Noted Children's Author Janet Wong Visits with Students and Teachers at Summer Youth Program

On July 9, author Janet Wong visited UCI Writing Project's Summer Youth Program. During her presentations to students and teachers - titled "Five Steps to Becoming the Best Writer You can be" - she shared experiences from both her personal life and her professional journey from Yale-educated lawyer working in the entertainment industry to author of over 30 published books for children, teens, and educators.

Wong discussed the writing process, from jotting down ideas to polishing and submitting for publication, and encouraged her audiences to write about what they know best - their daily experiences, their ideas, and their hopes and aspirations. She emphasized the importance of regular writing shared with family and friends.

​Following her presentations, participants were able to purchase one or more of Wong's books that she had brought with her: A Suitcase of Seaweed and More, Good Luck Gold, The Poetry of Science, Pet Crazy, and The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations. 

As noted in her publication A Suitcase of Seaweed and More, Wong is a "frequent speaker at literary conferences and has served as a member of national committees, including the NCTE Poetry Committee and the ILA Notable Books for a Global Society committee. Her two main interests now are publishing anthologies (with her colleague Sylvia Vardell) to make it easy for teachers to share poetry with students and encouraging children and teens to publish their own writing using affordable new technologies (p. 97)."

Photos from July 9, 2019 visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/148183671@N08/albums/72157709557997927

Link to TeachingBooks.net interview with Janet Wong: https://janetwong.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/library-sparks-janet-wong-long-interview.pdf