WCYA Welcomes Summer 2018 Visiting Writers & New Faculty

In Vermont, our Visiting Writer will be graphic novelist Jillian Tamaki. Author and literacy advocate Penny Kittle will also join us for an interview with faculty member Linda Urban. Cori McCarthy is a graduate of VCFA and will be attending their first residency as a faculty member of the program.

In the UK, Katherine Paterson will be participating in this summer’s Bath Spa residency. Siobhán Parkinson will also join students for an afternoon in Oxford, where she and Katherine will be interviewed by faculty member David Gill.

Public Readings & Lecture Schedule at VCFA

• JULY 12, 7 PM, College Hall Chapel – Jillian Tamaki reading and book signing
• JULY 13, 1:15 PM, College Hall Chapel – Jillian Tamaki lecture
• JULY 13, 2:30 PM, College Hall Chapel – Linda Urban interview with Penny Kittle
• JULY 15, 7 PM, College Hall Chapel – Cori McCarthy reading

All events are free and open to the public—please join us!

About the Writers

Jillian Tamaki is an illustrator and comics artist living in Toronto, Ontario. She is the co-creator, with her cousin Mariko Tamaki, of Skim and This One Summer, the latter of which won a Caldecott Honor and Printz Award in 2015. Her own graphic novels include SuperMutant Magic Academy and Boundless. Her first picture book, They Say Blue, which explores our perception and experience of the natural world, was released in March 2018 and just won the Boston Globe-Horn Book award.

Website: jilliantamaki.com/books

Penny Kittle is one of the nation’s leading advocates for child and young adult literacy, and is a sought-after speaker on topics in literacy education K-12 throughout North America and across the world. She has 33 years in teaching, and has spent the last 20 as a K-12 literacy coach and an English teacher at North Conway’s Kennett High School. She also teaches in the Summer Literacy Institutes at the University of New Hampshire. This fall, she will be teaching writing to college freshmen at Plymouth State University. Penny is the author of numerous books including 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents (coauthored with Kelly Gallagher), Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers; Children Want to Write (coauthored with Thomas Newkirk); and Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing. She also co-authored two books with her mentor, Don Graves. She is the president of the Book Love Foundation and was given the 2015 Exemplary Leader Award from NCTE’s Conference on English Leadership.

Website: pennykittle.net

Cory McCarthy is the acclaimed author of four YA novels, as well as a forthcoming coauthored space fantasy duology and a nonfiction picture book about Arab American poet Kahlil Gibran. Kirkus hailed their lyrical science fiction debut The Color of Rain as “an elegantly written and emotionally cathartic page-turner.” Their futuristic thriller Breaking Sky is in development to become a major motion picture, and their contemporary You Were Here combines word art poetry, graphic novel, and prose. Cori’s feminist romcom Now A Major Motion Picture is, according to Kirkus, “a war cry and a love letter all at once,” and their novel in verse won the MG category of the Katherine Paterson Prize. Cori holds a BA and MFA in creative writing as well as a degree in screenwriting. They cofounded the annual Rainbow Writers Workshop with their partner and, like many of their characters, are a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Website: greenhouseliterary.com/authors/cori-mccarthy

Siobhán Parkinson writes novels, mostly for children and young people. She says herself that she writes “to the imagination.” True, most of the imaginations who engage with her work are on the youthful side, but in her view, the best books are for everyone who enjoys them. She is also publisher with an independent publishing house called Little Island, which brings out really great books for children and teenagers. Siobhán served as Ireland’s first ever laureate for children’s literature (Laureate na nÓg) from May 2010 to May 2012. She also teaches creative writing at St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin.

Website: siobhanparkinson.com

Katherine Paterson is the author of more than 30 books, including 16 novels for children and young people. She has twice won the Newbery Medal, for Bridge to Terabithia in 1978 and Jacob Have I Loved in 1981. The Master Puppeteer won the National Book Award in 1977 and The Great Gilly Hopkins won the National Book Award in 1979 and was also a Newbery Honor Book. For the body of her work, she received the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1998, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2006, and in 2000 was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress. She is a vice-president of the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance and is a member of the board of trustees for Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is also a honorary lifetime member of the International Board of Books for Young People and an Alida Cutts lifetime member of the US section, USBBY. She was the 2010-2011 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.

Website: katherinepaterson.com