Before that

My friend texted me: I enjoyed it! She’s so amazing

Before that, I sent this text to my friend: That was lovely!! Thanks for letting me know about this.

Before that, she shared how a picture books takes her weeks to six months, Brown Girl Dreaming took three years and Before the Ever After took three years and LOTS of research.

Before that, she answered her why of writing is so many things, including allowing readers to know “I Matter” because I can see myself in a book.

Before that, she explained that football is both a beautiful sport and a brutal sport and her advise to parents of children who want to play this sport is to first do some research and walk into it informed.

Before that, she shared how the topic of CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the term used to describe brain degeneration likely caused by repeated head traumas) was not a topic seen in literature before and how many black and brown athletes suffer from it.

Before that, she was introducted by the VA Festival of the Book moderator as an award winning author, having won the Newbery, the National Book Award, the Astrid Lindgren Award, a MacArthur Genius Award, the Children’s Literature Legacy Award, the Coretta Scott King Award and was named the National Young People’s Poet Laureate and the National Amabassodor for Young People’s Literature.

Before that, ten days to be exact, my friend sent me an email saying: Good Morning, I registered you for an event via the VA Festival of the Book. This year it is virtual. It is Jacqueline Woodson discussing Before the Ever After on 3/16 from 2-2:30pm.

Author Marc Boston interviewing Jacqueline Woodson
as an event at the VA Festival of the Book, March 16, 2021