WordFest

I just did my first WordFest reading.  They bused kids in from a school and we read for them.  Afterwards, looking into their faces, it felt like I was looking at, remembering myself as a child.  What an honor it is for me to have the opportunity to share Porcupine with them.  My book that is such a big part of me.  I talked with one of the teachers from the school who teaches band and language arts.  And he told me this was not something that these children would normally have access to.  That WordFest paid for their tickets and paid to bus them here so they could experience this.  You could tell that some of them didn’t have a soft comfy existence.  Not by their clothes or the way they behaved, because this group of kids was truly wonderful.  It was more a look in the eyes, that said, “I’ve seem more life than a lot of kids my age.  I know what it is to work.“  I wanted to scoop them up in my arms.  Tell them my life story, let them know that many of the most accomplished people I know come from places and homes like theirs.  Like mine.  What a privilege that WordFest has given us authors access to kids like these.  Who I believe need books and the written word even more than those who have so much.  I feel very lucky to be here.

Posted by Meg Tilly on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 in Chewing the Fat