In this episode, we’ve paired two mother-daughter writing duos to talk about how to support (and take seriously!) young writers and their creative endeavors. Sam hosts a conversation between returning-guest Jenn Ghivan and her 10-year-old daughter, Lina, and Ileisha Saunders and her 10-year-old daughter, Odyssey Miranda Mercado.

About Our Guests:

Jennifer & Adelina Ghivan

Jennifer has earned fellowships from the NEA and PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices, and published eleven books of poetry, fiction, and craft. Her novels have received glowing and starred reviews in Publishers' Weekly, The Washington Post, Ms. Magazine, and many others. Her honors and awards include The Southwest Book Award and Joy Harjo Poetry Prize, among many others. You can read more about Jennifer's books and what readers are saying at https://jennifergivhan.com/. Adelina has been accepted to the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts program for creative writing, and she fancies herself quite the precocious scholar and adventurer. She’s just written her first novel. Both she and her mama enjoy a good haunting.

Ileisha Sanders & Odyssey Miranda Mercado

Ileisha is a mom, writer and actress. She enjoys writing plays, poetry and short stories. Odyssey Miranda is a 10-year-old writer and performer. She is an avid reader and wrote her first self-published book when she was 8 years old called The Three Little Mermaids and the Big Bad Shark (https://www.amazon.com/Three-Little-Mermaids-Big-Shark/dp/1693166445) — a re-telling of an old tale. She is currently working on her first novel Morpho Wings. Oh, and she loves pizza with extra sauce. The mother- daughter pair enjoy participating in and watching live theatre. They look forward to writing together.