The M. Jerry Weiss Center for Children's and Young Adult Literature has continued to present author's of note to the NJCU community.
Eris Velasquez
On January 29,2009 author/illustrator Eric Velasquez appeared and gave an interesting and sometimes amusing presentation on his life as an artist. in the most touching part of the presentation, Velasquez, showed pictures of his visit to Puerto Rico. He visited all the places she knew growing up, and presented the pictures as a present to her before she passed away.
Readers of his book Grandma's Records enjoyed it immensely because he shared pictures of the places his grandmother knew and showed monuments to the musicians memorialized in the book. Velasquez, disclosed that he has also written a pre-quel to the book, but does not know precisely when it will be released. After the workshop, Velasquez, graciously visited the Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library and posed by the book display of his books.
Gregory Galloway
On February 26, 2009, ALEX Award winner Greg Galloway, presented an introduction to his writing career and read from his book, As Simple As Snow. Galloway also described how he developed a companion website http://assimpleassnow.com/ for readers of his book, Galloway's enigmatic book stimulated a lively discussion. Following that, a creative writing exercise demonstrated how the creative process can be stimulated with K-12 students.
Alex Simmons
On March 26, 2009, Alex Simmons, author of books, comic books and Kids'Comic.Con will appear. For information
contact Maureen McGuire, director of development, at mmcguire1@njcu.edu or call 201-200-3196.
