I’d love to visit your classroom, reading group, or writing workshop!
I can talk to your group about turning the seed of an idea into a novel, the craft of writing fiction, and lots of other writing-related stuff. I can also speak to any of the following themes specific to The Hopeling:
The necessary role of hope in dark moments: We are in a moment of history and politics where large swaths of our country may feel despair. Maggie can discuss the scientifically proven benefits of hope - not ‘mythical hope,’ or ‘naive hope,’ but specifically, ‘critical’ hope, in which an individual is both fully attuned to the challenges and complexity of problems, but is also determined to find a path forward toward a different, better world.
Gun violence in the United States. There have been more than 200 school shootings in the United States since 2018. Some characters in The Hopeling are based on survivors of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas mass shooting and subsequent, youth-organized March for Our Lives.
Banned Books. According to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans,1,648 unique book titles are banned across the country. Many of the topics discussed in The Hopeling - gun violence, alcoholism, genocide - would make this novel a prime candidate for that list. Find out why Maggie would welcome that distinction!
The active role young people can take in our society and solving societal challenges.
‘Thoughts and Prayers are not Enough.’ President Obamas prophetic words and what we lose in a society that punts solutions to a higher power/diety in the clouds.
To request a conversation, please connect with me by filling out the form on the website!