Click here to join the Writing Workshop, a live virtual program happening from 5-6:30pm.
If you’re having difficulties, please refer to Zoom’s support information. Westbank Library is unable to provide tech assistance during the program. Please contact questions@westbanklibrary.com if you would like to schedule tech help or if you would like additional information regarding this library program.
HYBRID: Author Panel Discussion @ Laura’s Library
Three authors of children’s middle-grade books will join us for a panel discussion about their inspiration, creative process, path to publication, and advice for up-and-coming writers!
Authors on panel:
Evan Griffith is the author of the middle-grade novel Manatee Summer and the picture book biography Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power, Revolutionary Marine Scientist. His next novel is The Strange Wonder of Roots, forthcoming from Quill Tree in 2024. He studied creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
He worked for several years as an editor at Workman Publishing, where he specialized in non-fiction for children and adults, and he continues to edit books on a freelance basis. Through his role as the youth programming specialist at The Writing Barn, he also teaches online writing classes for kids.
He lives here in Austin with a mischievous tuxedo cat and several overflowing bookshelves.
Samantha M Clark is the award-winning author of three middle-grade novels – The Boy, the Boat, and the Beast; Arrow; and American Horse Tales: Hollywood – as well as the Gemstone Dragons chapter book series. In a past life, Samantha was a photojournalist and managing editor for newspapers and magazines. She now lives with her husband and two funny dogs here in Austin, where she helps other writers as the Regional Advisor for the Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.
Jacquetta Nammar Feldman is a children’s author who lives here in Austin. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin, and her Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the author of middle grade novels Wishing Upon the Same Stars and The Puttermans Are in the House.
Please read these ground rules ahead of the conversation:
- Please keep your camera on for the discussion and provide your name.
- Mute if there is background noise.
- Respect the privacy of others by not reporting what you hear in this conversation with any specificity or attribution.
- Be respectful and listen when others are speaking.
- Allow everyone’s voice to be heard that wants to be heard.