Author Meet & Greet at HHS

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T. DiGeronimo

Authors Hall & Siegert meet with HHS students

Hawthorne High School Library Media Center welcomed two local authors in support of Anti-Violence Month. Club members from the Creative Writing Club and the BEARS club (Bringing Equality and Respect to Students) hosted the author meet and greet with published authors Sandy Hall and Mia Siegert on October 26 at an after school gathering.

Sandy Hall (who grew up in Hawthorne) released Been Here All Along in August as her third novel published under the Swoon Reads imprint of Macmillan Publishing. The first book, A Little Something Different, was the first crowdsourced publication in the industry, making for a very interesting discussion of the current publishing process.

Mia Siegert is the author of Jerkbait, which Barnes & Nobel has listed as one of the “Top Twelve Most Anticipated 2016 Indie Releases.”  And Maximum Pop UK has listed it as a “Top 6 Book to Celebrate LGBT History Month.”

Club advisors Kait Fiorilla and Katherine Lyness agreed that the authors’ visit was a valuable opportunity for club members from two diverse student groups to share a similar experience from different perspectives. Lyness noted, “It was awesome to see our students sitting on the edge of their seats listening so intently to every word the authors said.”

The authors began the event with a brief introduction to their books and a discussion of their methods of plot creation, and their sources of inspiration. Students were then eager to ask questions that pushed the authors to reveal the autobiographical nature of their fiction, the methods of choosing point of view and their future projects.

BEARS member Hilary Castillo summed up her experience saying, “This was really interesting and I know I will read the books because the authors really pulled me in.”

The afternoon ended with refreshments and time for chatting and book signings.