Here's how your kids can (virtually) meet world-renowned authors and illustrators this fall

Tucson’s youngest readers can virtually meet award-winning authors and illustrators until the end of the year through a series of Zoom webinars called Imagination Fridays.

When the annual Tucson Festival of Books was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, its organizers wanted to find a way to keep the spirit of literature alive in local young readers.

By joining forces with the University of Arizona’s Worlds of Words: Center of Global Literacies and Literatures, Imagination Fridays were born. 

“We wanted a way to reach out to schools and to children and families because we know that for children, that opportunity to meet an author is something that’s really life-changing for them. It just excites them and it gets them interested in books,” said Kathy Short, director of Worlds of Words and a professor at the UA’s College of Education.

Imagination Fridays will livestream on one Friday every month for the rest of 2021. The current schedule is Oct. 22, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10. You can register for any of the events and get the Zoom link sent directly to your inbox for easy access to the day’s webinar.

All of the live webinars will also be available as a recording that anyone can access after the event.

Some of this year’s featured creators include Raúl the Third, the author of “¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge;” Kate DiCamillo and Sophie Blackall, the author and illustrator of “The Beatryce Prophecy;” and husband and wife duo Philip and Erin Stead, the author and illustrator of “Amos McGee Misses the Bus.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

During the webinar, the creators will discuss their new projects, help with writing and illustrating activities that kids can do at home, and participate in a Q&A with the event’s participants. 

The goal of the webinars is to help kids see themselves as writers and illustrators, Short said. The events allow kids to see that books are made by real people and not a machine.

“We have families joining us from different parts of the country because of the time difference,” Short said. “So we have families and then we just have people who love children’s books joining us to hear about this new book release. I think that’s part of the appeal. It’s not just an author and illustrator event. It’s (learning about) a brand new book.”

Worlds of Words would like to hold in-person Imagination Fridays occasionally, but for now, organizers plan to keep the virtual format to reach a wider audience.

“It allows us to bring, virtually, authors and illustrators into Tucson that we would never be able to do without it being online,” Short said. “You know, last fall, we had an author join us from Melbourne, Australia. So it provides this opportunity for the author or illustrator to be anywhere in the U.S. or the world and still be interacting with children here in Tucson.”

Short says that she has seen the culture of literacy and books grow over the last 10 years in Tucson into what she refers to as a “community of readers.” Events like Imagination Fridays help build the community’s culture of readers for the next generation — Tucson’s kids.

“I think a lot of people focus on the move to other technologies and some see books as no longer relevant to children,” Short said. “But books remain just a magical way in which children are able to come to see themselves and their world differently.”

For more information about Imagination Fridays, click here.