New York Times-bestselling author, E. Lockhart, visited Middle School Spence students for a talk and writing workshop with the Middle School Literature Magazine Club. During the workshop, Lockhart focused on fairy tales, delving into spoken storytelling and transformations these stories undergo when becoming written texts. She engaged students by discussing how fairy tales can be adapted into contemporary forms such as chapter books, novels, and comic books to explore modern themes of love, family, and friendship.

These topics were aligned with the themes of two books by Lockhart that were shared with students earlier in the year, Brave Red, Smart Frog (a chapter book) and We Were Liars (a Young Adult fiction novel).

Lockhart has written over 13 chapter books and novels and received her Ph.D. in English Literature from Columbia University. She chaired the committee on Young People’s Literature for the National Book Awards in 2013.