The latest installment of Virtual AWP: Writer to Writer Conversations & Readings reunites children’s literature mentor Meg Eden Kuyatt with past mentees Becky Ferrigno and Julie Zigoris. Our Virtual AWP Writer to Writer events showcase discussions with former mentors and mentees of the Writer to Writer Mentorship Program. The program matches writers from all backgrounds with published authors for a three-month series of modules focused on craft, the writing process, publishing, and more. Season 17 of Writer to Writer will begin on September 19 and end in December. These events examine the practice and process of mentorship, give thanks to the mentors who have graciously volunteered their time, and allow members to gain first-hand insight into the program. Tune in to explore the world of children’s literature and gain insight into the participants’ experiences in our Writer to Writer program. This event premieres Thursday, September 15 at 6:00 p.m. ET and includes a live Q&A on YouTube.

Books from this event series can be purchased on the AWP Bookshop affiliate page. Check out our Writer to Writer mentor and mentee Bookshop list to browse releases from past program participants!

To receive a reminder and a direct link to this free event, as well as updates on future events, register online.

Registration is free, and you do not have to be a member of AWP to do so. However, to participate in the live Q&A, you will need to sign in to YouTube.

Mentor Bio:

Meg Eden Kuyatt is a 2020 Pitch Wars mentee and teaches creative writing at Anne Arundel Community College. She is the author of the 2021 Towson Prize for Literature winning poetry collection Drowning in the Floating World (Press 53, 2020) and children’s novels, most recently Selah’s Guide to Normal (Scholastic, 2023). Find her online at www.megedenbooks.com, on Twitter at @ConfusedNarwhal, and on Instagram at @meden_author. 

Mentee Bios:

Becky Ferrigno is a Season 14 AWP mentee. Her experiences as a neurodiverse person and as a parent of an autistic child inform her work. Her articles on sensory processing disorder and parenting have been featured in The Mighty, Parent.co (now Motherly), and Her View from Home. Becky is the author of the children’s book Blazing the Trail: The Story of Minna Anthony Common (Pocket Jennifer Publishing, August 2019), and the textbook Across the Water: Teaching Irish Music at Home and Abroad (R&L Education, 2010). When Becky isn’t writing, she can be found playing Irish music, teaching elementary general music, practicing yoga, and spending time with her husband and two children.

Julie Zigoris is a freelance journalist and novelist. Her writing has appeared in the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, the Russian Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalin's Gulag, published by Academic Studies Press. A former Stanford fellow and Fulbright-Hayes recipient, she holds a PhD in Russian literature from the University of Pittsburgh. She won the AATSEEL award for excellence in teaching secondary education and placed first in the Young Adult writing competition at the 2020 Mendocino Coast Writers' Conference. She is represented by Jennie Kendrick at Red Fox Literary.