Guest Lecture at USC: Sharing My Journey as a Children’s Author

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to guest lecture for the Community Literature Initiative’s poetry class at the University of Southern California. The class was for adults, but I focused on sharing my experiences as a children’s author and the unique aspects of writing for diverse audiences.

During the session, I discussed the importance of representation in children’s literature and how writing for young readers requires thoughtfulness, empathy, and a deep understanding of your audience. One of the questions I was asked was how to foster a love for writing as a child. I shared that my passion for storytelling started early, with encouragement from my family and support at home. My mom was actually present in the class and chimed in, making the discussion even more personal and meaningful.

I also shared a fun and formative part of my early reading journey: how I learned to read by reading gossip magazines. While it may sound unconventional, flipping through magazines to follow stories about celebrities and pop culture helped me develop a curiosity about narrative, character, and pacing. It also taught me to pay attention to how writers hook a reader’s interest, even in small pieces of writing. That early exposure to storytelling, even through magazines, laid a foundation for my love of reading and writing.

Students were also curious about my writing process and revision habits. I used my two books — Spaces and Where the Palm Tree Grows — as examples. I explained that revising Spaces was a more contained process, while Where the Palm Tree Grows required much more time and effort to refine. This was a great opportunity to talk about how writing is truly a process. Sometimes it takes time, multiple drafts, and careful attention to get a story just right, and that is okay. Patience and persistence are part of the journey, and I encouraged the class to embrace that in their own work.

Overall, it was a joy to engage with the class and reflect on my journey as a children’s author while sharing insights that might inspire other writers.

A special thanks to Hiram Sims, Sims Library of Poetry, for hosting and making this experience possible.