Authors’ Booking Service is pleased to announce that YA author Susin Nielsen (Word Nerd, Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom) is now scheduling visits to Ontario schools.

Susin would love to plan a visit to your school or library. Her rate is $300 plus HST for one session; $550 for two; $825 for three; and $1050 for four, plus a $50 flat fee per session for travel and accommodation.

Susin is a member of The Writers' Union of Canada, and so schools wishing to invite her may be eligible for a travel and fee subsidy to offset the cost of her visit. Contact us for details of this program.

Nielsen started out feeding cast and crew muffins and bologna sandwiches on the award-winning television series, Degrassi Junior High. They hated her food (a fact that’s memorialized forever in a poem the cast wrote: “An ode to Susin, the Bran Muffin Queen, we eat them, we die, then we turn green”). Luckily for Susin, however, they saw a spark in a spec script she wrote. Susin went on to pen 16 episodes of Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High. She also got her first crack at novel writing when she was asked to write four books in the Degrassi series. She loved writing in book form, and vowed that one day she would write an original young adult novel. After she wrote for many well-received TV series: Ready or Not, Madison, The Adventures of Shirley Holmes, Edgemont, Heartland and the animated series, What About Mimi, Franny’s Feet and Braceface, to name a few – she finally made true on her vow, and wrote her first original young adult novel, Word Nerd.

Here’s what people have to say:

Educators:

“Susin Nielsen visited our school yesterday and she was amazing! She came with a wonderful power-point presentation … and was very prepared. Our students were totally engaged and entertained. I actually had to keep the students back because they were all trying to get her autograph and talk to her after her presentation. This has never happened before and we’ve had many author visits. I feel very fortunate, as I’m sure the students do, to have met her.” Elizabeth Galli, Valley Park Middle School

“Having enjoyed a successful career as both an author and a screen-writer, Nielsen was able to wear both hats and switch back and forth to give students a glimpse into the nature of life and work in each of these writing-based fields … The difference between writing for a "production" versus writing for a reader was actively demonstrated, with the help of willing and eager student volunteers who dramatized a scene from Word Nerd. The author displayed comfort and control of her youthful audience, and gave a presentation that was lively, well-paced, and included time for questions and answers.” Vivian Hicks, Bayside Middle School, Brentwood Bay, BC.

Students:

Anna: “I loved your presentation. It was really helpful that you had a powerpoint, and it was cool to see the TV clips. I also liked how we got to act out the scene in Word Nerd.”

Emmy: “I liked that you engaged us all and treated us like real Grade sixes.”

Kira: “I like that your presentation was interactive. You were lots of fun.”

Published Works

Young Adult Novels

Word Nerd (Tundra) 2008
Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom (Tundra) Coming in August 2010

Picture Books

Hank and Fergus (Orca) 2003
Mormor Moves In (Orca) 2004
The Magic Beads (Simply Read) 2007

Awards and Nominations

Word Nerd

Winner, 2010 Red Maple Award
Winner, 2010 Rocky Mountain Book Award
Winner, 2010 Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award
Winner, 2010 Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Award (Shining Willow)
Winner, Foreword Magazine’s Book of the Year, Silver 2008 Juvenile Fiction
Nominee, 2010 Indigo Teen Read Awards, “Best Canadian Read” Category
Nominated for the 2010 Golden Oak Award
Nominated for the 2009 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award
Nominated for the 2011 Rhode Island Teen Book Award
Shortlisted for the 2009 Canadian Library Association Book of the Year Award
Shortlisted for the 2009 Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards
One of The Globe and Mail’s “Susan Perren’s Top 10 Children’s Books for ‘08”

Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom

Nominated for the 2011 White Raven Awards
Nominated for the Canadian Library Association’s 2011 Book of the Year
Nominated for the BC Book Prize’s 2011 Sheila Egoff Award
Nominated for the 2011 Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice Award (Shining Willow)
Ontario Library Association “Best Bet” 2010

Presentation Details

My presentation (“Books and Beyond”) explores writing both for the page and for the screen, because I also write for television. In a fun, interactive way, I talk to the students about how I got into writing; the differences in writing each genre; and the challenges and pleasures each one brings.

I show a clip from a TV show I’ve written, and later on in the presentation, we even do a bit of acting! The overall message of my presentation is to instill a love of the written word, in any form.

Grades I will present to: 5 to 8

Is this flexible? It can be, but teachers should be aware that there may be content that could be deemed inappropriate for younger children.

Maximum number of students per session: 100

Venues I’m comfortable in: Classrooms and libraries. No gyms, please.

Equipment and other requirements:

* A projector/screen for my power point presentation (I bring my own Mac laptop, but sometimes it’s easier to use the school’s laptop with my memory stick).
* A TV/DVD player (only if laptop/projector doesn’t come with speakers).
* A table and chair.
* Bottled water would be much appreciated.
* I do insist that a librarian or teacher be present throughout the presentation.


Writing Workshops

I also give writing workshops to students who show a passion and desire to learn more about the craft. The current workshop focuses on character development, and it is interactive, creative and fun.

Workshop rates are $300 per hour, plus HST.

Maximum # of participants: 30.

Skype Visits

If your class has read one of my novels and would like a Q and A session via Skype, I am happy to do that. The cost is $150 for 30-40 minutes. I don’t do my full presentation via Skype as it is very interactive.