The authors’ presentations were particularly appealing. Todd Strasser, author of Give a Boy a Gun, spoke first. He included in his presentation information about his writing process, his books, and, most significantly, gun violence. He presented shocking statistics accompanied by pictures of automatic weapons in a powerpoint presentation designed to make us as professionals think about the reality of gun violence, just as his book did for teens. In particular, Strasser spoke of his experiences helping in New York as part of a human chain that sent supplies to Ground Zero.
Kevin Crossley-Holland spoke about the Arthurian, Celtic, and Norse legends that led him to write his book The Seeing Stone. His story of his writing process was particularly interesting to writers: he began by drawing a picture because “if you can visualize it, you can write it.” Crossley-Holland is an authority on Anglo-Saxon, which gives him a great deal of credibility in his writing of an historical novel.
Joan Bauer was without a doubt the highlight of the day. She should have been a stand-up comedian or a motivational speaker because she can engage an audience like no one I have ever seen before. She began her presentation by telling us about where she was on September 11: getting ready to move to New York. She had everyone in the room teary-eyed as she told of how she felt when she heard what had happened. She tied this experience in with how she views her writing. Her novel, Hope was Here, is particularly meaningful to her, especially so after the tragedy. In her new home in Brooklyn, she overlooks the place where the World Trade Center would be, and she thinks of how we need hope to get us through this tragedy. Books, she said, can help give that hope, especially to young people.
Other highlights of the day were the Poetry Alive! Performance and the Anderson’s Booktalk. Poetry Alive! was a lot of fun, and it would make an excellent program for teens during National Poetry Month. The Anderson’s Booktalk is a great way to find out about new books, and I very much enjoyed hearing them talk about the books, even if it was a little crowded and a little rushed.
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