Gordon Korman

Austin and I went to see Gordon Korman at the West Point Grey United Church on October 21. Gordon did a short talk before staying to sign autographs for fans. He lives in New York and was in Vancouver for the Writers Festival.

Gordon told the audience about how he got started as a writer. It's a great story about a 12-year-old boy who was the grade 7 class Scholastic monitor. He wrote a story as a Language Arts project that year, his mother typed it up into a manuscript and he mailed it to the address on the Scholastic order forms.

Two years later, This Can't be Happening at MacDonald Hall was published. Now, Gordon Korman has written more than 60 books. Austin purchased Swindle and its sequel, the newly-published Zoobreak.

When Austin met Gordon Korman, he told the author that he liked the ending of "Schooled." It was a happy ending. Austin is hoping that it will turn out to be a movie someday. Gordon Korman explained that movie rights have been sold for several of his books, including "Schooled." That's an interesting phenomenon itself. I guess many movie rights have been sold on books in print, but most of these will never see the big screen.

Upon hearing of Austin's chance to meet this author, Austin's Nana sent him this note:
"Dear Austin. You have just been in the presence of a very determined young man, Gordon Korman. I took a class to see him in Ladner when he was promoting his first book. He was just a teenager then and so delightful. Do you know he was given a homework assignment to write a short story and came back to school with a chapter story!! -- and the story goes on from there with a publisher seeing his potential. I think it is so special when you can work at what you love best. Most writers start with a "regular" job and write on the side until they can make enough money with just their stories. Love Nana"