Author talks at CSA

Last Nov. 20 and 24, I was at Colegio de San Agustin to accompany some Penguin Random House authors and illustrators to give author talks. This was in celebration of CSA’s Book Week. The invitation came through Ms. Cristina Larracas, CSA head librarian, whom I met a couple of years ago at the PASLI (Philippine Association of School Librarians, Inc.) in Baguio.

Ms. Cris asked for speakers for Grades 4-6 and 7-10. I was fortunately able to invite…

• Ara Villena, illustrator of GOBBLING GOBLINS for Grade 4
• Tori Tadiar, author and illustrator of ILUSTRA: DAYBREAKER for Grades 5&6
• Mae Coyiuto, author of CHLOE AND THE KAISHAO BOYS for Grades 7-10

Ara and Tori gave their talks on Nov. 20, while Mae was slated for Nov. 24. And it was an audience of around 300 kids per session.

It was amazing. Especially with the younger kids. Let me just say…I’ve never seen an audience more engaged than the kids were with the illustrators. And even the high schoolers, though there were only very limited copies of Mae’s book, wanted to get her to sign basically anything.

I’ve been around a while, seen a lot of reader events, had a career in teaching and teacher training. But I kid you not: the energy, excitement, and the sheer number of questions the kids had for both Ara and Tori, the ooohing and the aaahing every time they clicked their slides to show another interior image of their work or a photo/illustration as part of their process—I was floored. 

I seriously asked the librarians and the teachers whether most or all of the kids were either aspiring writers or illustrators, because it felt like they were. 

I also spoke about this to a friend who’s a writer from Singapore and who also frequently gives author talks in schools there. She said this is why she loves going to schools. Kids are amazing. 

The authors left around 25-30 mins for Q&A, and it wasn’t enough for the grade school kids, because the lines of kids who wanted to ask questions never got shorter. The teachers had to cut off the lines at some point. 

And the questions were amazing. They asked the illustrators when they started illustrating, what their inspirations were, how do they get ideas for their illustrations or names of characters, what happens when they run out of ideas for stories, how much did their books cost, what was their favorite book, did they base characters off someone they knew, and on and on and on. 

It actually made me think that if I could bring our authors to different schools regularly, I would. (And maybe I will, who knows? It’s not like I have too much to do, lol. /s)

But seriously, it was so edifying.

Ara introducing herself to the Grade 4 classes.

Ara asking kids whether they liked to read or draw. It was a great talk bec she often asked the kids questions, too.

Ara stressing that illustrating is also about telling stories. She showed illustrations of all her books, not just Gobbling Goblins.

Tori introducing herself to the Grade 5 classes.

Tori also asked the kids lots of questions. They were so stoked to see that some of Tori’s favorite books were theirs, too.

Tori answering a question from a Grade 6 student. There was a fascinating bit where she talked about how the eye should move across the page.

The line during the Q&A. There was a second line on the other aisle.

And I took my e-bike going to and from CSA, because I did not want to get stuck in Makati traffic.

Mae’s talk was for high schoolers, and perhaps because they’re a bit older, they weren’t as exuberant as the grade schoolers, but they had a lot of questions all the same!

Mae telling the kids why she decided to write CHLOE AND THE KAISHAO BOYS.

Some of the girls asking Mae additional questions.

Fully Booked was there for the book fair on the week of the 24th, so they brought some of the authors’ books!

Tori actually did a stock signing for CSA, so most of the stock they had was pre-signed by her.

Mae with the Fully Booked staff at the CSA book fair.

And as with the previous week, I rode my bike.