Hazel Hutchins

Readings

Author of children's novels as well as picture books, Hazel gives a lively presentation that passes along enthusiasm for both reading and writing. Engaging students in a friendly and intelligent manner at a level appropriate for their age group, she talks about becoming an author, getting ideas from real life, developing plot and creating characters. She brings objects related to research, examples of her many rewrites and photographs that have been used as reference material for the artwork. For younger students there are chants, finger plays and storytelling. For the older students there is greater discussion of the writing process. There is time for questions throughout and both students and author always have fun along the way.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed if location is within Alberta where Hazel has her car for readings. For readings elsewhere, Hazel with help schools pre-order books and have them sent to school.

Workshops

Exercise topics might include: great beginnings, building characters, improving dialogue and using “real life” emotions no matter how fantastical your story.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed if location is within Alberta where Hazel has her car for readings. For readings elsewhere, Hazel with help schools pre-order books and have them sent to school.

Biography

Hazel was born and raised on the prairies and in the foothills of southern Alberta. As a child she daydreamed a lot...yes, even in school. She also loved stories and wanted to be a writer. Her first short stories were for adults and she began sending them out when she was in high school and university.
She moved to the mountains with her husband. It was during those years that Hazel began to write fantasy for young people, combing her own day-dreamy nature with real happenings in the world around her. As she and her husband began to raise a family, she also discovered the joy of picture books. The small adventures and misadventures of her young family were often the springboard for a larger story — chalk pictures on a sidewalk or a snowball that gets rolled bigger, and bigger and BIGGER!
Today Hazel is the author of over forty picture books and novels. She is always on the look-out for a good story and keeps a notebook close at hand whether she is walking the trails at home or traveling to schools and libraries across Canada. She also finds it helps to read widely, from amazing facts about cats to theories of the universe to stories of pioneer times to tales of nature....one never knows what bits of information might help a good story grow into something even better. She lives in the mountain town of Canmore, Alberta where she loves Jersey Milk chocolate bars, crisp fall days and people who are both humorous and kind. Her three wonderful children are fully grown and off on their own adventures but they still show up in her stories...and the family home...from time to time.