I thoroughly enjoyed my week of events in the Midwest. I presented the
8th annual lecture on Multicultural Children's Literature at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, hosted by the Murphy Library. Next I headed for Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I attended the
Festival of Faith and Writing to sit on a couple of panels as well as offer a solo talk entitled "
It's Just Fiction: Ten Tips on Reading and Writing about Race, Culture, and Power."
In both communities, everyone was so ... nice. I know that can be a bland adjective, but believe me, after living in or near big cities my whole life, I delighted in the courtesies extended to me in these smaller college towns. If it wasn't for the W-word, I'd consider making my home in one of North America's so-called "flyover states." But I dumped my shovels in Boston before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, and I never want to see them again. Besides, I can always visit, right?
Three Great Days in Wisconsin
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| Welcome bouquet in my hotel room? Nice start! |
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| 4th and 5th graders getting settled before my presentation. |
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Received this book of stories and poems prepared by the students.
Great teachers are the key to successful author visits. |
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| Time for my lectures at the Murphy Library. Good signage, right? |
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| Fielding good questions is more than half the fun. |
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| On my lunch break, I drove up to Grandad Bluff Park to enjoy the view. |
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| The University of Wisconsin—La Crosse from the Bluff. |
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| Patrick Anderson of the LaCrosse Tribune attended and reported about the event. |
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| It takes a village to host an author. Here's the planning team of librarians and School of Education leaders at The Waterfront Restaurant (highly recommended for dinner). Thank you, friends! |
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| The route to the airport in St. Paul took me through this town. Remember who lived here? |
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| Yep, it's the Little House in the Big Woods. |
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| Lake Pepin. |
Three Great Days in Michigan
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| Confession: I love conference swag. This gift bag was waiting in my room at Calvin College's Prince Conference Center and Hotel, where Festival speakers were housed, fed, and basically cosseted. |
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| The Festival kicked off with a plenary by Gene Luen Yang, "Is Art Selfish?" Other keynote speakers included James McBride, Miroslav Volf, and Anne Lamott. |
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| Children's and YA authors abounded at the Festival, and as usual we enjoyed laughing, eating, and drinking. (From L to R: Swati Avasthi | CHASING SHADOWS, Pam Muñoz Ryan | THE DREAMER, and Deborah Heiligman | INTENTIONS.) |
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| Enjoyed hearing Deb Heiligman talk about faith and science as presented in her award-winning book, CHARLES AND EMMA. "The Darwins' relationship is a microcosm of how people can talk about different views with deep love," she said. |
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| Two-time Newbery honoree Gary Schmidt, who is on the faculty at Calvin, moderated a panel on writing young adult fiction. (from L to R: Gary Schmidt, Swati Avasthi, Pam Muñoz Ryan, and me.) |
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| I participated in another discussion, "Power of the Word: Writing Towards Justice." (From L to R: Moderator Sarina Moore, Uwem Akpan | SAY YOU'RE ONE OF THEM, Ashley Lucas | RAZOR WIRE WOMEN, and me.) |
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| Last but not least, the Festival was full of young talents, including Briana Meade, who writes brilliantly about young motherhood and faith. Briana spent part of her childhood living in a Karenni village, and her parents played a big part in inspiring and informing my novel Bamboo People. |