ABOUT MY NAME

My name used to be Corinne Demas Bliss. A while ago I changed it back to Corinne Demas, the name I had when I was young. Corinne Demas Bliss was still my writing name. Sound confusing? You bet! That's why I decided to change my writing name, too. Now all my books published in 2000 and after will be by Corinne Demas. All of my books published in 1999 and before, though, are still by Corinne Demas Bliss.

BOOKS

Visit the Website
 

The Making of a Picture Book:
The Marriage of Text and Art

An Exhibit Curated by
Corinne Demas

September, 2009 -May, 2010

Now in Paperback

Now in Paperback

BIOGRAPHY

Starting Out
I've been writing ever since I was little. My first book was a tale about a prince, a king and an "evil lady," written in a black composition book when I was six. It had lots of chapters (some of them only a sentence long), crayon illustrations, and terrible spelling.

I started writing books for children when I became a parent. My first published book, That Dog Melly was co-authored with my son, Austin. I had him re-tell me the story in his own words so that the narrator would sound like a real kid. The illustrations are photographs I took of Austin and our standard poodle, Melly.

Since the story is about a dog who runs away, and Melly was a dog who really did run away, it was a trick to get pictures of her. All my books afterwards have been illustrated by other artists, including Ted Lewin, Nancy Poydar, Michael Garland and Kathryn Brown.

Source of Ideas
Some ideas for my stories come from my own childhood. Some come from my children and their friends, or from kids I meet when I visit schools. Electra and the Charlotte Russe is based on a story my mother told me when I was a little girl about her own childhood. If Ever I Return Again was inspired by letters written by a real girl who lived a century ago.

Pets
I grew up in New York City and always wanted to have a dog, but they weren't allowed in my apartment house. (I had a pet salamander named Eggbert and a parakeet named Albert Einstein.) Now I live with my family in a house in Western Massachusetts. I have a dog, and two miniature donkeys.

I recently spoke about one of my donkeys on Public Radio.

Work (and Play)
I teach at Mount Holyoke College. I write first thing every morning--sometimes I even eat my breakfast at my desk. On days that I'm not teaching, I write all day. For a break I go for a walk with the dog or the donkey (they both have red raincoats for rainy days) or I dig in the garden. In the winter there's cross country skiing out behind my house. I love snow! (As you can tell if you read my book Snow Day.)

Because writing can be lonely, I like to get together with other writers in the area. Here I am with an informal group of writing friends. We called ourselves The Baystate Writers Group, and used to meet at the Baystate Hotel in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Standing (left to right): Alexander Eliot, John Bowman, Jay Neugeboren, Jane Yolen, Richard Michelson, Zane Kotker
Kneeling: Me, Robert Abel

At my children's book writing group meetings we read our work-in-progress to each other and offer each other suggestions and support.

From left to right: Barbara Goldin, Ellen Wittlinger, Leslea Newman (seated), Patricia MacLachlan, Ann Turner, Anna Kirwan, and Jane Yolen.

Check out their websites, too!

I also have a summer writing group:
(from left to right)
Betty Jean Lifton, C.S.Adler,
and Frances Ward Weller

To find out more about me, check out "Behind the Scenes" for each of my books.
You can also read an interview published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
For lots more read my memoir, Eleven Stories High, Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948-1968 . It has illustrations from my family's old photo album.

Here I am with Santa, when I was five.

donkey and dog (Because I have two donkeys and one dog I need to have two favorite animals or someone's feelings would get hurt.)

itchy sweaters, waiting on lines, pens that don't write.

singing, softball, holding my breath for a long time, twirling without getting dizzy.