Multnomah County Library Podcasts

M.T. Anderson is perhaps best known for his National Book Award and Printz Honor-winning duet, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation. (Volume 1: The Pox Party and Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves.) Feed, his satire on consumerism and the decline of language, is both critically acclaimed and controversial, and has been challenged in many schools, including some here in the Pacific Northwest. He is also the author of several picture books; a vampire novel, Thirsty, published before the current craze; and a series for younger readers, Pals in Peril, (Whales on Stilts, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen, and Jasper Dash and the Flame-Pits of Delaware), which satirizes classic children's adventure books.

Youth Services Director Ellen Fader welcomes the audience, Hillsdale Library Teen Council member Ulysses Duckler introduces Mr. Anderson. Among other topics, Anderson's wide-ranging talk touches on writing as a way to travel through time, how the incessant marketing messages directed at teens attempt to convince them that unless they continue buying, they will always be found wanting, and how a writer's dark vision can be a spur for readers to change a broken world.

Date of Event: October 12, 2009

Target Audience: Teens and Adults