Yesterday at St. Cloud State University's 33rd Annual Children's Literature Workshop, I was privileged to sit with Jackie Briggs Martin. "I love talking about writing stories," she said, as she began her first presentation. Her books, she hopes, provide fodder for wonder as they tap a child's imagination and remind him of amazing facts. Writers have an obligation to story, she believes, and for her that means researching, writing a strong story, and presenting the book (along with the illustrator). To get the facts for her stories, she reads and visits the places and people who might provide information. When writing The Chiru of the High Tibet, she consulted George Schaller and got dimensions for a chiru in order to keep that image in her mind. That paper chiru joined the presentation. "I choose to tell the stories I love, the stories that sustain me when I think of them," she concluded.
Workshops like these are inspiring. Yesterday we went to a reading by a well-known mystery writer. He read the first chapter of his new book, took 4 questions and then left to autograph his books. I would much rather have been at your workshop!!
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