Author Programs for Teens and Adults
Like an Arrow – Writing to Witness the World. This is a multimedia program about my young adult novels. Each of them touches on war, families who come to the U.S. as immigrants, and the connections we have with one another across cultures. My goal is to invite students to travel in the world with me as I’ve gone on research trips and meet immigrant characters who’ve shared their food, music, stories that have become a part of America. I like to work with smaller groups such as classes or combined classes. I offer a writing prompt from an international poet extraordinair and invite participants to respond in their own voices and writing.
Writing Workshop. I offer a pure writing workshop in which we read a poem and a passage of fiction on ideas of social justice. We focus our session on reading mentor texts, diving into the imagination, writing, and doing a reading of our work.
Reading Club Talk. I join classes that are reading Go Home, my newest book written with Lochan Sharma, or with classes reading any of my books. I invite students into discussion and answer questions. I talk with them about my writing process and offer discoveries I’ve made as a writer to help students writing their way. A discussion guide for Go Home is here. A link to a Teaching Books audio interview with Lochan and me is here. Discussion guides to The Good Braider and Either the Beginning or the End of the World are here. An article I wrote about working with high school readers and writers, Why Novels?
Praise from students
“What I most admire about her is how she tries to make her stories as accurate as possible. She tries to write stories about real life problems which brings awareness to them. Everything she does is inspiring.”
“I admire how she sees the world through story and how she always tries to give an animal to a character in a book. She saw war and instead of trying to forget she informs people about many wars.”
“I can’t believe how much research she puts into her work just to get a simple piece of writing. It shows how much she cares about the subject.”
Contact me to for dates, prices, details.
Author Visits for Elementary Schools
I also write picture books. The Joseph and Whoosh books have been fun to share with kids. Joseph’s Big Ride is about a boy who comes from South Sudan to Portland, Maine and he wants only one thing – to ride a bike. He gets so much more than he bargained for. Many students at Dondero School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire traced their hands and decorated them with chalk-crayons to make the spokes of the bike you can see in the picture above. It’s modeled after Ken Daley’s vibrant illustrations in our book.
On an author visit, I invite students to join in on a short readers’ theatre to act out a Joseph and Whoosh play with props. The programs with all my books include map study, listening to and speaking new words (some in other languages), action rhymes, and understanding of things people and animals can share across cultures including friendship.
Contact me for dates, prices, details.
Calendar of Events
Friday, April 3, 2026, 2 pm Keene State College. “Keene is Curious” Reading with Lochan Sharma and Brinda Charry
New Hampshire School Library Section NHLA Conference, Author Panel, March 20, 2026
Ashland Elementary School, Ashland, NH, March 24, 2026. A Children’s Literacy Foundation reading event.
SNHU Center for New Americans, Amiko Youth Program, Manchester, NH in collaboration with New Hampshire Humanities, Connections Book Discussions, April 1, 8, 15, and 22.
Laconia High School, Laconia, New Hampshire. April 9. Lochan Sharma and I join a class reading our book Go Home.
Recent Past Events
Rochester Public Library, Teen Book Night, February 25, 6 p.m.
Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading, Princeton, MA, January 27, 2026 7 p.m. on-line, link through the Worcester County Poetry Association.
2025
Gorham High School, Middle School and elementary schools, Gorham, Maine, November 18-20. I’ll present assemblies in the schools of Gorham, featuring my books about new Americans
New Hampshire Literary Awards. Oct. 18. Manchester, NH. Lochan and I won the NH Literary Award for Outstanding work of Young Adult Literature for our novel Go Home.
Maine County and State Teachers of the Year Association Conference “Migration Reads”, August 11. Colby College Facilitated a discussion with Maine educators on “Migration Reads” books. Co-author Lochan Sharma spoke on a panel at the MCSTAYA on being a first-gen author and creating a first-gen main character.
…………….
Dondero School, Portsmouth, NH. August 3. A CLiF Author Story Program. We read Joseph’s Big Ride and kids decorated the shapes of their hands. Their hands became the spokes of a bicycle tire.
…………….
Center for New Americans, Amiko Program. A New Hampshire Humanities Connections Elementary School Program, Manchester, NH March 26 – April 16 and a summer series in July. One of the most-loved books was Auntie Luce’s Talking Paintings by Francie Latour and Ken Daley which we also had in Haitian Kreole, thanks to I’m Your Neighbor Books.
…………….
Tamworth Author Fest, July 12. This wonderful outdoor summer festival included readings and a panel on research. The presentations enabled all who came to meet the authors and their books.
…………….
Madison Elementary School, Madison, NH, June 10, CLiF (Children’s Literacy Foundation) finale of the school’s Year of the Book celebrations.
……………..
Wiggin Memorial Library, Stratham NH, May 20. A book discussion and presentation with Lochan Sharma and me in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We presented our novel, GO HOME and had a circle conversation with the community about newcomers in our communities and being a newcomer.
………………
Derry Author Fest, April 5, 2025, Presenting with Sara Lesley Arnold, Derry Pubic Library “Author Visits, Presenting Stories for Diverse Students”
……………
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
……….
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/
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.
Center for New Americans, Manchester, Book Discussion of GO HOME with Teen Program. May 27, 2022
Reading and Discussion of “A Feast for Joseph” at the Concord Unitarian Church in a service that featured the theme of inclusion. February 23, 10 a.m.
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
“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.
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.