Category: author visit

Wisdom of the Week (April 16, 2026)

“If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?” Alice Walker

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing classes comes from Alice Walker:

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

“If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for?”

The cynical answer: Money, money, money.

Yes, because we live in an age of productization and profit, where success is measured in likes and followers and the size of our bank accounts (mine is big, by the way; it has a lot of space 😉).

But . . . I love the sentiment expressed by Walker in this above quote—which I snatched from the book I’m currently reading. It’s called Your Brian on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. It focuses on the neuroscience of art in human life and is a fantastic read (though, for me, a bit like preaching to the choir). 

I saw a lot of kids’ brains “on art” this past week! My wife, Marcie Nestman, and I delivered creative writing and theatrical programming at a local urban school. It’s amazing to see how kids participate in these activities. Many who can’t seem to focus or have other challenges, suddenly settle down when they are engaged in art—whether that be a theatre game or brainstorming a magic potion. Art serves us all.

Wisdom of the Week (February 19, 2026)

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” Georgia O'Keefe

The quote of the week for the teens in my creative writing classes comes from Georgia O’Keefe:

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.”

I would like to argue that “making your unknown known” is not only important—but in fact IS success. And maybe, just maybe, it’s the only definition of success that truly matters at the end of the day. For when we create art that is meaningful to us, there’s a good chance it will be meaningful to someone else. Not to an algorithm or a bot or a metric . . . but to someone who connects with you.

These days, authors inboxes are avalanched with marketing spam asking us to dole out dollars so that we can push our books to the top of the charts. They’re mostly written by AI, so are grossly imperfect (they often get my name or the title of my books incorrect). They are the antithesis of what Georgia O’Keefe is talking about. 

More meaningful is the email I get from a reader who gives a heartfelt response to one of my books, or one of my characters, or even to a magical situation that entertained them. Are my books NYT bestsellers? No. Are they at the top of the Amazon charts? No. But . . . I visit schools and receive emails from readers and cannot possibly argue that I have generally created worlds and characters that have connected with them.

Here’s a photo from a school I recently visited. Hey, my Land of Een—my creation—made the signpost of magical worlds!

How to turn your sister into a cockroach and other spells

What an amazing time last week at the Young Authors Conference in Kamloops. This conference, which has now been running for 45 years, brings kids from different schools in the district to gather at the local university campus and be treated to a day of workshops with professional writers, storytellers, and artists.

I’ve had the privilege of presenting here numerous times, but each year just seems to get better and better. The students, coordinators, and presenting authors are incredibly dedicated—and creative.

This year, I had the students imagine they were magic makers crafting a spell and stamping it with a seal. Because one of my educational principles is that nothing makes writing more fun than playing with fire—or imagining what mayhem you can cause for your sister (such as turning her into a cockroach)!

So you think you’re a wizard?

I completed a mini-residency at a local school this week, helping kids create magical or specialized schools.

We designed school crests, crafted potion spells, and wrote acceptance letters from their imagined schools to chosen characters.

The students particularly enjoyed putting the personal wax seal from the sender onto the letter! This is a fun activity, but like most crafts or prop-building ventures, the challenge is always in scaling it up to make sure everyone can do it in a limited amount of time.

I had three candles going and limited the colour choice for the wax to only two! (Nothing kills time like people having to make a choice that involves too many options).

Everything turned out really well. I had over 20 kids in the class, and only one person had a hot wax mishap! (Surprise, surprise: it was ME).

This is what creative education looks like: thief kits!

I’m posting photos of fun projects I’ve done over the years with students, as part of the anniversary celebration of CWC, the creative writing program I helped to start in 2004.

One idea I’ve always been fond of is character kits. What does a character pack with them for a quest or journey? Sometimes I get my students to brainstorm these ideas, or to draw the items inside a suitcase . . . but another way to intrigue them is to actually to put an actual kit in their hands. 

I’ve done this a few different ways, sometimes simply giving the kit to them and having them invent what each item does. In other cases, I have them build the items. And sometimes, it’s a bit of a combination. 

Last year, I did a few camps and residencies where the theme was “So you want to steal from a dragon?” Part of this was thinking of what a character would take on the quest to enter a dragon’s domain. Many students want to default to armor and weaponry—but if you’re facing one of those old-school European dragons, then wearing armor is like showing up in an oven. Som this activity allows a lot of thinking about character’s intentions and matching them with specific needs. This project also was a great match with making dragon scales—because sometimes that’s what the thief is trying to actually snatch! It could be other things, of course: treasure, eggs, or even a hatchling. Part of this also comes down to intention and motivation—and, also back to what tools are required for the quest.

Visiting Songpa Library in Korea

This is my last post about my recent library tour in Korea! My final stop was at Songpa Library in Seoul, and it was quite a way to end the tour. 

Not only was it a packed house, I was really amazed to step into the space and see the giant display! When The Secret of Zoone was coming out, I spent a lot of time designing stickers for the different worlds in my multiverse, so I’m always happy to see them put to good use. At Songpa, they were used to decorate the walls and miniature suitcases. It was one of my all-time favourite displays that a bookstore or library has ever done for me. 

