Writing With a Broken Tusk
Writing With a Broken Tusk began in 2006 as a blog about overlapping geographies, personal and real-world, and writing books for children. Since March 2024, Jen Breach (writer, VCFA graduate, and former student) has helped me curate and manage guest posts and Process Talk pieces on this blog.
The blog name refers to the mythical pact between the poet Vyaasa and the Hindu elephant headed god Ganesha who was his scribe during the composition of the epic narrative, the Mahabharata. It also refers to my second published book, edited by the generous and brilliant Diantha Thorpe of Linnet Books/The Shoe String Press, published in 1996, acquired and republished by August House, now part of Reading Is Fundamental, and still miraculously in print.
Posts on this site reflect personal opinion and commentary protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
Guest Post: Kaua Adams on An Expanse of Blue
Kauakanilehua Māhoe Adams and I crossed paths two years ago over a project I’d been nurturing for a while. She is now my collaborator on this work, which is absolutely all I can say at the moment. We hope that one day, it will find a form that honors the material and people that have moved us both and brought us together as partners in craft.
Coincidentally, I was delighted to find out that Kaua is also a graduate of the VCFA MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults where I taught for 16 years.
Kaua writes poetry and short stories and now she has written a verse novel, An Expanse of Blue, that draws on her own Hawaiian heritage.