Host an Author Event!
LizStar Books is happy to organize visits by our author to your school, library, book club, or place of business. An event can include a reading, book signing, or a short talk on the inspiration behind a book and the writing and publication process.
To find out more about hosting an author event, just send us a message using the handy form on our Contact page, or drop us a line via e-mail.
Recent Events
Author and Illustrator speak at C. Milton Wright High School
Amidst the festivities of Homecoming Week, Tracy Banghart and Julia Blum, author and illustrator of What the Sea Wants, spoke to approximately 50 students at C. Milton Wright High School in Bel Air, MD. The event was coordinated through the school's Media Center.
Addressing a mixture of creative writing students and 9th grade English students, Banghart immediately engaged the audience with her evocative reading of a suspenseful passage from What the Sea Wants. When Banghart and Blum opened the floor to questions, students were eager to ask about the writing, illustrating, and publishing processes. There was particular interest in how to get one's writing published and the author and illustrator's sources of inspiration.
After the talk, students were invited to approach the author and illustrator individually with questions. Said Blum, "I was excited and flattered by the students' enthusiasm. It was great fun to talk with them and see how we had sparked their interest." Copies of the book were made available for sale, signed on the spot by Banghart and Blum.
Lecture, Discussion, and Luncheon at Harford Day School
It was no ordinary event when Tracy Banghart and Julia Blum, author and illustrator of the new book What the Sea Wants, visited Harford Day School in Bel Air, MD. The two women first met 22 years ago as pre-kindergartners at HDS, so this special book event was also a homecoming.
In preparation for the visit, the entire HDS middle school had read and discussed What the Sea Wants in English class or had it read aloud during Library periods. As the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades filed into the HDS Library, students and faculty alike were brimming with questions for the author and illustrator.
After a brief dramatic reading, Banghart and Blum launched into an informative behind-the-scenes tour of how the book came to be, taking students through each step of the writing, illustration, and publishing process. A lively, student-driven discussion followed, with questions ranging from the reasons behind the illustrator's stylistic choices to the meaning of various symbols employed by the author. At the end, Banghart and Blum signed books and commemorative postcards.
Following the lecture and discussion, author and illustrator were delighted to preside at a luncheon for students who had expressed interest in meeting them. The students' reasons for signing up were varied—some were big fans of the book, others hoped some day to become authors or illustrators themselves. Banghart and Blum discussed their creative motivations and the paths they had followed from their days as HDS middle schoolers to the creation of What the Sea Wants.
The event will be covered in a forthcoming issue of Daybreaks, the Harford Day School newsletter.