About Making Beautiful Things
For several years, I searched for a concept to encompass all my different creative work. I'm a children's book author, poet, sculptor and a creative writing mentor.
In January 2018, as my mother lay dying in hospice, she gave me her final gift of many gifts given. These were the last words she spoke to me: “Keep Making Beautiful Things.”
And so I do. And so I will.
~Dia Calhoun
Dia Calhoun Bio
Dia Calhoun is the published author of seven children’s books, a poet, and sculptor. Underlying all her work is a strong theme of fantasy. She won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature for her novel Aria of the Sea.
Dia Calhoun writes eco-ecstatic and other poetry. Her work has appeared in The Nashville Review, The EcoTheo Review, MORIA Literary Magazine, and others. Her article, Two Roads to the Ruins: The Dynamic Presence of White Space, co-authored with poet Deborah Bacharach, was published in the February 2023 issue of AWP Writer’s Chronicle. Her poem “Oratorio of Arrival” is in And Blue Shall Rise Over Yellow: An International Poetry Anthology for Ukraine. She has a poem forthcoming in #SPIRIT, an anthology by White Stag Publishing, and an article co-authored with poet Deborah Bacharach forthcoming in GRIST: A Journal of The Literary Arts.
Calhoun’s sculpture features symbolic images from myth, poetry, fairy tales, and fantasy. She is a graduate of the Washington State Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program. Her work has been in the Jansen Art Center Gallery and Blue Hole Gallery in Washington State
Reviewing Calhoun’s novel After the River the Sun, School Library Journal wrote—“Lovers of gaming and Arthurian legends will thoroughly enjoy this one.”
Three of her novels are American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Calhoun’s contemporary novel Eva of the Farm was a Hornbook Magazine Best Verse Novel.
Calhoun's book--The Magic Cup: A Business Parable about a Leader, a Team, and the Power of Putting People and Values First, was co-written with Lorie Ann Grover for Howard Behar, former President of Starbucks International.
Calhoun has taught at Seattle University and the Cornish College of Arts. She was a Mentor in the Children's Literature Fellows at Stony Brook University. Calhoun is a co-founder of the literacy social media project, readergirlz, recipient of the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize. She offers developmental editing and private on-line mentoring in creative writing for adults and children. She graduated with a Phi Beta Kappa from Mills College.
Dia Calhoun keeps makes beautiful things beside the wild Nisqually River in Washington state. The natural world is the inspiration for both her sculpture and writing.