Kari Ann Martindale is a globetrotter, roadtripper, linguist, writer, and spoken word artist who strives for social justice. A partner in the EC Poetry & Prose collective, Kari discovered her love of poetry after over two decades of writing and editing in other genres, including travel and children’s. Her poetry has been published in Pen-in-Hand and featured in Berks Bardfest, and is forthcoming in the Maryland Bards Poetry Review 2022. She serves on the Board of Maryland Writers’ Association and is the President of the Frederick Chapter, and she served as a panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Awards 2022. She has a Master’s in Linguistics and a background in translation and interpretation, and has visited all 50 States and 37 countries.
She is the President of the Frederick Chapter of the Maryland Writers’ Association, where her focus is on growing the developing MWAFrederick chapter and its membership through programming and partnerships within the Arts community. She sits on the MWA Long-Range Planning Committee and the Conference and Webinar Committees. She served as an assistant editor of the Teen Anthology “Emerging Voices” in 2020. She is also an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and a member of various community organizations. She is currently serving as a 2021 panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Independent Artist Awards.
Kari is committed to setting children up for success. She is a Girl Scout troop leader in Frederick County, as well as Communications Manager for the Service Unit. From 2017-2019, she was adjunct faculty at Frederick Community College, where she taught English as a Second Language; she also taught at the International Language Institute Maryland from 2016-2018.
Kari’s academic background includes a Master’s in Linguistics from George Mason University and various certificates and diplomas in foreign languages, Linguistics, and translation. Her personal foreign language background includes English, Spanish, Arabic, and German, with tourist-level skills in other Romance and Germanic languages.
Availability:
Kari performs spoken word poetry and is available for readings. Subjects typically center on social justice.
She is also available for readings of her picture books in the Flash Series, or to speak with children of any age about foreign languages and travel. She is also available to present to writers’ groups on Critiques: Giving and Receiving (and Hopefully Not Crying), and Turning Past Prose into Poetry.
Kari serves as a volunteer Scholarship Judge for a non-profit organization and is available to present scholarship essay writing workshops, including to Girl Scout Ambassadors working on the College Knowledge badge. She has presented the Girl Scout Novelist badge workshop to Seniors in the Greater Nation’s Capitol.
Previous invited talks have included The Importance of Learning Foreign Languages; Applying Linguistics to the Real World; and Iraq and the Iraqi Dialect (she no longer gives the Iraqi presentation).
While living in Germany, Kari blogged at Karilogue.com, was a contributor at GermanyJa.com, and was featured by Expatica.com and other expat and travel websites, as well as in the book Expat Education: An Expat’s Guide to Choosing a School Overseas (Mobbs, 2017). She served as Elternbeirat (parent-teacher liaison) for her daughter’s Grade 3 class at the International School Seeheim-Jugenheim, 2015-2016.
Kari spends most of her time with her husband (a saint, really), her daughter (who is waaaay too much like her), and their two miniature schnauzers, #EnderAndFalkor.
She’s well-traveled: she’s visited all 50 States and over 35 countries, she lived as an expat from 2012-2016, and she occasionally blogs about her travels at karilogue.com. She is ALMOST ALWAYS planning her next road trip.
Kari was a writer for the former print publication the Urbana Town Courier and is a freelance writer and editor (particularly of children’s manuscripts, including rhyme); she is open to nonfiction assignments.
You can reach Kari at kari.martindale@karilogue.com.
Some favorites…
Favorite authors: Bill Bryson, Carl Hiaasen, Jeffrey Archer.
Favorite picture books: Jeremy Draws a Monster, The Lorax, I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, How Do I Love You (Hallinan), A Good Day, Her Right Foot.
Which books most influenced my life: The Forgotten Door, A Wrinkle in Time, The Mixed-Up Files of Basil E Frankweiler, A Walk in the Woods, The Five People You Meet in Heaven*, and the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series.
Favorite illustrators: David Catrow, Jerry Pinkney.
Favorite artists: Salvador Dalí, Antoni Gaudí, Pablo Picasso.
Favorite road trips: Ireland/Northern Ireland; Great Lakes; Germany’s Maerchenstrasse (Fairy Tale Route); Normandie; a loopthrough Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary; and a 3-Generation tripthrough Germany/Austria/Czech Republic with my daughter and mother. Right now, there’s a lot of writing about those travels in process.
Favorite TV shows: Golden Girls, Soap.
Favorite movie: Goonies; Knives Out; and any and every good heist movie.
*The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a nice look at how we unknowingly affect the lives of others. Literally everyone should read it.
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” -Muhammad Ali
Kari is President of the Frederick Chapter of Maryland Writers’ Association, sits on the MWA long-range planning committee, and serves as an MWA Teen Writing Club Leader. Her focus is on growing the developing the MWAFrederick chapter and its members through programming and partnerships within the Arts community, and she is heavily involved in outreach.
She has matriculated in the Writing for Children and Young Adults Master’s Certificate program at McDaniel College and is an active member of SCBWI. She has self-published two picture books in The Flash Series (2017).
Kari is a Girl Scout Troop Leader and the Communications Manager of the service unit. She has been writing for the Urbana Town Courier, a local print publication, and is a freelance editor.
Kari was adjunct faculty at Frederick Community College; she has a Master’s in Linguistics as well as various degrees and diplomas in foreign languages. She serves as an annual Scholarship Judge for a non-profit organization. She chairs the Silent Auction committee for the Windsor Knolls Middle School Theatre Arts Department and chaired the Silent Auction Committee at Green Valley Elementary School.
Her speaking engagements include Novelist Badge; Critiques: Giving and Receiving (and Hopefully Not Crying); The Importance of Learning Foreign Languages; and other foreign-language talks. Upcoming presentations include a children’s activity at Frederick Festival of the Arts, a scholarship essay workshop, and a workshop for the Novelist and Junior Scribe Girl Scout Badges.
Kari lived as an expat in Germany, where she served as Elternbeirat (parent-teacher liaison) at the International School Seeheim-Jugenheim. While in Germany, she blogged at Karilogue.com, was a contributor at GermanyJa.com, and was featured by Expatica.com and other expat and travel websites as well as in Expat Education: An Expat’s Guide to Choosing a School Overseas (Mobbs, 2017). She has been to all 50 States and nearly 40 countries, and enjoys road trips with her husband, daughter, and two miniature schnauzers.
Kari’s education in Writing includes: Writing Fiction (The College of William & Mary); Writing Picture Books, as well as Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults (McDaniel College); and workshops, conferences, and retreats (SCBWI, MWA). Other influential instruction includes Linguistics coursework, which gives Kari insight into rhythm, rhyme, and phonological phenomena affecting the read-aloud experience of a picture book (George Mason, M.A., Linguistics; and undergraduate work at The College of William and Mary).
“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” -Muhammad Ali
Full media Kit found here.
Favorite authors: Bill Bryson, Carl Hiaasen, Jeffrey Archer, Dr. Seuss, Judy Blume
Favorite picture books: Jeremy Draws a Monster, The Lorax, I Wish That I Had Duck Feet, How Do I Love You (Hallinan), A Good Day, Her Right Foot.
Which books most influenced my life: The Forgotten Door, A Wrinkle in Time, The Mixed-Up Files of Basil E Frankweiler, A Walk in the Woods, and the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure series.
Favorite illustrators: David Catrow, Jerry Pinkney.
How I write: I write to total silence as much as possible, and I do a disturbingly large amount of writing in the bathroom. When the mood strikes, I write–be it on my desktop, in a notebook, on a napkin, or on my hand.
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