Alan Gratz is the author of the Horatio Wilkes mysteries Something Rotten and Something Wicked as well as the more recent The Brooklyn Nine, which tells the stories of nine generations of baseball lovers within one family. Before becoming a writer, Alan Gratz held a variety of jobs, including teaching 8th and 11th grade English and writing plays and television scripts.
Make sure you visit Alan's website at www.alangratz.com to learn more about his books, and be sure to check out the pdf of his school visit brochure as well for more information.
If you are interested in having Alan Gratz make an appearance at your school, library, or conference, please use the online request form or email the Author Appearance Coordinator at authorvisits[at]us.penguingroup.com with possible dates, your school name, location, details about the day, and your contact information.
The library was a magical place for me as a child, and the characters and places in the books on the shelves were very real to me. But the author names on the front covers of the books were just that—names. These people didn't exist in any real way for me. I had no idea that E.L. Konigsberg was a woman, that Jules Verne was French, that Franklin W. Dixon didn't really exist. At a very young age I knew I wanted to be a writer of novels when I grew up, but authors were still bodiless and faceless names, and how books got written was still a mystery. What I would have given to meet a real author face to face! To learn then what it took to come up with an idea, to write a book, to see it in print!
I think about that boy in me who dreamed of one day seeing his own name on a library shelf every time I do an author appearance, and I salute the teachers and librarians who work so hard to bring authors in to speak to their students.
—Alan Gratz
Penguin: What is a typical appearance like with you? What do you do differently with audiences of varying sizes, ages, and interests?
Alan Gratz: It's difficult to describe a typical appearance, as I try to be very flexible and work with schools to best fit their schedules and needs.
I have books that are squarely middle grade (like The Brooklyn Nine), books that are squarely high school (The Horatio Wilkes mysteries) and some that fall in between (Samurai Shortstop), so all of my visits to date have been with middle schools and high schools. My primary talk, and the one I give most often, takes students through my writing process, from idea to draft to bookshelf, with a special emphasis on my outlining and revision process.
Another presentation is specific to my Shakespeare-based mysteries. That one examines Shakespeare's influence on me and other writers as well as the influences that helped shape his plays. I also have a writing workshop for small groups of students. With creative writing classes, I sometimes throw the talks out the window and just answer practical questions from the kids about the craft and business of writing.
I have no limit on the amount of presentations I'll do in a day, nor on the number of students I'll talk to. I always say put me in front of as many kids as you can, as many times as you can during the day. I can rest that night! All I need is a bottle of water and the occasional bathroom break.
Penguin: What makes your author appearances unique?
Alan Gratz: I was an eighth grade teacher for a time, and I really enjoy speaking to students and answering their questions. If I have one comment I hear most often about my author appearances, it's that I come off as a regular person, someone the students can relate to. I make a point of answering student questions as honestly as possible—including the nitty gritty about what an author earns and how he/she earns it—which I think earns me points. I also try to use a little humor now and then, just to lighten things up. The last thing I want to do is come in and give a somber presentation that puts kids to sleep!
In addition to the more traditional school visits, I also offer virtual visits. Using educational software like Eluminate, I can present my Powerpoint presentation on a computer screen while speaking live through a microphone. I've yet to do a videoconference visit, but I'd love to. I offer events like this at a reduced rate, as they don't take me away from my writing office for nearly as long as a school visit that involves travel.
Penguin: Do you enjoy making appearances for adult audiences? What do you do when presenting to adults?
Alan Gratz: I frequently speak to groups of adults, from writing workshops to librarian and teacher associations to bookseller conventions. When giving talks to writers, I talk about the nuts and bolts of writing. When talking to educators, I sometimes present my primary talk as an example of what I will do for their students if I'm invited out on an author visit. I also give professional development talks on topics like "Books for Boys" or "Encouraging Lifelong Readers." I often do a combination of visits, and will speak to students during the day at school, followed by a reading council talk or a community presentation that evening. Again, I like to be flexible!
Penguin: What can schools and libraries do to ensure a successful appearance?
Alan Gratz: The number one thing of course is to introduce me and my books to the students and/or the community. The best visits I've ever had were the ones where the librarians and teachers read and discussed one or more of my books before I arrived. The students get far more out of my presentation, and the Q&A session afterward is always far more lively and profitable. Still, I do many school visits where all the students know about me is that I'm an author. I do my best in those situations to introduce myself and my work, but there's a far deeper connection when the students are well-prepared.
Penguin: Do you enjoy traveling to other parts of the country for appearances?
Alan Gratz: Absolutely! I travel extensively in the southeast, since that's my base of operations, but I've begun to get more invitations to visit schools farther afield. I love traveling to new places and seeing something of the town and the geography while I'm there. For events within a six-or-so-hour driving range I drive, but for everything else I fly, and someone form the school picks me up at the airport and the hotel.
Penguin: Do you ever make appearances at more than one school in an area? Could schools and libraries from one area join together to bring you to their institution?
Alan Gratz: Sure. It only makes sense for schools to get together to bring an author into town, especially with the cost of travel these days. I love traveling once and visiting as many schools as I can in a single trip. In my biggest school visit trip, I spent an entire week in the Birmingham area as a guest of six schools. Sometimes I do one school per day, other times I speak to two or more. Splitting the travel costs is a very economical way for schools to bring in an author, and allows some schools to have a visit who could never afford to arrange one on their own.
Penguin: What do you hope children will come away with from your presentation?
Alan Gratz: That writing a novel—writing anything, really—is a craft that takes hard work and persistence. The message I want everyone to come away with is that everything their teachers have always told them about—outlining, planning, writing stories and essays—are the same tools that professional writers use to write the books all around them. I always hope that there are a few kids who aspire to become professional writers or who love to write but don't know what it means to be a professional writer so that I'm able to show them what can happen if they follow their dreams.
Penguin: What was your most memorable appearance experience?
Alan Gratz: I've had a lot of great experiences doing school visits, but one of the highlights, for me, was a small thing. At a school visit in Fayetteville, Arkansas—a rather hard-hit farming community northwest of Memphis—an eighth grade girl came up after my presentation and told me that she had read Samurai Shortstop in preparation for my visit, and had identified with one of the minor characters in the book—Fuji, a former-sumo wrestler. No one had ever told me they identified with this character before, particularly not a small girl from rural Arkansas.
When I asked her why, she explained that, like Fuji—who has had his private school fees paid by his village and who feels the enormous weight of their expectations upon him—she was going to be the first person in her family to go to college, and she was even now, in eighth grade, feeling the pressure of those expectations. It was an amazing moment of connection for me and for her. Those are the most memorable visits for me: the ones where the personal connections I make with students change both of us.
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