Marina

Budhos

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Fulbright Scholar

Travels from: Newark, NJ

“Thank you so much for working with our seventh graders yesterday. Your passion for writing and enthusiasm for their ideas really engaged the students and inspired them to write.” — Jillian Wasick, Program Manager

Marina Budhos is an author of several award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction. Her newest young adult novel, We Are All We Have, follows Rania, a teenage asylum seeker whose dreams are shattered, and she takes to the open road, seeking sanctuary, love, and the truth behind family secrets.

Prior to that she published The Long Ride, about three mixed race girls during a 1970s integration struggle; Watched, which takes on surveillance in a post 9/11 era, and received an Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature YA Honor (APALA) and an Honor for The Walter Award (We Need Diverse Books); Tell Us We’re Home, Ask Me No Questions, recipient of the first James Cook Teen Book Award, an ALA Best Book and Chicago Library’s Best of the Best, The Professor of Light and House of Waiting,

Marina also published nonfiction, including Eyes of the World: Robert Capa & Gerda Taro & The Invention of Modern Photojournalism co-authored with husband Marc Aronson, about a photography couple that took powerful images of the Spanish Civil War and helped give birth to bearing witness through photography. Eyes of the World was a 2017 YALSA Finalist in Nonfiction. Their previous book, Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom & Science, was a 2010 Los Angeles Times Book Award Finalist and a YALSA Finalist in Nonfiction, and Remix: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers.

Marina Budhos has been a Fulbright Scholar to India, received an NEA Literature Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Award for Women Writers, and three Fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. She frequently gives talks throughout the country and abroad.

Marina's Featured Titles

General Author Talks

To See (K-adult): My journey as an author, growing up mixed race in an international community, writing fiction and nonfiction for middle grade and upward to adult to reflect the world that once was—and the world we live in now.

What Is/What If: The inspiration behind my novels and nonfiction books. Where did the ideas come from? How do you decide what is fiction and what is nonfiction? What’s the difference in writing these two genres? How much do they share?

Teaching 9/11

Beyond One Day (middle grade & high school):An exploration of the post 9/11 landscape, as told through three novels that focus on teenage protagonists– Ask Me No Questions, Watched, & We Are All We Have. Perfect for commemorations and school activities to deepen and extend students’ understanding of the impact of 9/11.

Immigration/Diversity

Coming of Age/Coming into America (middle grade & high school): The immigrant experience through novels such as We Are All We Have, Ask Me No Questions, Watched and Tell Us We’re Home. Excellent for social studies/language arts units on immigration. Writing exercises and prompts to encourage reflection on students’ own experiences

Black History Month/Civil Rights

School Integration: Then & Now (middle grade): Using the middle grade novel The Long Ride, students learn about the evolving arc of integration in our communities, from 1954 through the 1970s to now, and learn about social change on TV, fashion, art. Fun, interactive activities using pop quizzes, TV theme songs, & paintings.

Community & Identity

Let’s Talk Class & Belonging (middle grade): Drawing on the novel Tell Us We’re Home, a presentation about finding your sense of a belonging in your community. Presentation & activities for students, good for large and small formats.

European/World History/Information Literacy

Young Like Us: How an Earlier Generation Fought Back with Cameras (high school): Drawing from Eyes of the Worldthis power point presentation offers a window into a generation of young people who used new technology to warn about fascism and impending war. Discussion of information literacy, propaganda, the role of art in resistance movements, and the period leading up to World War II. Suitable for large assemblies and social studies/history classes.

How Sugar Changed the World: Global History of Slavery (middle grade-high school/AP/IB World History): A presentation on how one ingredient shaped world history, led to the slave trade, and gave birth to ideas of emancipation. For classroom use students can also trace out how sugar has impacted their family history. Suitable for assemblies and social studies/history.

AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) Heritage

Learning about AAPI History Through Poetry & Song (4th grade-12th): A multi-arts presentation on the history of AAPI immigration, including Hawaii sugar workers, Angel Island, the transcontinental railroad, told through songs and poems.

