Author and educator Zetta Elliott is known for her poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. She was born and raised in Canada but has been in the U.S. for over 20 years. She is coming to the Fall KidsLIVE! author talk series at Columbus on Thursday, November 19 at 3:30 PM! We had the opportunity to ask her a few questions.

When and where do you like to read?

I love to read on the train. There's something about being underground and surrounded by so many people, yet being oblivious to it all because I'm completely immersed in an imaginary world. I've missed my stop more than once while reading a really good book on the subway, and long journeys can fly by when I've got a compelling story to read.

What were your favorite books as a child?

I loved Ezra Jack Keats's books when I was very young because those were the only books I had access to that included kids who looked like me. I also read everything I could find by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and I kept going back to The Secret Garden as I grew older. I just published a book called I Love Snow, which is a tribute to The Snowy Day by Keats. And my fantasy novels often feature gardens, which in a way is a tribute to The Secret Garden. So many things seem possible in a garden where living things are constantly evolving...

What books had the greatest impact on you?

I read Great Expectations when I was 13 and fell in love with Dickens's writing style. I read a lot of British literature as a child and teen, and that definitely impacted my own voice. I read mostly U.S. literature in high school, and remember producing a creative writing project on Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which I had read as a child. The only Black-authored books in my public library were the ones that won awards, so I remember seeing that book cover over and over on my weekly trips to pick up and drop off books. I love historical fiction and that book taught me a lot about segregation in the US—it might even have planted the seed that eventually became my dissertation!

Would you like to name a few writers out there you think deserve greater readership?

I love speculative fiction and think teens would definitely appreciate Octavia Butler and N.K. Jemisin. Some middle grade and young adult authors folks should know about include Tracey Baptiste, Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charapoitra, Justina Ireland, and Renee Watson.

What was the last book you recommended?

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin. I love magic and all things related to Ancient Egypt, so this book was right up my alley!

What do you plan to read next?

The second book in the Dreamblood duology, The Shadowed Sun. I'm writing a novel about the Civil War and feel overwhelmed by facts, so it's nice to escape into an imaginary world!

Don't forget to check out Zetta at Columbus Library, November 19 at 3:30 PM!