Log in

goodpods headphones icon

To access all our features

Open the Goodpods app
Close icon
The Story Seeds Podcast - Bonus Q&A: Betsy Bird Interviews Susan Muaddi Darraj

Bonus Q&A: Betsy Bird Interviews Susan Muaddi Darraj

06/18/20 • 22 min

The Story Seeds Podcast

Listen along as The Story Seeds Podcast host Betsy Bird chats with Susan Muaddi Darraj (author of the debut middle grade series Farah Rocks and a 2014 AWP Grace Paley Award, 2016 American Book Award, and 2016 Arab American Book Award winner). They go behind the scenes and talk about what it was like working with 12 year old Sulaf on Episode 8 “A Girl Who Looks Like Me” and grow her story seed about a young Arab-American girl who finds herself at the center of a mystery at the theatre where she works.

Susan talks about how Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe and her visit to the Riverside Theater inspired the story she grew. Sheds light on the contemporary authors she admires: Jarrett Lerner, Toni Morrison, Esmeralda Santiago. And, she shares two tips for young writers and our listeners:

  • Reading makes you a better writer
  • Don't write yourself into a tired state. End your day at an interesting point in your story so that you can pick up fresh where you left off the next day

Books and media mentioned in this episode: Farah Rocks series by Susan Muaddi Darraj, Hercule Poirot Mysteries by Agatha Christie, Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Netflix's Anne With an E, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Calls to Action

Kids: Grow your own stories with the help of our Imagination Lab activity e-zines! Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [email protected], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the kid in you!) that offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari.

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here.

Support Us

Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunities for more kids from around the world to participate in Story Seeds.

Show credits

Credit to Matt Boynton and Ania Grzesik of Ultraviolet Audio for the sound mixing, design, and score of our bonus episode. Our theme music is composed and performed by Andrew VanWyngarden.

The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari

www.literarysafari.com

plus icon
bookmark

Listen along as The Story Seeds Podcast host Betsy Bird chats with Susan Muaddi Darraj (author of the debut middle grade series Farah Rocks and a 2014 AWP Grace Paley Award, 2016 American Book Award, and 2016 Arab American Book Award winner). They go behind the scenes and talk about what it was like working with 12 year old Sulaf on Episode 8 “A Girl Who Looks Like Me” and grow her story seed about a young Arab-American girl who finds herself at the center of a mystery at the theatre where she works.

Susan talks about how Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe and her visit to the Riverside Theater inspired the story she grew. Sheds light on the contemporary authors she admires: Jarrett Lerner, Toni Morrison, Esmeralda Santiago. And, she shares two tips for young writers and our listeners:

  • Reading makes you a better writer
  • Don't write yourself into a tired state. End your day at an interesting point in your story so that you can pick up fresh where you left off the next day

Books and media mentioned in this episode: Farah Rocks series by Susan Muaddi Darraj, Hercule Poirot Mysteries by Agatha Christie, Miss Marple Mysteries by Agatha Christie, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Netflix's Anne With an E, The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Calls to Action

Kids: Grow your own stories with the help of our Imagination Lab activity e-zines! Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [email protected], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the kid in you!) that offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari.

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here.

Support Us

Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunities for more kids from around the world to participate in Story Seeds.

Show credits

Credit to Matt Boynton and Ania Grzesik of Ultraviolet Audio for the sound mixing, design, and score of our bonus episode. Our theme music is composed and performed by Andrew VanWyngarden.

The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari

www.literarysafari.com

Previous Episode

undefined - A Girl Who Looks Like Me with Susan Muaddi Darraj

A Girl Who Looks Like Me with Susan Muaddi Darraj

This week’s Story Seeds collaboration brings together 12 year old Sulaf and Susan Muaddi Darraj (author of the new middle grade series Farah Rocks and a 2014 AWP Grace Paley Award, 2016 American Book Award, and 2016 Arab American Book Award winner) on a field trip to the Riverside Theater in New York City.

Susan helps Sulaf grow this story idea:

A young girl who lives in New York City and works in the theater district realizes there is a very dark secret hidden at the show she's working on.

