Mitali Perkins, honored as a Most Engaging Author by independent booksellers, comes to Upper House to lead a writing workshop titled, Magic Carpet: Creating a Sense of Place in Fiction — for ages 10 to 100!

Are you a fiction writer? A teacher of young readers and writers? A lover of good books? National Book Award nominee Mitali Perkins will hold you enthralled during this creative writing workshop. These titles hint at Mitali’s breadth of work: Rickshaw Girl (recently turned into an acclaimed film), You Bring the Distant Near (a novel for young adults),  Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children’s Novels to Refresh Our Tired Souls (a nonfiction guide to children’s literature), and Holy Night and Little Star (A Christmas Story picture book).

Bring your children, grandchildren, curiosity, and notebook/computer to Upper House to experience the 1.5-hour workshop, plus lunch, reading, and conversation. In addition to high-level instruction, you will receive a signed copy of Mitali’s most recent book—Hope in the Valley (McMillan, 2023)—a story of change, friendship, family, and growing up in a community facing a housing crisis. The book has garnered starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Horn Book, School Library Journal, and BookPage, including statements such as this: “Many books advocate for listening carefully to people of opposing views while following one’s own beliefs, but few do it better than Mitali Perkins’ exceptional Hope in the Valley.”

Please join us as we dive into craft and ride the magic carpet with acclaimed author Mitali Perkins.

Free for youth 18 and under.

Schedule

10:00 AM | Registration and Coffee

10:15-11:45 AM | Workshop

Lunch

12:00 | Reading by Mitali Perkins

12:30 PM | Depart

About Mitali Perkins

Mitali Perkins has written many books for young readers. She has been nominated for a National Book Award, honored as a “Most Engaging Author” by independent booksellers, selected as a “Literary Light for Children” by the Associates of the Boston Public Library, and was invited to serve as a judge for the National Book Award and the Kirkus Prize. Mitali was born in Kolkata, India before immigrating to the United States. She has lived in Bangladesh, India, England, Thailand, Mexico, Cameroon, and Ghana, studied at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, and currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

About Hope in the Valley

Registrants will receive a signed copy of Hope in the Valley (2023) ($17.95). (Families will receive one free book per family.)

Twelve-year-old Indian-American Pandita Paul doesn’t like change. She’s not ready to start middle school and leave the comforts of childhood behind. Most of all, Pandita doesn’t want to feel like she’s leaving her mother, who died a few years ago, behind. After a falling out with her best friend, Pandita is planning to spend most of her summer break reading and writing in her favorite secret space: the abandoned but majestic mansion across the street.

But then the unthinkable happens. The town announces that the old home will be bulldozed in favor of new―maybe affordable―housing. With her family on opposing sides of the issue, Pandita must find her voice―and the strength to move on―in order to give her community hope.