Celebrated author/illustrator to launch GFS’ new Community Writers Series

With a mission of “featuring nationally known authors with local ties to Germantown,” the new Community Writers Series will launch Tuesday night at Germantown Friends School.

 

The inaugural speaker is award-winning author and illustrator Jerry Pinkney, who will “discuss his memories of Germantown and his work as an artist and storyteller of folktales, fairy tales and African American history.”

GFS Head of School Dana Okeson Weeks said the free, all-ages event is a “literary and artistic evening without a big commitment. … People don’t have to spend $200 to go to the opera.”

The Germantown native has illustrated more than 100 children’s books and has received honors including a Caldecott Medal, five New York Times “Best Illustrated Books” distinctions and five Coretta Scott King Awards.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art recently featured his work in its “Witness: the Art of Jerry Pinkney” solo exhibit.

About the series

English teachers Anne Gerbner and Chris Singler, along with GFS marketing director Meg Cohen Ragas and Historic Germantown, came up with the idea for the series as a way to promote local literary talent.

Hosted at the GFS Friends Free Library (5418 Germantown Ave.), the program will “provide space and celebration for the writers among us,” said Singler, head of the school’s English Department.

“Germantown’s storied history includes numerous writers who were born here, like Louisa May Alcott, or who wrote about Germantown, like Lorene Cary, or who lived here, like Jerry Pinkney,” said Gerbner, an Upper School English teacher.

Pinkney’s presentation, which starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, will be followed by a reception and book-signing. Direct RSVPs to FFLCWS@gfsnet.org.

The next installment in the series, featuring novelist/musician Wesley Stace (author of the forthcoming Wonderkid), is scheduled for March.