A visit from a real-life author can be a great way to inspire students of all ages! I absolutely love to meet and chat about — well — anything writing, publishing, or book related. In the past, I’ve done everything from talks for 20 to 400 fifth-sixth graders, to writing-focused discussions at universities, to book club meetings and formal college readings.
Feel free to reach out via email: alyssamhollingsworth@gmail.com
A typical talk can last between 30-45 minutes, though I am always flexible to your schedule and happy to adjust to your students’ needs. For 8-12-year-olds, I like to cover these areas, I offer two different sets of talks (one based around each of my books). I’m happy to mix and match the sections or customize the talks according to class needs.
If you are interested in having me speak for an older audience or a writing group, check out my speaking topics page.
A talk centered around the history, geography, and cultures of Afghanistan (particularly Pashtun culture). I share some of the stories from my visit to Afghanistan and research considerations that went into the crafting of The Eleventh Trade. Optional additions: A section about the rebab (traditional instrument) — including a “guess this song section” — and a section about landays (traditional oral poetry) — including a “do it yourself” section.
In this talk, I describe how The Eleventh Trade came to exist. I incorporate a lot of humor about my own process and my interactions with my literary agent. At the end, I use story prompt games to help students create their own tall tales.
The Eleventh Trade has many themes that brush on trauma, PTSD, and the difficulties of healing. In this talk, I present a kid-friendly exploration of what happens in your brain when you experience something traumatic and how PTSD works. 1 in 5 kids in the 8-12 age range have already experienced significant trauma in their lives, and this talk is meant to help make sense of and be empowered by how our brains work. I balance this with a section on healing, with activities to help kids brainstorm their own unique self-care plans and help them articulate ways to be a good listener and alley for their friends.
With a series of questions, students are prompted to make a list of their interests and a list of questions they’d like to find answers to. Alyssa guides them in seeing if they can find a creative way to combine the two and create stories. This transitions into a reading of The Invisible Boy.
A kid-friendly introduction to modern day human trafficking. Alyssa leads a discussion on the basic history behind human trafficking, the importance of seeing it, and the signs to look for. Note that the talk sticks with labor trafficking and does not go into detail about other forms of trafficking.
Alyssa turns to the lighter side of The Invisible Boy, and her deep dive into the lore of Superman. Students are guided through an activity to create their own superhero identities.
So, what does it look like to combine your interests with a question? Alyssa uses gifs and humor to show how The Invisible Boy went from draft to full manuscript… to draft to full manuscript again… to draft to full manuscript again… She had to rewrite the book five times in all. The importance of revision is emphasized, and on how to continue even when you’re not sure you can do it.
Our children loved meeting Alyssa and hearing how she had developed her debut novel. Her presentation took in many themes that were poignant and of interest to the children; they remained engaged and enthusiastic throughout her presentation. Alyssa has a wonderful manner with the children too and they listened really attentively. Her book covers so many current and relevant topics that it is a brilliant book to share with Upper KS2 classes. We can’t wait to have it as our ‘Class Novel’!
Poppy Morris, Year 6 teacher and Reading Lead, Moorlands Primary School Bath
Alyssa Hollingsworth’s talk about her debut novel The Eleventh Trade was a huge success with the MA Writing for Young People students at Bath Spa University. Alyssa talked eloquently, helpfully and with humour about her writing process, her story, the research and background to writing her novel. We found her inspiring. I particularly loved her account of the issues she covers in her school visits. I would highly recommend her as a speaker for both adults and young people.
Professor Julia Green, Course Director, MA Writing for Young People, Bath Spa University, UK
Alyssa Hollingsworth did a fantastic job and both the students and the teachers enjoyed hearing about her writing process and writing journey. After the talks, my students continued working on story ideas using the lists they made based on Alyssa’s prompts. It was really great to hear their ideas as they bounced them off of each other!
Bonnie Mitchell, 7th English Language Arts Teacher, Rome Middle School
VIRTUAL EVENTS:
SUPER LOCAL:
(Bath and Somerset)
LOCAL:
(within 80 miles of Bath)
BEYOND LOCAL
(anything beyond 80 miles from Bath)
SPEECHES:
Need someone to talk at a keynote, conference, or other event? Or maybe you just want to keep things virtual? Shoot me an email (alyssamhollingsworth@gmail.com or with the form below) and we’ll see what we can do!
© 2018 · Alyssa Hollingsworth