Written by Mary Kay Carson, Writer-in-Residence
Our 2025 Writer-in-Residence is Mary Kay Carson, award-winning author of children’s nonfiction books. Listen to her as host of CHPL's "Inside the Writer's Head" podcast.
This past year as writer-in-residence has been a whirlwind of workshops, kid programs, blog posts, podcast recordings, office hours, and other fun events. The opportunity to share my books and thirty years of writing experiences has truly been an honor. Thank you, Library Foundation, for making it possible!
Meeting with writers throughout 2025 was terrifically enjoyable and gosh-darn inspiring! Writers gathered in workshops to explore the many kinds of children’s books and to dissect the tricky interplay of illustration and text in picture books. Documenting family stories and relating one’s own lived experience was another writing goal of many workshop attendees. People truly love books and want to create them. Huzzah!
Let me share a couple of reoccurring themes I noticed as the year’s writer-in-residence events paraded past. The first is a craving for camaraderie and support among writers—both new and published. While the act of writing is often a solitary endeavor, many of us benefit from sharing, critiquing, and kvetching with other writers. Library branches are terrific places to hold meetups that foster writer groups or all kinds.
Feeling “stuck” in a manuscript, or overwhelmed by the publishing process, was another common thread among participants. How do I get started? I’ve written something, so what now? Do I need an agent? Should I just self-publish? Nothing feels better than helping someone find a useful resource, concrete task, or possible pathway that moves them forward. Remember, there’s no need to figure it all out, just your next step.
Writers indeed live among us! They’re out there, recording family histories, scribbling stories, bearing witness to current events, and compiling epics of imagination. Write on, Cincy! I look forward to reading your pages.
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