Writing

Find out how an author writes a picture book and how she works with the editor, publisher, and illustrator to complete the project. Covers primary and secondary sources, photo research, writing, rewriting. Suitable for grades 4+.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, "I like biography better than fiction myself; fiction is too free. In biography you have your little handful of facts, little bits of a puzzle, and you sit and think and fit 'em together this way and that." Here I describe my research, writing, editing, and revising techniques, using examples from my books.

An illustrated lecture with family photographs of me and my mother and co-author Jean Shirley, and with pictures of Oz books, old and new. This brief presentation is suitable for audiences of widely varying ages, from kindergarten to adults.