Events for the YA novel GO HOME and more
Center for New Americans Connections Elementary School Program, Manchester, NH March 26 – April 16
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Derry Author Fest, April 5, 2025, Presenting with Sara Lesley Arnold, Derry Pubic Library “Author Visits, Presenting Stories for Diverse Students”
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Brewster Ladies Library, the Public Library of Brewster, MA April 22, 2025 5:30 p.m. A presentation of Go Home with Terry Farish and Lochan Sharma. The program is offered in collaboration with Nauset Interfaith Refugee Support Team and Building a Bigger Table
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Monadnock Poets Retreat, NH, April 25-27 Come and create the story your experience requires you to write. Call to Action. Poetry (and story) as Transformation, Harris Center, Greenfield, N.H. https://monadnockpastoralpoets.org/
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Laconia High School Book Discussion of Go Home, April 24, 2025. Facilitated by Prof. Monica Chiu of the University of New Hampshire, and discussion with Lochan Sharma, and me.
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Tidepool Books, Worcester, MA, spring date
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Wiggin Memorial Library, Stratham NH, May 20, 2025. A book discussion and presentation with Lochan Sharma and Terry Farish in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
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Center for New Americans, Manchester, Book Discussion of GO HOME with Teen Program. May 27, 2025
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Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading, Princeton, MA, May 28, 7 p..m
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NHWP Writer’s Day Conference, June 14, 2025. I’ll present a workshop: “Follow the Thread, a craft workshop on the novel including novels for Young Adults”
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Wheaton Writing Academy workshop presentation, Sept 27, 2025
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Gorham High School, Gorham, Maine, November 18-20. I’ll present assemblies in the schools of Gorham that feature my books about new Americans.
Some previous events for Go Home
Reading of “A Feast for Joseph” at the Concord Unitarian Church in a service that featured the theme of inclusion. February 23, 10 a.m.
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North Hampton Public Library, NH, February 18, 2025
Visiting Author Series: Go Home by Terry Farish (and Lochan Sharma)
Tuesday, February 18, 6:00 PM
August 11, 2024, 2 p.m. Concord, NH Our first event was in Concord, Lochan’s hometown. It was a GO HOME Book Celebration with homemade momos and homegrown flowers. Lochan and Terry read chapters from the dual-voice novel and talked about writing in collaboration Although this event is over, Gibson’s offers signed copies of Go Home and ship nationally. Order here.
Sept 4, 7 p.m. Portsmouth Poet Laurate Project’s Poetry Hoot, Stroll Café, 15 Portwalk Place Portsmouth. I was a featured reader with Paul Godwin. Thanks, Claire Conroy. This was so fun! https://pplp.org/hoot
Sept. 14, SeaCHANGE Conference: Reshaping Tomorrow Through Creativity and Community. Lochan Sharma and Terry will be on a panel discussing “How can the arts be a bridge between different cultures and promote new understanding and healing?”https://seachangeconference.or
Sept. 24 Keynote Speaker for the New Hampshire Rural Libraries E-Summit, a conference on family engagement and literacy presented in collaboration with New Hampshire Statewide Family Engagement Center – https://nhsfec.org/events/
Oct. 5 NH Book Festival, Concord, NH. Lochan and I are on the panel, “Co-Authors: Two Writers are Better Than One” with middle grade writers, Donna Gephart and Lori Haskins Houran, moderated by Kari Allen. https://www.nhbookfestival.org/
Oct. 12 Concord Public Library, NH. Awards presentation. I got the Elizabeth Yates Award from the Concord Library Foundation! Thank you, Concord. The award is for my work with kids and literady, and my books.
Oct. 19, 9:45-11 Monadnock Writers. Lochan and I are the speakers in the Monthly Speakers Series. Peterborough (NH) Public Library. 10-11:30 Monadnock Writer’s Group
Oct. 23, Keene State College, Session with a fiction writing class. They are reading my novel, Flower Shadows, and writing about an historical event.
Nov. 2, 2 p..m. Portsmouth Public Library. Seacoast Launch of Go Home. Lochan and I will read in the novel’s two voices and describe our collaboration. We’ll introduce our three characters – Gabe, Olive, and Samir – who inhabit different worlds as they respond to being new neighbors. Facilitator Anne Romney will lead us in discussion about choices the characters make. Our co-sponsors are RiverRun who will sell books, and Durbar Square who are providing momos.
Nov. 9, 4 p.m. The Bookery, 844 Elm St. Manchester, NH. Lochan and I are partnering with Building Community in New Hampshire to support the Immigrant City’s current immigrant community. We’ll talk about the importance of each person’s story and our own work to co-write GO HOME. We’ll read from our dual-voice novel.
Nov. 26 ALAN Assembly on Literature for Adolescents following the NCTE Conference. Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA. Lochan and I are speaking on a panel on writing YA “From the Headlines.” https://alan-ya.org/
Gilmanton School, December 4. The Gilmanton School Library and the Gilmanton Year Round Library won a CLiF Rural Library grant. I’ll do a story program to kickoff of the program. Hoo- ray for this town. This event was part of the good work of the Children’s Literacy Foundation.
Here are examples of 📚 Community Programs and School Visits I Offer
“Writing a Picture Book,” a Workshop for Teens and Adults
Picture books for children are poems with pictures. They can be funny. They can bring a family memory to life. Maria Popova describes picture books as “stories that tackle with elegant simplicity such complexities as uncertainty, loneliness, loss, and the cycle of life.” What makes a story one that children will love? What are the components that blend and form the structure and beauty of a picture book story? We’ll explore word by word and image by image how a few picture book are made. and the narrative components that help a picture book sing. I’ll offer guidelines and prompts to invite participants to write a picture book. I have presented this as a two session workshop. In session 2, writers share their own stories in progress with the group.
Resources for you:
“Writing a Picture Book” Handout
“Writing a Picture Book” Links to Resources
Article on “Writing a Picture Book”
Goals: You will draft a picture book!
Who is this program for: Adults and Teens
For full information please read here.
Book Club Visits with Adults or Teens It’s been a great pleasure for me to meet by zoom and in person with book clubs. The Good Braider is one that many have read in their reading groups. Contact me for info.
Presentations and School Visits
I offer a variety of presentations that I adapt for your school, library, or community. The programs for students are built around working with groups who’ve read one of my books or heard chapters read aloud so that we have a common text. The programs run 45 – 60 minutes and offer interactive components. I also welcome followup e-mails with questions from students to go deeper or offer resources to students and classes. You can e-mail me at tfarish at gmail
I’ve offered programs for children, teens, ESOL learners, college students, and adults.
Cooking Up a Picture Book with Children
Here are two traditional folded books. One is a small story about my grandfather. The other is a lullaby. In a two-hour or two-session workshop, we’ll read a picture book and children create a character, add a setting, a taste, a scent, and an emotion to create their own folded book. We talk story craft and the idea of little books as gifts. This book is called a curandero and is traditionally about creating a book to send good wishes to someone we care about. Or even a lullaby for a new baby.
Download “Read, Write and Imagine Our World”
Discussion Guides for My Books
“Terry’s multi-media approach to sharing these difficult stories is both a celebration of the lives of young people who have grown from their adversity and a tribute to the creative and beautiful individuals who are living right in our midst in Maine.”
– Nancy Watson, Bangor High School Librarian
“[Terry’s program] showed the children that immigrants and immigrants’ children are just like them: they have favorite foods, and miss their brothers, and need to run away sometimes, and need to show everyone that the world is at home, too.” Mo Churchill, Children’s Librarian, Newport, NH
You can read more about my programs on my blog. Go to School and Community Reading and Writing Projects.