We are nine women writers, from our thirties to sixties. We are writers of picture books, middle grade, YA, textbooks, graphic novels, fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, folklore, and nonfiction. We are also mothers, artists, geneticists, lawyers, ski instructors, magazine editors, teachers, students, librarians, linguists, and book lovers. We speak French, Romanian, Spanish, German, and a smidgen of Portuguese, Dutch, Swahili, and Ancient Greek. We have published over 20 books and have articles in many well-known magazines.
You name it, we write it. And we want to critique it!
In Latin, Italian and Spanish, “Viva” means “long live.” “Scriva” is Italian for “I would write” (subjunctive) or “Write!”(imperative). Since writing is imperative to us, we take Viva Scriva to mean “Long Live Writing!” or “Long Live the Writers!” We also refer to each other as Scrivas (writers), and we “scrive” (sounds like peeve but means writing or critiquing). We meet monthly to comment on each others work, laugh, nibble on treats and sip tea and cocktails.
Meet the Current Scrivas!
Addie Boswell, at age 12, wanted to be “an author, an artist, an actress or a pianist.” Though (sadly) rusty on piano and stage, her passion for words and pictures continues. She writes and illustrates picture books, creates murals in paint and paper collage, and visits hundreds of children each year through residencies in Oregon’s schools and libraries. Her first book, The Rain Stomper, won the 2009 Oregon Spirit Award. She is currently editing her first young adult novel.
Melissa Dalton has worked as a children’s shoe saleswoman, an adventure trip guide, a barista, and more recently, a magazine editor. Her nonfiction articles have appeared in Salon, Portland Spaces, and salt: telling Maine stories. When she is not at work on her first novel, you can find her recording Oregon poets or working in a library, as she makes a very poor saleswoman.
Ruth Feldman is an award-winning author of books and articles, mainly for children and young adults. She has been an attorney, editor, research analyst, ticket seller, and keypunch operator. Her 10 nonfiction books focus on history and biography, while her articles range from leeches to Einstein’s refrigerator. Blue Thread, her historical fiction/fantasy for young adults (Ooligan Press, 2012), entwines the struggles of two teen girls across the millennia.
Amber Keyser is a former ballerina and evolutionary biologist, who writes about science and adventure for young readers. Currently, she’s the go-to-girl and YA novelist for Angel Punk. Look for action-adventure heroine, Mara Layil, to burst onto the scene, fists flying in summer 2012. Amber’s articles have appeared in Odyssey Magazine, Mothering Magazine online, CommonSenseMedia.org, and Globio.org. Her books include An Algonquin Heart Song: Paddle My Own Canoe (2007), two graphic novels about science, The Basics of Cell Life with Max Axiom (2010) and Decoding Genes with Max Axiom (2010), and Anatomy of a Pandemic (2011). She is represented by Stephen Fraser at the Jennifer de Chiara Literary Agency.
Michelle Roehm McCann has worked as a children’s book editor and art director for more than twenty years, shepherding hundreds of children’s books into print. She has also written and compiled seven award-winning children’s books of her own. Michelle received a BA from Brown University, an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College, and currently teaches about children’s books and publishing at Portland State University. Michelle lives in Portland, Oregon with her family, their two cats, two rats, and one leopard gecko.
Mary Rehman is a first-year middle school language arts and social studies teacher who devotes the little spare time she has to reading brilliant Scriva manuscripts and jotting down glimpses of YA novels inspired by her students. An erstwhile recruiter and copywriter, Mary has recently returned to the Viva Scriva fold having earned an M.A. in teaching and an ever-edgier sense of humor. She’s currently working on a YA novel about dream-traveling and a collection of hideously funny children’s poems.
Sabina I. Rascol is an author, poet, and storyteller with pasts as a training coordinator, loss control auditor, Romanian interpreter, and ski instructor. Her first book, The Impudent Rooster, was illustrated by award-winning illustrator Holly Berry and published by Dutton Children’s Books. She’s lived in Romania, where she was born (and later earned a master’s degree); briefly in Austria and Ireland; and in California, Pennsylvania, Alaska, and finally Oregon. She adores skiing, singing, reading…and her 13 nieces and nephews. While working on two books based on family stories (a historical middle-grade novel and a work of non-fiction for adults), she holds at bay numerous works-in-progress clamoring also to be brought forth.
Elizabeth Rusch writes both fiction and nonfiction in the areas of science, art, sports, waves, jokes, crayons, and mud — anything that catches her fancy. She has published more than 100 articles in magazines such as Muse, Read, American Girl, Smithsonian, Harper’s, Mother Jones, and Backpacker. Her children’s books — Generation Fix, A Day with No Crayons, The Planet Hunter, and Will it Blow? — have been honored by Smithsonian magazine, the International Reading Association, Natural History magazine and the Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award in Children’s Literature. Her newest release is For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart. Publishers Weekly’s starred review describes this nonfiction picture book as “a moving portrait of an unsung musician.” In its starred review, Kirkus calls the book “an elegantly constructed work.” Upcoming titles include The Mighty Mars Rovers, Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives, Volcano Rising, and Electrical Wizard.
Nicole Marie Schreiber wears many hats– writer, preschool teacher, mother, wife, dog caretaker, cat cuddler, passionate traveler, reading addict, magician’s assistant (her husband is a magician), tea drinker, oatmeal chocolate chip cookie eater… the list goes on and on. She writes literary historical fiction and fantasy that transports readers into another world and brings them back empowered to pursue their own dreams as well as enlightened about themselves and the magic of the written word. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been mentored by such talents as Ron Koertge, Ellen Howard, Kathi Appelt, and Jane Resh Thomas. She is a member of SCBWI and volunteered on the SCBWI-Ventura County board back when she lived in southern California. Currently, Nicole lives in West Linn, Oregon, writing in the nooks and crannies of her 104-year-old Victorian house.
