On Friday, March 1, author Ronald H. Balson came to the CCHS auditorium to speak to students on Author Day. Author Day is an event hosted by the Broward Public Library Foundation (BPLF), and is associated with what the foundation calls a “Literary Feast.” For Author Day, renowned authors chosen by the BPLF speak at local high schools. Author Day at CCHS was primarily coordinated by English teacher Briana Bullard.
“The process was fairly simple,” Bullard said. “You submit the application requesting to participate in Author Day. They find authors willing to participate and match them with schools that are interested.”
It’s all a story, isn’t it? You’re trying to convince someone, you’re trying to persuade, you’re trying to be compelling. The same skills necessary to do that writing is what is necessary to write a compelling, persuading book.”
Balson was a finalist for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction in 2014, as well as a finalist for the Premio Bancarella Italian Literature Award. He has sold over 1 million copies of all of his books in total, and self-published his first novel “Once We Were Brothers.” Balson majored in history at the University of Chicago and works as an attorney when he isn’t writing his next novel. He writes historical fiction and says that his historical knowledge and experience as a lawyer have a large influence on his works.
“I’ve been a lawyer for 47 years,” Balson said. “And what do lawyers do? They write. They write briefs, they write memorandums [and] they write appeals. And really, what are you writing? It’s all a story, isn’t it? You’re trying to convince someone, you’re trying to persuade, you’re trying to be compelling. The same skills necessary to do that writing is what is necessary to write a compelling, persuading book.”
In a world where creativity is undermined in schools for the sake of passing tests, teachers feel that it’s important for students to retain the creativity that was heavily encouraged in them at younger ages. Events such as Author Day satisfy that desire, which is why some teachers find it so important.
“As a teacher, you try to explain what makes a book significant. No one can do a better job of that than an author. Students get to hear about the writing process from someone who made a career out of it.”
“Listening to the students and the thoughtful questions they asked, I thought it was just such a good experience to have such an authentic connection to somebody who could say ‘I learned how to write and this is what I did with it,’” English teacher Lisa Jones said. “I think it just reminds us that writing is so much more than academics, it’s so much more than testing, it’s something that you can take and turn into something wonderful.”
Leisurely reading is at an all-time low in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the percentage of people who read for leisure has gone down 30 percent since 2004. English teachers see this as a crisis: Americans simply don’t value the pastime of reading as much as they used to. This is partly why Bullard felt it was so important for Cooper to host an event like this— so students could see the importance of literature.
“Author Day is important for students because they get to connect with an actual author,” Bullard said. “As a teacher, you try to explain what makes a book significant. No one can do a better job of that than an author. Students get to hear about the writing process from someone who made a career out of it.”
Photo by Genna Nordling
