Episode 118: Laurel Snyder

Rachel talks with long time friend and writer for children, Laurel Snyder. They talk about the Iowa Writers Workshop, Laurel’s path from poet to children’s book author, money, the novice brain, labor, being “messy and extra but not totally batshit,” the relationship between poetry and picture books, the experimental nature of picture books, world building, getting things out rather than getting things down.

Author

Commonplace Podcast
November 20, 2023

Dear Listener,

Here, for your listening pleasure, is episode 118 with Laurel Snyder.

Laurel Snyder is the author of eight novels for children, including, most recently The Witch of Woodland, My Jasper June, and Orphan Island as well as many picture books including the Charlie and Mouse books (with Emily Hughes), Endlessly Ever After (with Dan Santat), Bruce Springsteen: A Little Golden Biography(with Jeffrey Ebbeler) and Swan, the Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova (with Julie Morstad).

Laurel has written two collections of poems, Daphne & Jim: a choose-your-own-adventure biography in verse and The Myth of the Simple Machines. She also edited an anthology of nonfiction, Half/Life: Jew-ish tales from Interfaith Homes. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and a former Michener-Engle Fellow, Laurel has published work in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Utne Reader, the Chicago Sun-Times, and elsewhere. She teaches in the MFAC program at Hamline University. A Baltimore native, Laurel lives in Atlanta with her family.

I have been talking to Laurel Snyder for years. We met (on a listserv) almost eighteen years ago and neither of us can remember exactly how or when or why we transitioned from on-line acquaintances to on-line friends to in-person friends and frequent phone buddies. And now, well, I frequently think, “Everyone needs a Laurel!” Every day I’m grateful for this friendship. 

I’ve called or texted Laurel at all hours of day and night—almost always from different regions of the U.S., sometimes in different countries or continents, from our homes or from hotel rooms, to talk about poetry, teaching, parenting, money, sex, marriage, Commonplace, and to read her something new I’ve written. We’ve talked while one of us was walking a dog, parking a car, driving to a thing, making dinner, taking a bath, waiting to pick up a kid, sitting on a stoop, or waiting for something to start. Our conversations are a multivolume, wildly interrupted, unrecorded hybrid roman-fleuve that always ends: “To be continued…” 

Laurel and I recorded this episode at my home in New York City at the end of May, 2023—we also recorded a really fun patron extra a few weeks ago when Laurel was in NYC visiting again!

We’ve got great books for this episode! 

  • Some members of the Commonplace book club will receive a bundle of Laurel Snyder’s books for children. We’ve got a bundle of Charlie and Mouse Books (illustrated by Emily Hughes) courtesy of Chronicle Books and a bundle containing The Witch of Woodland, My Jasper June and Orphan Island courtesy of Walden Pond Press.

  • I also have several signed copies of The Slidy Diner donated by Laurel! So, as an incentive to new and current patrons: I’m offering a bundle of books which will include: a signed copy of The Slidy Diner by Laurel Snyder, as well as three picture books by my mother, Diane Wolkstein. This offer is available to the first 8 Commonplace $10-or-above NEW patrons as well as to any current Commonplace patron who increases their current tier by $10. 

  • Lastly, I am finally emptying a storage unit I’ve kept for 11 years that (mostly) contains boxes of unread copies of The Glass Mountain and Esther’s Story and (fewer copies of other titles by Diane Wolkstein). If anyone would like multiple copies of either of these books for free and is willing to pay for shipping or can come pick up near Portland, Maine or New York City, please let me know! Also, for a one-time donation of $50 or more to Commonplace, I’ll send you a selection of 4 titles by Diane Wolkstein.

As I mentioned, all patrons will get access to a really fun 35-minute audio extra. In this audio extra, you’ll hear Laurel and I read poems or prose by the authors and artists mentioned in this episode—Marvin Bell, Jorie Graham, Gary Blankenberg, W.D. Snodgrass, Bradley Paul, Carl Sandburg, Theodore Roethke, James Galvan, Edward Eager, and Thisbe Nissen. And you’ll hear both of us try to read songs by Jason Isbell and talk about the fluid line between poems and songs.

Here’s a poem by Marvin Bell—an important teacher and person to both Laurel and me:

To become a patron of Commonplace please visit our Patreon! You can also make a one-time donation on venmo: Rachel-Zucker.

Other offerings:

To find out more about “Reading with Rachel” or any of the other Commonplace School classes please visit our website or email [email protected]. 

For this episode Commonplace’s charitable partner will donate $250 to Charis Circle. Charis Circle, Laurel’s local feminist bookstore, works with artists, authors, and activists from across the South and around the world to bring innovative, thoughtful, and life-changing programming and events to feminist communities. 

With love & hope,

Rachel (& the Commonplace team)