Debby Waldman

Readings

Time permitting and depending on the age of the audience, I will start by asking how many of the students like to write, and how many would like to become writers. Then I tell them my story: how I loved reading as a child, and started writing in elementary school. I talk about how I wrote because I loved making up stories, but also because I found it to be very comforting, especially when I was 13 and my father died and nobody would talk about it; writing became the only way for me to express my feelings. I tell them that writing still helps me work things out when I’m confused or hurt or angry. I talk about my decision to become a journalist and my progression from daily journalism to freelancing for magazines such as Sports Illustrated for Kids, People, and Parents. And I tell them how I get ideas for magazine stories, and how I gradually began writing in other genres, such as children’s books. I always read from my published picture book, A Sack Full of Feathers and answer questions. Time permitting, I’ll also read from a work in progress. If the group is small enough, we might also play “the telephone game” to illustrate how stories change the more they’re repeated. (This ties in with the gossip theme of A Sack Full of Feathers.)

Special Equipment:

n/a

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Workshops

The Dangers of Gossip: Inspired by A Sack Full of Feathers, this presentation is designed to make students more conscious about the implications of spreading stories. I start out playing “the telephone game.” From there, I give students a chance to talk about their experiences with gossip – either as victims or perpetrators. Depending on the students’ familiarity with the picture book, I will either read the entire book or sections of it. At the end of the presentation, students work in groups to come up with either a cartoon, a poster or a poem that can be displayed in the school halls to warn against gossip.

Where do Stories Come From?: I talk about what inspired me to become a writer, and get the students thinking about experiences in their own lives that they can turn into stories. I will explain the parts of a story and give students prompts so that they can begin writing their own stories.

Writing Funny: Humor is one of the hardest genres to write. The trick is to find the right balance between reality and exaggeration. In this session, I will bring in some of my favorite funny books, and get the students talking about what makes the stories work. Time permitting, they’ll then have a chance to start their own humorous stories.

Writing from facts: As a journalist, I was trained to interview people and use the information I gathered to write news or feature stories. In this workshop, I’ll explain how reporters get to the heart of the story by asking their subjects who, what, why, when, where, and how questions. I’ll then give the students a chance to interview each other, and write stories based on their newly gathered facts.

Special Equipment:

n/a

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Biography

A journalist, book reviewer, author, and humorist, Debby Waldman calls herself a jack-of-all trades writer. Her articles and reviews have appeared in a variety of publications including People, Parents, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Publishers Weekly, American Baby, Chatelaine, and The Washington Post. She writes a bi-weekly family column for The Edmonton Journal.

Debby has a journalism degree from Syracuse University and an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University. She has taught journalism, composition, creative writing, and magazine writing at Cornell University, Ithaca College, St. Lawrence University, all in New York state, and at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta. Since 2001 she has taught Judaism and ethics to grade three and four students at Temple Beth Ora, a reform Jewish congregation, in Edmonton.

Debby lives in Edmonton. She is available for readings and to conduct writing workshops with students of all ages.