Robin Stevenson
Biography:Robin Stevenson was born in England, grew up mostly in Southern Ontario, and now lives in Victoria, BC, with her partner and their 6-year-old son. She began writing in 2005, while on maternity leave, and her first teen novel was published two years later. Since 2007, she has published nine books for teens and children, with two more forthcoming in 2010 and 2011. Robin has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Awards, twice nominated for the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize, and was a finalist for last year's Chocolate Lily and Diamond Willow Reader’s Choice Awards. Robin was an insatiable reader as a child and read almost every kids book in her small town library. She read L.M. Montgomery’s Emily books until her copies fell apart and like Emily, she vowed that she would someday be an author. One of the reasons Robin is excited to be taking part in the Book Week tour is because she believes that authors visiting schools can help to make writing, whether for pleasure or as a career, a more accessible goal for children and teens. Visiting authors can introduce writing into the range of career possibilities that children and teens are aware of, can nurture the hopes and dreams of bookworms and budding writers, and can encourage and inspire those who have not yet discovered how much fun both reading and writing can be. After completing an undergraduate degree in philosophy at McMaster University, Robin earned a Master’s degree in social work at Wilfrid Laurier University. Before becoming a writer, she spent ten years employed as a counselor and social worker in hospital and community settings. Robin provided social work services in a children’s mental health clinic and in a pediatric hospital; coordinated a hospital-based sexual assault treatment program; and worked as a community-based crisis counselor. She also worked with many children with disabilities in school and community settings. She has found that her work experience has been enormously helpful in giving her a strong understanding of family issues and child and adolescent development — something that has enriched her writing and enabled her to create strong and believable characters that children and teens relate to. It has also helped her to connect easily with children and teens when she visits schools or leads creative writing workshops in the community. Robin loves teaching. She taught Social Work for a number of years at the University of Victoria, and now teaches creative writing in school, library and community settings, including the University of Victoria’s Fine Arts Faculty, and the continuing studies programs at both U Vic and Camosun College. She finds that her conversations with students consistently enrich her own learning and writing. Another strong lifelong interest of Robin's is traveling – she has traveled extensively throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, North America, Mexico and West Africa. About ten years ago she spent a year living aboard a small boat and sailing from Lake Ontario to the Bahamas and back again – an adventure she drew on in writing her Governor General’s Award-nominated teen novel, A Thousand Shades of Blue. When Robin meets with children and teens, she hopes to inspire them to pursue their own dreams, and to encourage them to believe that they can find within themselves the strength, persistence and courage to make those dreams come true. Other experiences — starting at new schools, a childhood fascination with the paranormal, the angst and intensity of adolescence, a teenage love of horses, her son’s passion for robots —have also found their way into Robin's fiction. In her creative writing workshops, she works with children and teens to help them explore how they can use their own life experiences to bring their fiction to life. She endeavours to help them see that the details of their daily lives – arguments with an older sibling, unwanted piano lessons, fabulous summer camp friendships, babysitting for a neighbour, helping care for an ill grandparent, an after-school job flipping burgers, or a difficult relationship break-up — can provide rich material for their writing. Robin is very interested in literacy and promoting reading, and feels fortunate that as a children’s author, she has many wonderful opportunities to help make reading and writing fun and accessible for kids. Presentation Information:Robin's school presentations and book talks range from 45 to 90-minutes and are appropriate for older elementary students (Grade 4 and over), as well as middle school and high school students. The audience size can range from a class of 20 to a larger group of up to 200. Robin prefers a maximum spread of three grades — i.e., Grades 6 to 8 or Grades 10 to 12 – for each presentation, as trying to appeal to fourth graders and eleventh graders at the same time is difficult. All Robin's presentations can be tailored to the needs of the particular group and where possible, she will plan a visit in consultation with the teacher. What follows is an example of the kind of author presentation she might give if the school did not request a particular focus. Typical School Presentation: Robin discusses the importance of students developing their individual voices, and emphasizes the idea that everyone has stories only they can tell. Her goals in talking to children and teens are to share her love of reading and her passion for the creative process of novel writing; to demystify the process of writing fiction; and to inspire students to pursue their own creative interests. If the technology is available, Robin will use PowerPoint to share visual images such as photographs and book covers, to help guide her presentation and to appeal to the visual learners in the group. Her presentations are well-organized but flexible, and her style is relaxed. She encourages questions and group interaction throughout, and also leaves time for questions at the end of her presentation. Where her schedule and the school schedule permit, Robin likes to stay behind after her presentation for a few minutes to chat with individual students, to answer any final questions, and to hear about their own writing. She encourages students to e-mail me with any follow up questions or comments, and says that it is always a treat to hear from students who are very passionate about writing but were too shy to talk much in the larger group. Creative Writing Workshops: Robin also enjoys providing creative writing workshops in schools. Workshops vary in length from one hour to a half-day, and can include the following: Creative Writing from the Inside Out: Participants will explore how they can use our own memories, experiences, questions and curiosity to create compelling writing and convincing characters. All Robin's workshops are interactive and include individual writing exercises and student participation. Workshops can be geared to Grades 6 through 12, and work best for smaller groups (ideally, a single class). Robin very much enjoys giving workshops and presentations and always leaves feeling energized and inspired by her interactions with young readers and writers. She hopes to meet you and your students soon! Book List / Discography:Escape Velocity (Orca Book Publishers, 2011) Awards:Inferno A Thousand Shades of Blue In the Woods Impossible Things Big Guy Out of Order Praise for Robin Stevenson:“Extremely well-organized, interesting and interactive… Robin had a wonderful sense of humour and was able to engage the class with ease… I recommend Robin to you without reservation.” “A generous and dynamic educator who worked very hard to enable my students to take creative risks, in a safe environment, and produce writing that they could be proud of. I am confident that Robin would lead valuable writing workshops in any school she visited.” "Robin’ s positive and inviting manner created an atmosphere where students felt comfortable, engaged and willing to share their writing responses with her and an audience of their peers, as well as eager for Robin’s immediate and incisive feedback. Students reflected appreciation for the opportunity of Robin's visit, and some have been inspired to continue with a piece of writing begun in the workshop. I look forward to having her back to our school, and will plan for a longer session next time!" "Robin Stevenson’s presentation for the Grade 8s was definitely a presentation I enjoyed. She did a great job of communicating and connecting with us teenagers and that is never an easy job. As a teenager myself, I find it hard to pay attention let alone enjoy an hour or so of sitting still. But I think I speak for many people when I say that the way she spoke of her books and explained to us the process of a first draft, left us wanting to know more information. All of us kids liked it when she would let us contribute our thoughts and ideas to plotting a story. Robin Stevenson’s books have a great wording and awesome stories that get you hooked instantly. To be able to interact with the author of those stories was actually quite an honour. I hope that she will come back to Lansdowne sometime and give the next set of grade eights the same experience that we got to have, and I hope that they enjoy it as much as we did." |
 Craft:author Genre:junior fiction, young adult fiction, teen fiction, hi-lo books, early chapter books Ideal Audience Size:25 Maximum Audience Size:200 Grades:4 – 12 (no more than a three grade span in a single presentation, i.e., Grades 4 – 6; Grades 7 – 9) Special Equipment:No equipment is absolutely required but for large presentations, I like to use PowerPoint if possible. I will also use overheads and blackboards/whiteboards if available. Website:School Reading Fee:$150.00 per presentation Public Reading Fee:$250.00 per presentation (four presentations covered by the Canada Council) Book Week Tour Contact:Carolyn Code |
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| RSSchoolVisitBrochure.pdf | 416.51 KB |