Dear Estrella Escarsega,
Estrella is a beautiful name. I know Spanish, so I understand that Estrella means "star." I majored in both English and Spanish/Latin American literature.
Thank you for following me. I have been writing since I was six years old. I have now published six books (fiction, poetry, and literary criticism), and I'm working on a book of nature poems and an autobiography. I have a new fiction chapter book for middle school kids entitled The Passover Surprise that Fictive Press just published in March 2015. It is based on some problems that I had when I was young. However, I have given the main character help to solve any problems that I did not get as a girl.
I recently won first place in a poetry contest. I had been trying to get this poem about the Civil War in the United States in the 1860s published for 17 years, so this award felt good.
Best wishes to you for 2015! I hope that your own writing is going well. I'm glad that spring has finally come.
Janet Ruth Heller
Author of the poetry books of Exodus (wordtech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphor Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Centre (Finishing Line Press, 2011), the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990), the award-winning book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Each Shape (Arbordal 2006), and the middle-grade book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015).
Websites are http://www.janetruthheller.com/ and http://www.wattpad.com/user/janetruthheller
