For Jane Yolen, a nationally acclaimed author from western Massachusetts, writing is a wondrous part of her life.
It provides her with a variety of characters that keep her company, clamoring in her mind for their stories to be told. The part she likes best, she recently told Wordswimmer, a blog about writing for children, is watching "something new and never seen or heard before — come tumbling out . . . leaking from my fingertips.
"It's a magic trick, something astonishing I can do. Again and again and again," she said.
Yolen, who has written close to 300 books, brings her magic to Tucson on April 11 when she discusses "The Role of Family Stories and Folktales in Building a Culture of Literacy" at an evening event sponsored by the nonprofit organization Make Way for Books.
The 7 p.m. event will be held at Z Mansion, 288 N. Church Ave., and will benefit the Make Way for Books for Babies program that provides early literacy resources for at-risk new parents, most of whom participate in the Healthy Families programs of Pima County and Southern Arizona.
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Folk stories and fairy tales are mired in our past and have the potential to teach children many lessons about life, Yolen believes.
"Some still can speak to us with great intensity; some have the bones of bias and prejudice in their familiar flesh," she said.
Sarah Launius, community relations coordinator for Make Way for Books, cited Yolen's book "Briar Rose," which is based on the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" but tells a grandmother's story of the Holocaust and her family's suffering in Nazi Germany.
There is a universality to these stories, Launius said, that, in the new context, gives the reader another understanding of his or her world.
A performance by Tucsonan Martin Juan Rivera Sr., a master storyteller nicknamed "El Cuento" (the story) because he becomes so completely a part of the stories he tells, will open the evening.
Wine and hors d'oeuvres will be served at a reception preceding the performance and lecture. Reception reservations must be made by April 5.
Tickets are $30 for the performance and lecture; $60 for the reception and performance/lecture.
Tickets purchased at the door on April 11 are $45 for the performance/lecture only.
To make reservations or for more information, contact Make Way for Books at 721-2334 or online at www.makewayforbooks.org.