Sample Writing Workshops: (Middle Grade/High School)

Write Back! Poetry & Prose Workshop: A hands-on workshop that guides students to be inspired by published literature to create their own fresh, contemporary versions.

Imagine Into History: In this workshop, students become history sleuths, piecing together vivid scenes and stories from the past and gaining a deeper understanding of social studies and history content.

Jump Right In: A brainstorming writing workshop to jump start your writing of stories and essays.

Act It Out: A fiction writing workshop that utilizes drama techniques to help students create dramatic scenes for their stories.

What Color is Your Bathroom Sink? It may seem trivial, but imagining small details for a character is a way to build them on the page and make them vivid and 3-dimensional. A fun workshop with activities, character surveys, and prompts.

Making It Personal: How to draw on sense memory to create a larger personal essay. Techniques for expanding on memory and drawing out larger themes.

The Nonfiction Treasure Box: Curiosity, Research, Imagination, and Structure. A presentation on how one pursues an idea and researches and writes nonfiction. Exercises for students as they pursue their own research and writing projects.

Get Lit: From Literature to Policy to Activism: A presentation on how literature can lead to greater knowledge and social action. Get ready to reflect and get inspired! Readings, workshops with break-out groups.

And many more lively workshops!

Sample Writing Workshops (Adult)

Peril & Turning Points: How To Create Tension in Your Stories

Stay the Course: A Novel-Writing Workshop

Breaking out of Boxes: Writing Multicultural, Multiracial Characters

Research and Story-Making in Fiction & Nonfiction

Speak up, Speak Out: Writing from a Place of Passion

I’m Not So Young So How Do I Write Young?

Sample Professional Development & General Talks

What Is vs. What If: Connecting Social Studies & Literature

Radical Empathy: Utilizing Diverse Literature in the Classroom

Gateway to Literature: The Power of Readers Theater in the Classroom

Greenlight Bookstore | Marina Budhos & Tanuja Desai Hidier

“Marina is a wonderful presence in the classroom; clear in her presentation and honest in her responses to student’s questions. Her books give students, whether reluctant readers or not, the opportunity to form well rounded opinions and defend them amongst their peers with an author who knows how to keep them thinking and talking.” — Jo Umans, Executive Director

“Marina and Marc’s video chat with the young authors at the Iowa Historical Museum’s summer Young Writer’s Workshop was a highlight of the students’ week. Above all else the young writers got a glimpse inside Marina and Marc’s minds and process first hand and could ask them questions and imagine becoming like them in the future.” – Iowa Historical Society

Exploring Race, Class and School Integration with The Long Ride, SLJ Classroom Bookshelf, by Mary Ann Cappiello

Teacher’s Guide for Sugar Changed the World

Tell Us We’re Home: Mother-Daughter Book Club Discussion Guide

Teacher’s Guide for Eyes of the World aligned to Common Core standards

Teacher’s Guide for Tell Us We’re Home – Questions, Activities, Text Connections & Paired Readings

Free lesson plan using Remix: Conversations with Immigrant Teenagers on Second Generation Stories

We Are All We Have Abridged Curriculum Guide Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship
Asian-Pacific American Award for Literature
Walter Dean Myers Award Winner
Fulbright Scholar
James Cook Teen Book Award
ALA Best Book
Chicago Library’s Best of the Best

Media clips

School Library Journal | Gateway to Literature, a guest post by Marina Budhos

Writer’s Digest | Hitting the Road: How to Find the Courage to Try New Writing Paths by Marina Budhos

Kirkus Reviews | Readers will find a powerful window into the past and, unfortunately, a way-too-accurate mirror of the present

Herald.net | Identity, otherness in reading ‘Watched,’ listening to Swet Shop Boys

wiki.ezvid.com | 5 Professors Who Write Fascinating Books

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.