Somewhere early in the project I had the idea I wanted to include some flash fiction in the book. That decision was purely instinct but if I was to break it down, it would probably be because #DonutsForEverybody was always a collaborative project: you gave me the prompts, I made the donuts. I thought a delicious twist on this would be for me to give authors a donut, and have them make a story based on it.
Another reason I wanted this to happen is that this would allow the book to offer something followers didn’t get from the online experience. Creating something new was also important to me. And so…
In hitting up the authors, I gave them a donut and asked if they’d like to write something (anything) inspired by it. I told them the only rule was that it had to be short because a) the project is based on spontaneity, b) the written work had to fit on a single page, and c) this wasn’t a paying gig. There would be no revisions (because who wants to do all that work?) and they were free to tell me to get lost. No one did. I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to all the author for their generosity, their willingness to play with me, and their enthusiasm for this experiment.
THE GAME!
Below are three of these fine humans, Kate Allen Fox, Bill Canterbury, and Jess Yoon. Below them are the three donuts they used as a creative prompt. Which donut do you think each author picked? Read their bios, look at the donuts and see if you can match them.
KATE ALLEN FOX!
Kate Allen Fox is an award-winning children’s author from southern California. Her debut picture book, Pando, A Living Wonder of Trees, was published by Capstone in 2021 and named one of the best books of the year by School Library Journal and Chicago Public Library and a finalist for the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. Little, Brown will publish her second picture book, A Few Beautiful Minutes, in 2023, and Beaming Books will publish Winter Solstice Wish in 2024. Her essays have appeared in several publications, including The New York Times and McSweeney’s. Find her online at kateallenfox.com or on Twitter and Instagram @kateallenfox.
BILL CANTERBURY!
Bill Canterbury is a screenwriter in Los Angeles. He has had many odd jobs, including having been the caretaker of an abandoned summer camp for kids. There were whispers from the cabins and the swings would sway by themselves, so the place was clearly haunted. Or maybe just breezy.
JESS YOON!
Jessica Yoon (she/her) is a second generation Korean American kidlit writer based in Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of the 2023 Highlights Foundation Anti-Bias Book Bearer Scholarship and was an Honorable Mention in the 2022 PBParty and PB Rising Stars Mentorship. As a passionate advocate of representation in children’s literature, Jessica has provided freelance sensitivity reader services to We Need Diverse Books and is a member of the Harrisburg Asian Writers Collective. When she is not writing, Jessica can be found chasing around her two feral children with her spouse or dreaming about her many food cravings.
And here are the donuts:
What are your guesses? Which donut “spoke” to each author? Did Kate recognize humanity’s best-before date in Death by Chocolate? Did Bill recollect the heady LA nights he spent partying alongside Shel Silverstein? Did Jess realize that picking the Big Bang would give her a head start on alliteration?
Put your guesses (and for bonus virtual points, your reasoning) in the comments below.
ps – If you want to see their donutty words, you will have to get the book! Available as a pay what you want pdf download or in delicious paperback.
Ok based on bios alone, here are my guesses:
Kate – Galaxy Donut (I feel like Kate appreciates the forces of nature at work and the energetic awe of the galaxy)
Bill – Where the Sidewalk Ends Donut (I get the sense that Bill would vibe with the offbeat humor and wonderful subversiveness of Silverstein)
Jess – Death by Chocolate Donut (Jess is no stranger to food cravings and perhaps knows what it’s like to experience a metaphorical death by chocolate?)
I could pretty much find reasons to match each donut to each creator lol, but I’m gonna stick with this.
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