Visiting Authors 2018-2019
Authors 2017-2018 Authors 2016-2017 Authors 2015-2016 Authors 2014-2015 Authors 2013-2014 Authors 2011-2012
Authors 2010-2011 Authors Pre-2011
Authors 2010-2011 Authors Pre-2011
Ashley Elston, virtual visit
December 10, 2018
Ashley Elston is a Louisiana native who sets her books in our home state. She graciously agreed to spend some time talking with the members of Bookmarked. She spoke a few minutes about her background, but students had plenty of time to ask lots of questions. They were very interested to know if she bases her characters on people she knows. She doesn't, but in her book This is our Story her main character works part time in a law office just like Ashley did when she was a teenager. She also does not write with a map for the end in mind. She usually doesn't even plan out who the murderer will be until she gets to writing the end of her book. Of course, this means when she finishes her rough draft, she must return to the story to fill in all the holes and connect the dots so the story flows logically. Visit the librarian's blog to read more.
Claudia Gray
November 27, 2018
The sophomores and juniors were in for a treat when Claudia Gray walked through the doors of Patrick Taylor on the 27th. She has written four original series and several books in the Star Wars Disney canon series. She is a prolific author for young people who just happens to live within an easy drive of the school. She took a set of questions created by members of Bookmarked, the high school book group, and turned them into a presentation that left all the attendees hanging on to her every word.
She is a true geek, and when Disney came knocking she was happy to write about the world that is Star Wars. Despite the two month turn around, she has enjoyed immersing herself into a world that she has loved ever since she watched the first movie as a young child. It was her early forays into AOL's user groups especially one for fans of X-Files that got her the gig writing for the Disney Star Wars. When asked if she includes people she knows in her books, she explained about adding her friend Rodney into one of her Star Wars' books. She gave him the name Yendor (Rodney backwards), and he became so popular that other writers of the same series added his character to their books. That was a cool piece of information. Usually, if she has trouble envisioning a character, she will cast them as a movie star and imbue the character with the star's personality. She did try regular 9 to 5 jobs before becoming a full time writer, but her love of going to work in her pajamas won out. She does love writing full time, but the reality of the job did not always meet what she expected. The editing, meetings with agents and publishers, and deadlines have not always fit easily into her day to day writing. The chance to travel the world that she has been able to do because of her books has made it all worthwhile. You can read more about her visit on the librarian's blog.
She is a true geek, and when Disney came knocking she was happy to write about the world that is Star Wars. Despite the two month turn around, she has enjoyed immersing herself into a world that she has loved ever since she watched the first movie as a young child. It was her early forays into AOL's user groups especially one for fans of X-Files that got her the gig writing for the Disney Star Wars. When asked if she includes people she knows in her books, she explained about adding her friend Rodney into one of her Star Wars' books. She gave him the name Yendor (Rodney backwards), and he became so popular that other writers of the same series added his character to their books. That was a cool piece of information. Usually, if she has trouble envisioning a character, she will cast them as a movie star and imbue the character with the star's personality. She did try regular 9 to 5 jobs before becoming a full time writer, but her love of going to work in her pajamas won out. She does love writing full time, but the reality of the job did not always meet what she expected. The editing, meetings with agents and publishers, and deadlines have not always fit easily into her day to day writing. The chance to travel the world that she has been able to do because of her books has made it all worthwhile. You can read more about her visit on the librarian's blog.
Liesl Shurtliff, virtual visit
Noevember 14, 2018
When the visit with author Liesl Shurtliff was planned three months ago for BRiMS, the annual holiday lunch with parents was not on the school's calendar. Several BRiMS members missed the event because it took so long for them to get their lunch in the cafeteria. On the other hand, several students brought their family into the library to eat lunch with them, and their parents and grandparents stayed for the virtual visit. That was a first but also a bit of fun. Shurtliff spoke for about 10 minutes explaining where she got her ideas and how she began writing. It took her 15 years of writing before she published a book, but when she sat down to write Rump, her first published book, it took less than a year. She did not initially plan to write fantasy because she was interested in so many contemporary topics and expected realistic fiction to be her genre. Then we opened up the floor to questions. She talked about why fairy tale retellings are so popular. Part of the reason is that the story is familiar and readers like familiar, and another reason is that people like to read about different sides of the same story. By retelling Rumpelstiltskin from Rump's point of view, the reader gets insight as to why he acted the way he did. A virtual visit may not be quite as big of a treat as meeting an author face to face, but Shurtliff was a good listener and open to answering all the students questions.
Daniel José Older
September 11, 2018
It was the book birthday for The Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older, and the author chose to spend part of the day with our 6th and 7th graders. Older spent time explaining why he chose to write an historical fiction, fantasy mash up for his first middle grade novel and how that mash up manifested in the story. As a kid, Older was fascinated with monsters and drew them all the time. He was also intrigued by the history of a real orphans' home that existed in New York during the mid-1800s. Many of the events in the book actually happened like the New York City draft riots that caused many buildings to go up in flames. Most of the characters that appear in his book are fictional, but he does include a few historical figures. Having his characters interact with dinosaurs just seemed right to him. His book is an action-packed adventure story, and the dinosaurs help to save the day because Magdalys, the heroine, is able to communicate telepathically with them. Read more about this visit on the librarian's blog.