on campus

I’m happy to be off the road for a while after two back-to-back campus visits this month. It’s tiring but so worthwhile—I definitely miss teaching and so it’s great to be back in the classroom or having one-on-one discussions with college students. Last week I was invited to Denison University as a speaker in their Laura C. Harris series; Bear S. Bergman and I answered the question, “What’s so subversive about inclusive kid lit?”  and talked about using indie publishing and micro-presses to produce radical kid lit. Flamingo Rampant is publishing so many amazing stories for kids—be sure to check out their selection of books representing all types of families. I don’t think I’ll ever became a publisher; it’s hard enough just trying to get my own work into the world! I got home on Friday and then early Sunday morning hit the road again. During the five-hour trip to Penn State, Altoona I did some quality dreaming and then used the subsequent snowy day to work on a few chapters of my Viking novel. I arrived just in time for the community dinner and joined their Afrofuturism-themed African American Read-In by sharing a bit of Dragons in a Bag. The next evening I gave a talk on my fantasy fiction for teens and wrapped up with a reading of Cin’s Mark. The weather turned treacherous last night and campus was closed today, but an intrepid prof drove me to the train station this morning and Amtrak got me back home to Philly. I have a few more events this month but they’re LOCAL. I do love visiting new places but I’m looking forward to staying put for a while…