Valerie Coulman

Readings

How Many Hats?: A highly interactive presentation that looks at some of the jobs involved in making a picture book – author, illustrator, editor, publisher, printer – as well as the fundamentals of story construction. Using goofy props along with examples from a variety of picture books and chapter books, we put it all into practice by writing a story together and designing the cover with the help of a volunteer illustrator, and then end with a Q&A session.

The Building Blocks of Language: Using a popular building toy, we look at how different parts of speech give our story more life and believability.

Readings: Readings are tailored to grade level and include my own stories and articles as well as examples from other authors.

Special Equipment:

I ask for an overhead or opaque projector and wall or screen, plus microphone if the room is very large and being heard is likely to be difficult.

Book Sales:

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

Workshops

Workshops can be tailored to suit classroom themes, curriculum focus or teacher requests. Please contact Valerie for more information. Recent workshop topics include:

• 6... No... 7 Ways to Revise Your Writing
• Fiction vs. non-fiction: The differences and similarities in different genres
• Too many words! How to Get the Important Information Written First
• A Picture or 1000 Words: How Picture Books Convey their Stories
• Poetry and Prose

Special Equipment:

Overhead projector and/or whiteboard/chalkboard

Book Sales:

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

Biography

Valerie Coulman won her first writing award at age 11, but didn’t start her career as a writer until many years later. She writes for a variety of publications including magazines, online publications, websites, businesses and, of course, she writes for children. Her favourite kind of writing is picture book stories because you never know what will happen when your imagination gets to work! All kinds of things get her imagination stirring and she loves to spin her stories. Her children give her plenty of suggestions, too.

In 2005, Valerie Coulman also began working as an artist. Her artwork has been displayed around Canada and the United States and she has won a number of awards for both her books and her art. She hasn’t illustrated a picture book yet but she hopes to soon.

Valerie Coulman grew up on the Canadian prairies, living in Saskatchewan for 24 years and in Manitoba for 8 years. Right now, she’s living in Oregon where the winters aren’t as cold but the summers are VERY hot.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS:
I offer a variety of workshops/seminars for teachers, librarians and writers. Recent topics have included:

• 5... No...6 Ways to teach Revision
• A Novel Idea: Writing a Story Together as a Classroom
• Covering the Bases : Incorporating Multiple Learning Styles into Your Reading Program
• The Picture Book’s Place in Literacy