What's on Kwame Alexander's mind on a Tuesday morning in October?
"Food, that's what's on my mind," he says with a chuckle, speaking by phone from Austin, Texas. He's in the middle of a 30-city tour promoting his latest book, "Swing," and he's just finished the "Good Day Austin" morning show on KTBC/Fox 7. He admits he's exhausted but still having fun.
FAQ
True Lit:
Kwame Alexander
WHEN — 7 p.m. Oct. 30
WHERE — Fayetteville Public Library
COST — Free
INFO — faylib.org
FYI
True Lit: Fayetteville Literary Festival Schedule
Oct. 28 — Crafting the Adventure Scene Writing Workshop with Gordon Korman, 2 p.m.; book signing, 3 p.m.
Oct. 29 — Pitch Like a Pro to the Pros with Marilyn Collins, 10 a.m.
Oct. 30 — An Evening With Kwame Alexander, 7 p.m.
Oct. 31 — Open Mouth Poetry Series with Ashley Roach-Freiman and Emma Bolden, 6 p.m.
Nov. 1 — Arkansas International Readings & Issue Launch, 6 p.m.
Nov. 2 — University of Arkansas 2018 Distinguished Reader, Novelist Marlon James, 7 p.m.
Nov. 3 — A Path to Publication with Lisa Miller, Katie Bridges, Joy Clark, Kody Ford, Cassidy McCants, Nancy Vernon, Jeanne Devlin & Elle Nash, 10 a.m.
— Publisher Pitch Sessions, 1 p.m.
— Tell Your Story: Exploring the Personal Essay with Elizabeth DeMeo, 1 p.m.
— How to Query a Novel with Marina Lostetter, 2 p.m.
— Open Mouth Poetry Workshop: Give Me Liberty or At Least My Own Tongue, 3 p.m.
INFO — faylib.org
"It takes real work to change the world."
He's not being factitious. Alexander knows the world "doesn't look too pretty right now," and he believes his job as an author is to "give kids tools, ways to imagine it better -- how to cope, how to deal, how to heal."
A poet, educator and bestselling author of 28 books, Alexander comes across as a force of nature. He's determined that books give young people -- all people, but young people are his passion -- not just escape from the real world but inspiration to fix it.
"As adults, we've screwed things up," he says. "We have a responsibility to help kids right the ship."
Raised in Manhattan, N.Y., by parents who were writers, Alexander says he "didn't find writing. It found me. It was in my genes, just part of my life." "I wrote my first poem when I was 12," he is quoted as saying. "It was a Mother's Day poem for my mother, and it was horrible, but she liked it a lot. I decided I wanted to be a poet when I wrote a poem for a girl I liked in college. Later, she married me. Yay for poetry!"
Now, he says, he writes for his 10-year-old daughter and everyone else her age, hoping to convince them "reading and writing and books and poetry are cool." He also encourages would-be writers to read.
"Learn what other writers have done right and wrong. This will help you find your own voice. Also, say yes!"
In a 2017 TEDx talk, Alexander preaches the importance of saying yes -- yes to ideas, yes to opportunities, yes to second chances. His first book, "The Crossover," got published because he wouldn't take no for an answer, he says.
"The Crossover" won Alexander the 2015 John Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children -- a topic that still causes him to tear up. He's not out to be a hero, he says, but he does encourage youngsters to look around them, not up at a big screen or a stage, for inspiration.
"My parents were my first heroes," he says. "My daughters are my heroes. I try to find the hero in ordinary people I interact with every day."
NAN What's Up on 10/14/2018