speaking

PRESENTATIONS and SCHOOL VISITS

Suzanne speaks to students in assembly, class sized, and small groups. She presents to adults as well. She’s been a keynote speaker for librarian, teacher, and writer conferences. Her break-out sessions are packed with information and ideas. She’s also spoken to community groups at events as varied as the Vegas Valley Book Festival, Napa County Reads, and Seattle Science Center. Some of her most moving interactions have been with incarcerated youth. She is a Nevada Arts Council Artist in Residence.

Nevada teachers, librarians and community planners, good news! There is grant money from Nevada Arts Council available to bring Suzanne to your community.

Suzanne has been selected for the Nevada Arts Council's Artists in Residence roster. Click here for more information. You may click here for Suzanne's NV Arts Council Profile.

Professional Speaking

I often speak at writers', teachers', and librarians' conferences on many topics from research to diversity, from creating effective school presentations to books for military families. These events include Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators international conferences in

Los Angeles and multiple regional SCBWI conferences. I've also presented at state library conferences, National Conference for Teachers of English, and various book festivals.

Click here to read recommendations for Suzanne's presentations and workshops.

Click here for Suzanne's full Press Kit - everything you need for sharing with your administrator.

Click here for a printable brochure on Suzanne's presentations.

Click here for a list of Suzanne's professional articles.

School Visits

I am a former elementary school teacher as well as an author so school and library visits are right up my alley. And I’m experienced having given dozens of successful school visits to ages 4-18 at schools across the U.S. I’ve taught kindergarten, first grade, autistic kids, and sixth graders. I understand that different ages and different classes have different needs. Because of that, I like to plan each school visit individually, and to do separate presentations for younger children and older grades. Let's talk about it. Contact me.

Here are some ideas to start you thinking:

Fact in Fiction: ways I’ve used real experiences – interviews, travel, stories I’ve learned in my fiction. Ways research and personal experience will work in students’ writing. Will include power point of bull riders, Nevada, Canadian Arctic, Arctic Winter Games
Grades 4 to 8
Bull Rider, Start to Finish – follow the development and revision of this award winning novel. How and why did the characters change? What inspired the different characters. How does writing change an author. How will your story change you?
Grades 4 to 12
I adjust my presentations for the little ones. I tell stories I learned while writing my books, do some related rhymes and games, talk to them about how stories translate to writing, and writing becomes books. Many of the same visuals work with this age and I’ll bring props too. I can also talk to younger children about rodeo, Nevada, the desert, real cowboys and real Indians. I always include stories and legends I learned from my research. Grades K to 3
Non-fiction – I’ve been writing nonfiction for many years and so have a number of nonfiction presentations. The most popular one is A View from China –History, Culture, and Inventions. It is an interactive presentation that features stories and experiments related to Chinese inventions as well as how Chinese women shaped history. I developed part of this presentation for the Pacific Science Center in Seattle so it’s full of content and active science demonstrations. I can also set up a classroom in stations where groups of up to 30 rotate through four or five hands on experiments.
Grades 3 to 8.
Writing from the Heart - I’ve been a writer, a teacher, and I give both student and teacher workshops on writing. We can incorporate writing workshops for class sized groups or for teachers into your day.
Grades 2 to 12

Virtual visits - I much prefer in-person visits to virtual visits because personal connections are so memorable to both students and staff. But there are times when a virtual visit is the best choice. For more information, click here.

Community involvement – ask me about ways to extend the author visit into a community project with your students working with veterans, or for literacy. Email Suzanne

I often partner with Nevada author, Terri Farley - We’re both former teachers. When we speak together you get double the coverage in classrooms plus the benefit of our varied experiences and speaking styles. For more information, click here.