For the three decades, Tony Abbott has written many books for young readers aged 6 to 15, including Kringle, Underworlds, The Copernicus Legacy, and the long-running fantasy series, The Secrets of Droon. He is also author of the realistic novels Firegirl (2006 Golden Kite Award for Fiction) and The Postcard (2008 Edgar Award for Best Mystery), and the civil-rights drama, Lunch-Box Dream. His latest novels are The Summer of Owen Todd (2017), Denis Ever After (2018) also nominated for the Edgar Award, and The Great Jeff (2019). His latest book is the YA novel-in-verse, Junk Boy (2020). Tony has taught on the faculty of Lesley University’s MFA in Creative Writing, and is currently writing fiction and poetry for adults. 

Tony Abbott on his presentation: A frank discussion about a 30-year career in writing children’s books, with many side trips, joys, shipwrecks, sorrows, and secrets, culminating in a strangely unexpected circle back to origins. I’ll concentrate specifically on a handful of novels written over the last 20 years as way of exploring the creation of living worlds for young (and not so young) readers.