Author and educator Carol Allen will lead a seminar for writers about creating children’s books at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 30, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

Allen says that writing for children is serious business. “Anybody who thinks writing a picture book is to just scribble down some lines and draw great illustrations is making a serious mistake,” she says. “There are rules for picture books and there are serious points to address in your writing: Point of view; voice, character, conflict.”

After a career in public education, spanning the roles of teacher, principal, university professor, and superintendent, Allen pursued an MFA degree in Writing for Children at Vermont College, a degree she received in 2009.

She taught a course titled Writing for Children in the Tulane College of Continuing Education. Her young reader fictional biography on Leah Chase titled A Long Way From the Strawberry Patch; The Story of Leah Chase, is scheduled for release in spring 2020 from Pelican Publishing Company.

Allen’s other books are: Plain Weird, and Other Weird and Wacky Poems, Dilettante Press, 1989; They Only Laughed Later: Tales of Women on the Move, EuroPublic Press, 2000; and Leah Chase: Listen, I Say Like This, Pelican Publishing Company, 2002. She has published numerous freelance articles including a profile of Ernest Gaines, published in The Writers’ Chronicle, and articles in The Washington Post, Epicurean Magazine, and others.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.