NOTE: This program originally aired Dec. 19, 2023.
Award-winning children’s author Kelly Barnhill is taking it one sentence at a time — literally.
The internationally best-selling author of the Newbery Award winner "The Girl Who Drank The Moon" — which has sold well over a million copies since it was first published in 2016 — suffered a concussion in 2021. That incident was a tipping point. Combined with past brain injuries, it turned her world upside down.
She wrote about her experience in a 2023 New York Times opinion piece.
Barnhill suffers from post-concussive syndrome. At one point she experienced double vision and couldn’t drive for months. She had trouble remembering words. Still, every day, she sat down at her desk and tried to write. For a long time, the only thing she was capable of was writing a single sentence on a Post-it Note.
Still, she persevered, and the result is a personal and true story of hope and connection. She discusses what her creative process is like now, why she was drawn to write children’s books in the first place, and where she sees herself going as a writer as she continues to heal, on the next Charlotte Talks.
GUEST:
Kelly Barnhill, award-winning children's author
