Everything you might want to know about Jacqueline Woodson is probably somewhere on her website. Not only is she a prolific author -- more than two dozen books in the two-plus decades since her career took off -- she's a prolific provider of digital information:
"I can only write with my notebook turned sideways. When I was a kid, I wrote with it turned upside down," the "fun facts" section of jacquelinewoodson.com reveals. Also, "I know the lyrics to about a thousand bad songs from the 1970s, including songs from TV commercials and television shows" and "I have only lost at checkers once or twice. I have only won at chess once."
FAQ
True Lit:
Jacqueline Woodson
WHEN — 7 p.m. Oct. 3
WHERE — Fayetteville Public Library
COST — Free
INFO — truelitfest.com
FYI
True Lit
Schedule
Wednesday
Preschool Story Time — With author Vanessa Rouse and illustrator Phillip Rouse, 10:30 a.m., Fayetteville Public Library
Poet Jericho Brown — 7 p.m., University of Arkansas Giffels Auditorium
Thursday
Market Yourself, Market Your Book — With Marilyn Collins, 9 a.m.-noon, FPL
Fayetteville High School Blair Lecture Series — With Jacqueline Woodson, 10:21 a.m., Fayetteville High School
Fayetteville Public Schools Young Authors — With Jacqueline Woodson, 1 p.m., FHS
Skirting Genre Boundaries — With Scott Phillips, 1-4 p.m., FPL
Noir at the Bar — With Scott Phillips, Jedidiah Ayres, Jake Hinkson & John Hornor Jacobs, 8 p.m., Nightbird Books
Oct. 3
UA Creative Writing Workshop — With poet Michael Heffernan, 9 a.m., FPL
Author Talk — With Jacqueline Woodso, 7 p.m., FPL
Oct. 4
La Strada dell’Arte Pastel Masterpieces — 9 a.m., Mountain Street
Coffee Meet & Greet — 9:30 a.m., FPL
The Sci-Fi Horror of a Cowboy that Murdered the Reader — A panel discussion in genres with Pam Foster, Susan Holmes and Brad Carter, 10 a.m., FPL
“Stellaluna” — With Stone Lion Puppet Theatre, 10:30 a.m., FPL
Why Are You Using that Red Pen? — Joining and using a critic group with Nancy Hartney, 11 a.m., FPL
Lights! Camera! Arkansas! — With Robert Cochran and Suzanne McCray, 1 p.m., FPL
Go Indie — With Darcy Pattison, 2 p.m., FPL
Native Stories — Defying the stereotype with Toni Jensen, 3 p.m., FPL
In her online biography, Woodson admits that growing up, "I wrote on everything and everywhere," even on the side of a building. "It was not pretty for me when my mother found out," she says.
"I also told a lot of stories as a child. Not 'Once upon a time' stories but basically, outright lies. I loved lying and getting away with it! There was something about telling the lie-story and seeing your friends' eyes grow wide with wonder. Of course I got in trouble for lying but I didn't stop until fifth grade."
That year, she wrote a story that earned praise from her teacher, and Woodson learned "a lie on the page was a whole different animal -- one that won you prizes and got surly teachers to smile."
Woodson, 51, will visit the Fayetteville Public Library for True Lit: Fayetteville's Literary Festival. During the festival, she will be the featured speaker at the Young Author's Series for Fayetteville Public Schools' fourth graders, the Blair Lecture Series for 10th graders and at a public presentation for the FPL Author Series at the Fayetteville Public Library.
Even after three Newbery Honor Medals, a Coretta Scott King Award, a Caldecott Medal and a Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement, Woodson is still finding new ways to write. Her most recent book is "Brown Girl Dreaming."
"'Brown Girl Dreaming,' written in vivid free verse, is a reflection of her life growing up in the '60s and '70s," says Lolly Greenwood, FPL director of youth services. "In the book, Ms. Woodson beautifully connects the history of our nation with her family and her personal experiences. The book touches on race, religion, family, friends and the search for her place in the world. The result is a powerful, educational and moving memoir. Ms. Woodson strongly believes that books change lives, and this one will certainly have an impact on those who read it."
Here, Woodson briefly answers five questions for What's Up! readers.
Q. Do you write with the intention of teaching? Or is it just a side-effect of good storytelling?
A. I never think about teaching when I'm writing. I'm usually thinking about what I don't know. Writing is a process of finding out stuff for me. I write because I have questions, not answers, and think a good book should do just that -- raise a lot of questions.
Q. You don't write sweet, fuzzy books, do you?
A. No. I'm a bit deeper than that.
Q. Are there topics you hope to write about that haven't quite come into focus?
A. Nope. In 31 books, I think I've pretty much covered many of the questions I have.
Q. What do you hope comes out of personal interaction with young people?
A. I hope we can hear each other and listen to each other. That's all one can hope from any great interaction.
Q. What do you hope you are remembered for as an author?
A. My writing.
-- Becca Martin-Brown
NAN What's Up on 09/26/2014