This October, we’re excited to announce bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson will be paying the Fox Cities a visit! Laurie Halse Anderson lives in northern New York in a woodland cottage with her husband, four children, and dog. She started her writing career as a freelance reporter, and went on to become a bestselling author of children’s picture books, YA novels, and historical fiction. Many of you may know her as the author of the novels Wintergirls, Twisted, Chains, and Speak. Her most recent work, Ashes, is a historical fiction novel about the American Revolution that comes in as the final book in the Seeds of America trilogy.
In 2009, Laurie Halse Anderson received the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the YALSA division of the American Library Association for her books Catalyst, Fever 1793, and Speak. Her novels Chains and Speak were even National Book Award finalists. She also received the ALAN Award from the high school English teachers of America in 2008, and the American Association of School Librarians chose her as their School Library Month spokesperson in 2010.
On her website, Anderson says “If she could have anything she wanted, it would be world peace. But if she could have a second thing, it would be having people say her name correctly,” explaining that “Halse” rhymes with “waltz.” She also says that she’s loved writing since second grade, and in an interview, when asked about what motivates her to write, she said, “Writing keeps me healthy and sane. When I am working on a story, I channel the dark, sad, confused, angry bits of me into something constructive and healing. I always feel better after a day of writing.”
Laurie will be holding two events at the Fox Cities Book Festival, both on October 10. One, titled “The Power of Speaking Up: The Writing of and Reaction to Speak” will be from 1:00pm to 2:00pm at the Neenah Public Library, and the other, titled “Censorship in America: Why Are Adults so Afraid of the Real World?” will be held the same day from 6:00pm to 7:00pm at UW-Fox Valley Perry Hall.
Want to find out more about Laurie Halse Anderson? Check out her website, Goodreads, YouTube, and Twitter! You can order signed copies of Laurie’s books from River’s End Bookstore in Oswego, NY.
