Maya Smart

Can Reading Local Cure My Amazon Addiction?

Here’s my confession. I buy 90% of my books from Amazon (gulp!), even as I diligently link to Indiebound.org on my blog to

Help Shaka win $100,000 for Friends RVA in the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge

Vote Smart in the 2015 Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge. Shaka has again selected FRIENDS Association for Children

Books: The Greatest Gift of All

I think books need some cheerleading these days as gift options for kids. They aren’t (usually) shiny, they don’t (hopefully)

Meg Medina on Building The Courage to Write

Before Meg Medina won the Pura Belpré medal or became one of CNN’s 10 Visionary Women in America, she skirted around her

When Books Are the Best Medicine: Fostering Literacy in the ER

Sometimes the best thing an emergency room doctor can give a kid is a book. In a world where low-income children hear 30 million

On Protesting Whitewashed Reading Lists

Instead, I found the same old, same old: an overwhelmingly white and male list.  It featured just three women authors —

How To Address Misleading History in Texas Textbooks

I had the honor of participating in a lively discussion on HuffPost Live recently about an outcry over the misrepresentation of

Nonprofit Spotlight: Why I Support Breakthrough Austin

I appreciated the opportunity to speak at Breakthrough Austin’s Beat the Odds Benefit. I shared my newcomer’s perspective on

Into the Go-Slow

Big Magic