So You Want to be a Writer?

To open the spring season for the Presidential Lecture & Performance Series, nine authors, illustrators and editors plus students and faculty gave presentations on reading, literacy and books for young and adolescent readers.

Engaging Young Readers: A Festival of Authors and Ideas ran Feb. 16-17 in varying locations across campus. The program gave students and members of the community a look inside the world of children’s literature and how it gets published.

The event featured talks and workshops with Texas Tech University Press authors Melodie A. Cuate, Carlos Nicolás Flores, Sheila Wood Foard, Jo Harper, Dewey Johnson and Lucy Fischer-West.

During the event, we asked four of these six authors what they considered important advice when pursuing a career as a writer.

The videos featured to the right contain their answers.

“Our main goal was to offer our students a rare chance to talk with celebrated authors and, this year, a major editor of children’s books,” says Kathryn Button, associate chairwoman of curriculum and instruction in the College of Education.  “Devoting two days to celebrating and enjoying literature is extremely important in our students’ futures as educators.” 

Related

• The Creative Writing Department at Texas Tech can offer graduate students learning opportunities far beyond those of an ordinary graduate school education. Our graduate programs attract students with exceptional writing and artistic ability. For more information, visit the Creative Writing Web site.

• An Old Time Fiction Reading