizabeth:

Resources Mentioned:

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More about Brave New Teaching:

Join hosts Amanda Cardenas (Mud & Ink Teaching) and Marie Morris (The Caffeinated Classroom) in discussions about being brave, trying new things, and all things teaching! As seasoned classroom teachers, Amanda and Marie bring their experience, insight, energy, and oh, so many opinions and ideas... It's time for all teachers to take their classroom and teaching practice into their own hands!

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