Zoone had been a summer reading selection for the library, so I had a lot of very specific questions and requests from the audience. It was so much fun to be with these kids and to feel their enthusiasm and energy. You can tell we had a lot of fun by the “swarm” photo below (that is me being attacked by “glibbers,” just like in the book)!

After the visit, I went with two of the librarian to visit a bookstore in the area: Seoul Book Bogo. Apparently, the Songpa area used to be a sort of book district, with many bookshops located along the channel. According to my librarian friends, the city redeveloped the area and all the bookstores were amalgamated (or represented) in the Seoul Book Bogo. While I would have loved to wander that old book district, the new store has a very compelling design, so much so that it has been used as a filming location. I can see why; it very much has a sci-fi vibe!

A huge thanks to Juhee Song and her excellent team. They really made this final library visit something I’ll always remember.

Visiting Gangnam Library in Korea

I’m still getting back into my North Vancouver groove after my library tour in Korea. It was absolutely amazing and I can’t thank the libraries and staff enough, especially Juhee Song for her hard work in making the tour happen. 

Over the course of four days, I visited five libraries, talking about my love of writing and helping kids create their own stories. In particular, this tour was focusing on my book The Secret of Zoone, since many of the libraries had been doing that for a summer reading selection.

This set of photos is from Gwangnam Library located in Gwangju, a suburb of Seoul. Building off the idea of mysterious doors in The Secret of Zoone, I gave each student a miniature key then invited them to imagine what kind of door it would open. They created tags to attach to the keys and then drew the doorways.

Screenshot

Afterward, I took a tour of the library. What a space! In some ways, it was cavernous and majestic and in other cozy and comforting, but with many nooks and cozy crannies to hunker down and read, study, or work. Those little nooks were all filled during my tour—according to the librarians, patrons show up as soon as the doors open, just to get one of those cherished spots!


The library also has an extensive media department. I got to pretend to be a newscaster in one room and in another we played with the interactive storytelling room. You stand on a mat and get to participate in the story that unfolds on the screen in front of you!

The biggest challenge for this tour was getting to the different libraries each day on the subway. To be clear, the subway was super-easy . . . but the heat was not. I always brought an extra shirt in case I was drenched by sweat by the end of my commute. And my hair? Well, it does its own thing at the best of times anyway, never mind intense heat and humidity.

Unlocking story inspiration!

I had a great workshop at the Kensington branch of Vancouver Public Library yesterday! Each participant designed a mysterious door and were allowed to pick a key from my collection to go with it. We wrote intriguing tags to attach to those keys. I love how the kids naturally gave those tags some history with smears and wrinkles and tattered edges. This simple object really brought their imagined situations to life!

I posed storytelling questions such as “What does your character find first: the tag or the door?” (I explained that in my book The Secret of Zoone, the door is discovered before the key.) This led to some strong story inspirations; some kids got started on new things or decided to incorporate their doors and keys into projects they’re already working on. 

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in only an hour (which included me showing my slide deck of my favourite doors from around the world).

A big thank you to VPL and the BC Summer Reading Club for hosting me!

Step through the doorway to adventure!

Come join me for a fun Summer Reading Club event at the Vancouver Public Library!

In this writing workshop for Grades 4-7, I’ll be sharing my collection of doorways from around the world and explain how it has inspired my books including Kendra Kandlestar, The Secret of Zoone, Spell Sweeper—and the ones I’m working on!

We’ll design our own doors, consider storytelling questions, and get a scene started.

Plus . . . I definitely have some curiosities to share: dragon scales, potions, spell books, and magical creature eggs!

Registration open now!

Illustration by Meneka Repka.

Magical experiences with young authors

Well, that was fun!

Last week was the 45th annual Young Authors’ Conference in Kamloops and it was a real privilege to be there with the passionate teachers and organizers, the amazing authors and illustrators, and—of course—the kids.

I delivered three different sessions on the topic of “So you want to go to Wizard School.” I emphasized making specific detailed choices in creating fantasy situations and then the kids invented magical schools. We brought these to life by writing acceptance letters from that school to a character . . . a letter delivered by a miniature flying broom!

We made the broom, of course . . . and that was a big challenge, since I had almost ninety kids cycle through my workshop room. But I was able to do it with A LOT of advance prep and some amazing class helpers.

One of the reasons I love making props with kids is because it really helps them approach “story” from a different angle. The kids physically made their brooms, problem solved ways to bring their ideas to life, and got to fold up their letters and tuck them into tiny envelopes to attach to their brooms. The story came to life for them!

I also loved how the kids were able to think outside the box. I purposely didn’t bring paint or any complicated supplies—simply put, I needed to keep the project simple because of the number of participants and the limited time frame. But the students still found ways to paint or decorate their brooms with sharpies and felt pens . . . I can’t say I’m too surprised by their ingenuity, but it definitely pleased me.

Thank you to the conference organizers. It was a joy to work with the students, hang out with old kidlit friends, meets some new ones, and even get the opportunity to lunch with my favourite aunt. 

(And my apologies to the janitorial staff who had to deal with the aftermath of my workshop room. We tried out best to clean up after ourselves. Ironically, making almost ninety miniature brooms involves a lot of sweeping up afterward.