Jen Bryant author

Friday, November 6, 2009 (evening)

Attended the annual author/ illustrator gathering at one the very best bookstores on the East Coast, Children’s Book World in Haverford, PA. By 8:00 pm, the store was filled to capacity with local writers and artists as well as teachers, librarians, and eager readers of all ages. I met lots of wonderful people, signed many copies of my picture books and novels, and left feeling sad that it would be a whole year until the NEXT annual gathering!

Friday, November 6, 2009 (daytime)

I visited the Benchmark School in Media, PA (my husband’s hometown) where I had a delightful time speaking with students age seven to fourteen. Once again, the teachers had done a marvelous job sharing the books, and upon my arrival, I found brightly colored nightingales flying above us in the library, depicting the scene in Music for the End of Time. The students asked intelligent questions after each of my presentations, and were particularly interested in the mishandling of the police evidence in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. My workshop with a smaller group of students also yielded excellent discussions about “what to leave in and what to leave out” when you’re writing a short story, poem, or novel, as well as how to make your descriptions of character and setting stronger. Special thanks to parent Maria Courter and librarian Leslie Komarnicki for their generous hospitality and hours of extra work to make my visit well-organized and fun.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Took a break from my writing this month to participate in the annual KSRA (Keystone State Reading Association) conference in Hershey, PA, where I met many dedicated and talented teachers, librarians, and reading specialists from across our state. My author workshop, "Combining Fact & Fiction," covered my recent biographical picture books and also my historical novels—three of which are set in the NJ/PA region. Saw several of my old friends at the author’s tea, including writer/ illustrator Bruce Van Patter and reading specialist extraordinaire, Susan Brennan.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

West Chester, PA, is one of my favorite towns—and on this day I was lucky enough to spend it with students in grades K-5 at the West Chester Friends School on High Street.
It marks the first time ever that I gave my author talk in a meeting house—and hopefully it won’t be the last (great acoustics & natural light!). The teachers and the librarian, Ruth Vecchione, had prepared the kids really well by reading my picture book biographies of artist Georgia O’keeffe, composer Olivier Messiaen, and poet William Carlos Williams.

In addition, the classes had visited the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford and had great questions about my novel Pieces of Georgia, which includes scenes from the museum: “Did you ever want to be a painter? Did you ever meet any of the Wyeths? Why didn’t Georgia tell her father she was going there after school?”

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Many friends, educators, and neighbors found me signing books at Wellington Square Book Shop this afternoon. This is a great new independent store in the heart of the Eagleview Towne Center complex, so if you live in the greater Philadelphia area, you need to find it! You will oooooo and AHHHH over the lovely decor, the welcoming staff, and the awesome current and rare book collections. You can buy used and new books for all ages (including all of my novels and picture books) and you can peruse dozens of well-stocked shelves for you favorite best-sellers, mysteries, history, and general fiction. And a bonus: the coffee is delicious and inexpensive!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

At the Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, PA, I met with a group of wonderful eighth grade students from the Harford Day School in Bel Air, MD. They had read my novel Pieces of Georgia over the summer, and that very morning had toured the galleries of the Brandywine River Museum to view the paintings by N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and Jamie Wyeth. After their tour, I met with them to talk about my writing process, my inspiration and research for Pieces of Georgia (in which the main character makes several secret visits to the museum and models her own work after that of the Wyeths.)

This was the second year I’ve met with 8th graders from Harford Day School and it was just as much fun as last year, with many great questions from the students and lots of good discussion about the creative process in writing and in visual art.

July 10-14th

Five terrific days spent in Chicago at the ALA Annual convention. I could write a hundred pages on all the good people I met there, all the great conversations that Melissa Sweet & I had with committee members, librarians, editors, publishers, fellow writers and illustrators from all over the country. But … in the interest of meeting my deadlines, here's the link to the Publishers Weekly article covering the highlights—enjoy!

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