Writer Alums Visit Williams

Caragh O’Brien, Dayna Lorentz, Kristin Cashore, and Tui Sutherland at Williams College, October 2, 2014

Returning to Williamstown to be on a panel with other writer alums and visit a class on Children’s Literature was a pleasure for me last week. I was intrigued to meet up with alums from different eras, knowing we now have writing YA in common, and I felt warmly included by Dayna Lorentz, Kristin Cashore, and Tui Sutherland, who were all friends with each other already. Moderators Mary Cotton and Jim Shepard, also writers, brought their own expertise to the panel as well. Many of those attending the event were writers, too, and it was nice to see some kids mixed in with the college crowd. We fielded questions from the academic (How would you define YA? How does it relate to adult literary fiction?), to the down-to-earth (Why did you choose 1st or 3rd person?) with lots of cordial laughs.

The next day, Dayna, Kristin, Tui and I visited Professor Janneke van de Stadt’s class for an intimate, round-table conversation about writing, gender in publishing, the impact of reviews, taking risks, parents’ concerns about profanity, violence, and sex in their children’s books, and the importance of supportive editors. I think our experiences, as writers, are quite different from the undergrads’ experiences of studying children’s literature, as a discipline, so it was interesting to exchange ideas.

l. to r.: Sam, Donny, Cooper, Ryle, Kristin Cashore, Tui Sutherland, Dayna Lorentz, Prof. Janneke van de Stadt, Lauren and David in Children’s Literature, Williams College, October 3, 2014.

 This recap would not be complete if I did not add that of course Dayna, Kristin, Tui and I stopped in the Paresky Center for a late snack. It was pretty great to be hanging out with friends and talking a mile a minute. Does coffee ice cream have caffeine in it? That’s what I want to know.