Follow Sulaf and Susan's thrill-filled Story Seeds adventure with host Betsy Bird as:

  • Sulaf tells Susan her wish of seeing a story about an Arab-American girl who looks like her and represents not only her cultural background but her love of the theatre too
  • They talk about the Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop's metaphor on how children's books should be be mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors for readers
  • They geek out over their mutual love of Agatha Christie mysteries and Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven
  • They grow a story inspired by their back stage tour of the Riverside Theater

The episode concludes with this week’s storytime (17:40) where Susan reads the story she grew from Sulaf’s story seed: Mystery at the Theatre

Books and media mentioned in this episode: Farah Rocks series by Susan Muaddi Darraj, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.

Musicals and Plays: The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe.

Calls to Action

Bonus Episode: Check back next week to hear Betsy's interview with Susan where you'll get to find out whodunnit!

Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [email protected], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the kid in you!) that offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari.

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here.

Support Us

Hey Listeners! Looking for ways to support our show? Well, now you can! Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunities for more kids from around the world to participate in Story Seeds.

Show credits

Produced and written by Kayla Fedeson, Sandhya Nankani, and Anjali Sakhrani. Scoring, mixing, and sound design by Ania Grzesik and Matt Boynton of Ultraviolet Audio. Field audio recorded by James Boo. Hosted by Betsy Bird. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT.

The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari

www.literarysafari.com

Next Episode

undefined - Look Before You Eat! with Bil Lepp

Look Before You Eat! with Bil Lepp

This week’s Story Seeds collaboration brings together 11 year old Keshav and Bil Lepp (professional storyteller, five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars’ Competition and author of the 2014 PEN award-winning The King of Little Things.)

Bil helps Keshav grow this story idea:

Once there was a cow, a bunny and a fox. There was also a bad wolf who liked eating up people's houses. The cow made a house out of ice cream, the bunny made a chocolate egg house and the fox made his house out of red hot chilies. Now the wolf, being very greedy. Loved ice cream. So he went to the cows house and ate it all up and was now ready to eat the cow. The cow got away and ran to the bunny house. The wolf followed him there. And when he got to the bunny house, he said, mm hmm. Delicious chocolate. And so we went and ate at all. Now the bunny and the cow was scared half to death. So they ran to the fox’s house. The wolf was still hungry because he was a big bad wolf. So he, too, went to the foxes house. You took one bite out of the chilies, up out of the chili house and burned his mouth. He ran away, never to be seen again.

Listen along to this Story Seeds adventure with host Betsy Bird as Keshav and Bil:

  • Develop the backstories for their three main characters and discuss why they chose to build their houses out of ice cream, chocolates, and chilis
  • Get inspired by their visit to Jacques Torres chocolate shop in NYC and sample a selection of their chocolate bon-bons for "research"
  • Look at chilis of all shapes and sizes and ultimately decide there's no need to try any of those in order to grow this story seed!
  • Cook up a quintessential fairytale but with a spicy kick, starring: a cow with a love for ice cream, a bunny with a sweet-tooth for chocolate, a fiery fox with a penchant for chilis, and a big bad wolf!

The episode concludes with this week’s storytime (19:24) where Bil reads the story he grew from Keshav's story seed: Not By the Hare in My Chili Pepper Den .

Stories mentioned in this episode: Three Little Pigs, Henny Penny, Chicken Little, Aesop’s Fables, Anansi Tales, Panchatantra, Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tales, The King of Little Things by Bill Lepp

Calls to Action

Bonus Episode: Check back next week to hear Betsy's interview with Bil. You’ll get to hear what it’s like to be a 21st century storyteller and Bil also shares a few hilarious anecdotes, including one about his former life as a preacher.

Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [email protected], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the kid in you!) that offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari.

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here.

Support Us

Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunitie...

Episode Comments

Generate a badge

Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode

Select type & size
Open dropdown icon
share badge image

<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/the-story-seeds-podcast-36553/bonus-q-and-a-betsy-bird-interviews-susan-muaddi-darraj-10062926"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to bonus q&a: betsy bird interviews susan muaddi darraj on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>

Copy