We have loved all the bloggers we’ve featured so far, but it has occurred to us that we’ve been remiss in featuring the male population around here. There are men out there in the kidlit blogging community, and we wanted to highlight their contributions. Greg Pincus at Gottabook has been involved in the community for a number of years, and a good place to start.
Tell us a bit about your blog.
Gottabook is my place to talk about all sorts of stuff related to children’s literature with a huge emphasis on poetry. To me, it’s kinda a place I get to hang out with like-minded people without having to go buy hors d’oeuvres or do any cleaning.
When and why did you start blogging?
I started 9 years ago!!!!! (Feb 21, 2006 to be specific). I started for two reasons. One – because I wanted to have a seat at the online conversation. I didn’t entirely know what I wanted to converse about, and if you look back at the first handful of posts, there’s a lot of finding my way in that regard. Two – I wanted a place to share my poetry and help it find an audience. Add into all this that I have always been active online, and blogging became a natural choice.
So, why poetry? What drew yourself to the form?
I’ve always loved reading poetry and always loved writing it. I posted it online because I wanted to share what I was doing (and, yes, wanted to hear reactions faster than one might if one sold poems to magazines and the like). Later, once it was clear that there was an audience out there that loved talking poetry in general, I decided to see how I could share more of what I loved. As my blog continued, I realized that just organically poetry became my biggest focus… so I went with it because it makes me happy.
You’ve been blogging for a long time. How has your approach to it changed over the years?
I blog less frequently now than I did when I started, that’s for certain — I’ll have approximately 250 less posts this year than on my busiest years! In general, though, I still follow my original mantra: blog about what interests me, be true to my own perspective, and be grateful that anyone spends time hanging out with me.
What is your favorite kidlit book that you’ve read in the past year?
One??? ONE???? I can’t pick a favorite, but I will say that Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming instantly popped into my mind. Fantastic (and poetry!).
Thanks so much, Greg!
And, as always, if you have any suggestions for our feature, be sure to let us know!