Hello everyone!

Welcome to our PoArtMo Anthology (Youth Edition) Series, which celebrates the talented young creatives featured in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Youth Edition (Volume 2).

Today, Morgan Gustafson and Dia Nigam are telling us what inspired the pieces they sent us.

Morgan Gustafson

Morgan Gustafson (Sarasota, U.S.) loves reading and sewing costumes. They also paint and write. They want to study psychology to understand how the brain works. “My role model is Gerard Way. I love the way he plays with gender and the message he infuses into his music. I find it really inspiring that they always stress the importance of it being okay to not be okay. As a person who struggles with mental health issues, it feels amazing to hear my feelings expresses through song.”

Morgan sent us the story titled The Story of a Lifetime:

When I was looking for competitions to submit to I found the PoArtMo anthology and a flash of creativity immediately came to me. The idea of writing a short story based around the entire life of a person summed up in less than 2,000 words was a challenge that I accepted with vigor.

I came up with the basic idea of a person so in love with another that they wanted to make the world better for all. This central basic plot line really helped shape the work into a short story of a gentle man spreading and receiving love. I was enamored with the idea of creating a story that could pick others up when they are feeling down as that’s what the best kind of literature does.

Dia Nigam

Dia Nigam (Lucknow, India) enjoys singing, writing, dancing. She wants to be a responsible global citizen. “My role models are my parents because they have taught me everything.”

Diam sent us the poem titled That Mystifying Face:

Have you ever wondered about the special bond between sisters? Or have you ever had a huge fight with your sister? Pretty obvious isn’t it?

“A sister can be seen as someone who is both ourselves and very much not ourselves — a special kind of double.”— Toni Morrison

Who doesn’t love their sisters?

Yeah I do fight with my sister a lot, like in a day, I fight with her for 24 hours… But who says I won’t kill for her? I mean we’re still sisters, I’d do anything for her. And then there are those times when you don’t want your sisters to see or read something and you keep it hidden somewhere…and as expected obviously, they are going to search for that thing everywhere until they find it and leave a mark on it to let you know that they did what you told them not to. That’s just normal sister behavior.

You feeling me?

That is what inspired me to write this poem.

Morgan and Dia, thank you for sharing what inspired your pieces. We know that people will love your work as much as we do!

The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Youth Edition (Volume 2) will be released on March 23, 2023. In the meantime, you can pre-order your copy for 50% off the regular price. Offer ends on March 23, 2023.

Cendrine & David

Please note that Auroras & Blossoms only releases digital copies (ebooks) of its anthologies. This allows us to keep our costs and book prices low, and avoid charging young participants for submitting to us.