Writer, literacy champion and arts enthusiast Laurel Snyder’s 11 Good Things

Laurel Snyder is a poet and the author of more than 30 books for young readers, including Orphan Island, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, and Charlie & Mouse, which won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. She’s also the Georgia coordinator for Authors Against Book Bans.

Here, in no particular order, are her 11 Good Things.

::

1. I have to start with all the literary and literacy organizations like Freedom to Read, Everylibrary, We Need Diverse Books, PEN America, Authors Against Book Bans and so many others, which help educators and librarians fight the censorship that has become prevalent. These folks give me hope.

2. Speaking of books, I love all the amazing independent bookstores we have in town! On any given day, you’ll find me popping by my wonderful neighborhood shop, Bookish. But I only have to go a few miles to get to longtime favorites Charis Books, Little Shop of Stories, A Capella, Virginia Highland Books or Brave + Kind. And we have new stores coming in every year — from Impossible Moon to Long Story Books to The Book Bird. Summerhill has two new stores — Offbeat Books and Press Shop. An embarrassment of riches.

3. Every year or two, I become obsessed with a band, and lately its been The Felice Brothers. They’re messy and rowdy but also plaintive and sort of fragile. Ridiculously smart lyrics with a scruffy bar-band vibe. When they come to town, I always try to go.

4. Pretty much everything Joel Silverman does. I’ve never known anyone with so many different kinds of inspired ideas. Joel brings together technology, photography, history, geography, and so many of his projects are accessible to the public. He’s just started a new free film series in Little 5 Points.

5. My ebike! One day my husband and I were strolling the Beltline, and we wandered into Electrobike GA. We’d been saving up for a new car, but, that day, we made a big impulse buy, and I had no idea how it would change my life. I barely drove my car all summer. 

6. Not unrelated: Thanks to the Beltline and Piedmont Park, sometimes I bike all the way to the High Museum. My friend Marc and I meet there to write together, and it’s been a great new habit. When I shifted away from thinking about the museum as a place to see art and into thinking about it as a place to make art, too, I began going more often. 

7. When I’m on book tour, there’s one food I miss, and that’s the salt and pepper tofu at So Ba. It’s always my first stop when I get back to town, and, when my kids still lived at home, I’d walk in the door from the airport and find them waiting for me with their coats on, tofu-ready.

8. During Covid, when we were all so isolated, I joined an online gardening group and discovered plant-swapping, then found myself running around town and picking up iris bulbs or monstera cuttings. It’s a great free hobby, and I love to watch things grow.

9. The friendly finder program at Fulton County LifeLine is extraordinary. I’ve fostered a lot of animals over the years, but, when a neighbor found a litter of kittens last spring and convinced me to take them in, I did it through LifeLine. What a game-changer to be able to bring in an animal you want to help and have a reputable organization provide everything you need. They make it easy to do the right thing.

10. Red’s Farm is a green space that has been a mainstay for our family for decades. It’s where my kids swung on tire swings and caught salamanders. Originally it was privately owned — just a gigantic wild space that Brian “Farmer Red” Harrison was kind enough to share with the neighborhood — but, when he passed away a few years back, a group of folks formed a nonprofit to keep it going.

11. Last but definitely not least, Grocery on Home. Many years ago, Matt Arnett started running shows out of his home, a former grocery store in Grant Park. It’s a gorgeous space, and I’m grateful for any live music I can walk to, but Matt arranges the series in such a fascinating way. He never tells anyone who’ll be playing. Instead, he just announces that he’s having a show, and, because we all trust his taste, these mystery shows fill up. I’ve seen such amazing acts, from Tank and the Bangas to Jon Dee Graham to Faye Webster to Lonnie Holley. I love how serendipitous it feels.