Jean Brown, emerita professor of English at Rhode Island College and founder of Alliance for the Study and Teaching of Adolescent Literature at that same institution has invited my co-writers, Liza Ketchum and Phyllis Root to participate in a zoom panel to talk about our collaboration on three books–Begin with a Bee, illustrated by Claudia McGehee (University of Minnesota Press, 2021); Turtles Heading Home , illustrated with photographs (Charlesbridge, 2025) and Green Heart, Tiny Forest, illustrated by Narisa Togo (University of Minnesota Press, 2026).
We are excited to share our experiences and hope it will encourage others to consider collaborative writing. I will send a link for you to join in a few days.
Here’s Jean Brown’s announcement of the event:
Join us on ZOOM from 7:30 -9:00, November 13
November’s Talking with the Authors: Liza Ketchum, Phyllis Root and Jacqueline Briggs Martin
For our next Talking with the Author session on November 13, we will be joined by three award-winning writers for young people: our good friend Liza Ketchum and her co-authors, Phyllis Root and Jacqueline Briggs Martin. Their collaboration has produced timely and important nonfiction environmental books. They will discuss the process of this successful collaboration of two already published books: Begin with a Bee (2021) and Turtles Heading Home (2025). Their third book, Greenheart Tiny Forest, about Miyawaki forests, will come out next spring.
In addition to their individual as well as collaborative successes as authors, they are highly respected faculty members in graduate programs in writing. Most recently they were all members of the Hamline University MFA program in writing for young adults and children. Liza was also a member of the faculty for the ASTAL Summer Institute, Writing for young people.
Make note of the date: November 13 at 7:30 on ZOOM. and watch for more details and the sign-up sheet. I hope to see you then.
The link for joining will be forthcoming. Hope you can be with us!
