A great day of writing with kids from the Prairie Renaissance Cultural Alliance‘s Prairie Arts Camp. Inspired by a recent Kiese Laymon Facebook post, we wrote about things we used to think.

 

Third Meeting: Writers, Writers Everywhere!

This week, we wrote about doppelgängers, disco dancing in the 1980s, eating apples, some “Flash” fan fiction, and space cats! Check out pieces below by Sawyer, Oliver, Mija, and Parker!

Second Meeting

Our Second Meeting of the Creative Writing Club for Kids and Teens was super fun! We wrote about the future, prophecies, giant kittens, and Louis wow-ed us, as always, with his spectacular fashion choices (check out that blazer and fur hat!). Pieces below by Oliver and Roberto:

First Meeting!

This summer, I’m hosting a free creative writing club for kids and teens at the Morris Public Library. We had our first fantastic, fun, and silly meeting today! Thanks to Anne Hennen Barber and the Morris Public Library for hosting us! I’ll be updating this site after each meeting with some photos and pieces the club members are excited to share with the world!

We imagined our dream summers, shared the epic tales of the “not-to-smart man” and some farting cats, and learned that some of our club members do NOT like spicy burritos! Check out work by Rowan, Ellis, and Parker!

Thanks to Brian O’Keefe at WDCB for airing this piece again today in celebration of Fermilab‘s 50^th anniversary. Click here to listen.

 

 

MN friends, join us Saturday and Sunday for a super New London weekend of literary fun! Grab a Goat Ridge (root) beer and check out the fantastic new Flyleaf Book Shop:

Saturday, June 24: the New London Story Show, 3 p.m. Goat Ridge Brewery, $10

Sunday, June 25: Reading & Book Talk by Chrissy Kolaya followed by an Open Mic for All Ages, 3 p.m. Goat Ridge Brewery, FREE! Kids welcome and encouraged! Bring a story or poem to share, or write something while you sip on a Goat Ridge Root Beer! We’ll have prompts and things to write with should the inspiration strike! Note: getting up to the mic is not a requirement!

Got to read last night at the excellent Better World Books – Goshen (which has the coolest DIY wallpaper ever–see below),

and check out whose book I ran into on the way out! The amazing Alison Umminger.

Thanks to the junior members of the Kyle Schlabach/Jessica Baldanzi family for capturing this pic of me and my event poster (spoiler alert: that’s basically what happens at the end of #charmedparticles)

 

Michiana friends, I’ll be reading in your neck of the woods next week:

• Wednesday, May 3, 6:30 p.m. at Better World Books – Goshen
• Thursday, May 4, 7:30 p.m. at the Goshen College Church-Chapel’s Koinonia Room

Both events are free and open to the public.

Thanks so much to Goshen College and Jessica Baldanzi for the invitation!

Milwaukee friends, would love to see you Monday night! Free and open to the public! Thanks to Mount Mary University for the invite!

A giganto thank you to The Measure of Everyday Life – WNCU for devoting a whole episode to Charmed Particles and the big question of how we wrestle with uncertainty in science and society.

You can listen at the link below, but really you should subscribe to this podcast because it’s amazing! High fives to Brian Southwell, Karla Jimenez, McCall Wells, and Marina Poole!

Uncertainty in Science and Society: What exactly is uncertainty? How do people deal with this concept in science and in their everyday lives? Novelist Chrissy Kolaya joins us to discuss the idea of uncertainty as it relates to her novel, Charmed Particles, which explores public attitudes towards science and the fear of the unknown.

Thrilled to have this piece on ‪Charmed Particles in the Chicago Tribune and the Orlando Sentinel. Thanks to Jeremy Mikula for a great story, with links to the Trib’s original coverage of the SSC controversy. And for anyone interested in the real story behind the Superconducting Super Collider, a great shout out here for Adrienne Kolb and co-authors’ Tunnel Visions.

Thanks to Brian Nguyen for the pic!