The Beachwood City Schools teamed with the Cuyahoga County Public Library Beachwood Branch to organize an author festival on April 25th.

Six authors spoke to students and community members: Marc Brown, author of the Arthur series, as well as children’s and young adult authors Neal Shusterman, John David Anderson, Angela Johnson, Shelley Pearsall and Lindsay Ward.

“We wanted to make sure to cover the age range from preschool to 12th grade …” BHS librarian Jennifer Flaherty said. “…And we hoped to share those books and authors with students.”

The events, which were held at BMS and the CCPL Beachwood Branch, included entertainment by the BHS band along with several BMS orchestra members. The BHS library club members staffed the event.

Sri Vidya Uppalapati, a junior who serves as the library club’s President, was the author festival’s student representative.

“[The authors] were really impressed with how well organized it was,” Uppalapati said, adding that they received similar sentiments from community members in attendance.

“Everything just pieced together the way we wanted it to,” she said.

In a speech at BMS, Brown explained how he first ventured into writing.

“I wanted to be an illustrator when I left the Cleveland Institute of Art,” he said.

“I found that I wasn’t getting any good stories [to illustrate],” he continued. “At the same time, I had a young son, and I started to tell bedtime stories and I realized I could make up good stories on my own.”

Several of the speakers gave insight into the life of a writer.

“As soon as you’ve got a conflict, as soon as you’ve got a problem, as soon as you’ve got something interesting happen to you, you’ve got a story,” Anderson said.

“The most important thing, for any kid to be a writer, is to never grow up,” Anderson continued. “Stay as immature as you possibly can, because adults look at the world with jaded, depressed eyes, and nobody wants to look at the world that way.”

“The most important thing, if you want to be a writer, is to read,” Johnson said. “I cannot express it enough,” she said.

Shusterman also offered guidance.

“The most important part of the writing process, whether you’re a student or whether you’re a professional writer, is revision,” Shusterman said.

Flaherty said she feels students can hone their writing skills within the Beachwood community.
“We live in a community that values literacy and learning, and we also have wonderful school libraries and public libraries that collaborate often together,” Flaherty said.

Photos by Raquel Wu