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This weekend I had the exciting privilege to participate in the third annual Books along the Teche Literary Festival. Early on Saturday morning, I spoke on a panel with my publisher Josh Caffery from UL Press, Carol Stubbs co-director of our local SCBWI, and fellow authors Denise Gallagher and Jess Butterworth. My friend, author illustrator Paul Schexnayder, moderated the panel. We had more than thirty people in the early morning crowd. We talked about writing and publishing for children.
Following the panel, ten children’s authors and illustrators joined me in Church Alley for story time, book signings, and a bookmaking workshop. My former student teacher brought her sons and their cousins to make zines with me. What fun to have these kids successfully write a Things to do poem and illustrate them in little zines. Look how proud they all were!
Another highlight of my day was when a former student came by. I taught her in my early years of teaching, some 30+ years ago. She’s a mother now, and she brought her 6 year old to meet me and get a book signed to him. Later, he drew a picture for me from one of the illustrations in Bayou Song. His mom texted me the picture. Oh, joy!
With Pam and Port at the Books along the Teche Literary Festival
This was a day to remember and treasure. My favorite part of this whole author business is making connections to kids (and reconnecting with their parents.)
For National Poetry Month, I am writing a poem a day. Today we are borrowing William Carlos Williams’ line “So much depends upon.” I played with magnetic poetry to create this one:
So much depends upon
a diamond rose
rising
from still raina thousand fiddle
symphony
rising
from birds in the trees–a lazy spring moment.
–Margaret Simon, (draft) 2019
Reflections on the Teche 