Writer’s Choice

International writers to visit campus, area schools

“I was born in the city of flowers, Xalapa, Mexico, where the springs came out from the sand, or so the story says.

“Once I was a child, but I spent most of that time thinking about extraterrestrials and waiting for them to come in their UFO to take me away. I tried to be a psychic; I wanted to move things with my mind. I practiced to be an acrobat too and broke many things at home.

“Then I grew and became an artist and a writer. Oh well…”

So begins the life story of Yuyi Morales, who will join three other international writers for a celebration of children’s literature on Saturday, Nov. 19, at UW–Madison.

Titled “Open a Door … Open a Book … Open Your Mind … to the World,” the annual conference is an initiative of the Wisconsin International Outreach Consortium (WIOC). The consortium is composed of outreach coordinators of federally funded Title VI centers, including eight in UW–Madison’s International Institute. These centers provide resources and expertise on specific locals to K-12 teachers, post-secondary educators, businesses, the media and the public at large.

Rachel Weiss, outreach coordinator for the Center for South Asia, is coordinating the event.

“We want to expose our audience, mostly K-12 teachers, preservice teachers, librarians and children’s literature enthusiasts, to literature written about different world cultures in order to internationalize the statewide reading curriculum,” Weiss says.

Wisconsin First Lady Jessica Doyle will welcome the four writers — Morales (Mexico), Uma Krishnaswami (India), Tatiana Zunshine (Russia) and Peggy Dietz Shea (United States) — to the governor’s mansion on Friday, Nov. 18. Doyle has included books by the four as part of her “Read On Wisconsin” (http://readon.wi.gov) initiative. The authors also will visit Midvale, John F. Kennedy and Cesar Chavez elementary schools.

“The authors will be discussing their culture and sharing books that they have written for children,” Weiss says. “Our goal is to expose children of all ages to these authors’ stories and hear about why they write what they write and what they hope their readers will take away from the books.”

Those narratives promise to be interesting. Zunshine, for example, began a letter-writing campaign on behalf of her dissident husband, imprisoned for what the state called anti-Soviet activity. When Soviet authorities allowed the family to leave, they relocated in the United States, where she toured extensively promoting human rights. She says that she became interested in children’s literature when her son was born, eventually turning her fascination with good storytelling into a vocation. Morales is a puppet maker, folk dancer and host of a Spanish-language storytelling radio show in San Francisco. Krishnaswami is the author of traditional Indian story collections, picture books and more. Shea is affiliated with the Institute of Children’s Literature in Connecticut where she trains new writing instructors.

“We hope to prepare Americans for the global environment,” Weiss says. “This conference is a wonderful way to learn about the stories humanity has to share.”

The event will begin at 8:15 a.m. in Memorial Union’s Tripp Commons. Pre-registration is required. For more information, contact Weiss at 262-9224 or rweiss@wisc.edu, or visit http://wioc.wisc.edu.