Author/Illustrator
Dottir Press (Ordinary Terrible Things series)
Anastasia Higginbotham is the award-winning author and illustrator of Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, Death Is Stupid, Divorce Is the Worst, Not My Idea, What You Don't Know, and You Ruined It. In her words: "I write and illustrate children’s books that confront death, sex, race, abuse, family upheaval, and the conflicting and condescending messages kids receive about their own power. Two are banned in several states, and the one about dismantling white supremacy has been waved around on the House and Senate floors in Texas and condemned by the Mississippi State Auditor. Not My Idea has been used to justify banning any curriculum in schools that directly addresses systemic racism and a legacy of resistance to that established power structure. My books for slightly older children share searing truths about childhood related to sexual identity, culture and boundaries, and insist that adults grow up, listen to, and support children to know themselves fully and live freely into their own being. My methods of making the books, using collage, fabric scraps, Spirographs and grocery bags, demonstrate for readers a way to make something new out of something used and old. Collage offers a way to create wholeness and patterns from what’s discarded, in pieces, or unraveling. With spare language and rich imagery, I aim for the tender places within readers of any age and invoke the child part of us that can heal backward and forward at the same time. My process is based on my understanding that the freer we are from the ordinary, terrible events of our own childhoods, the more space we can offer young people as they grow into what is real for them in their time." Higginbotham also teaches full impact self-defense for Prepare Inc. in New York City.
How to Talk with Kids About Tough Topics without Triggering Controversy: A Workshop
Sunday, January 21, 2024
10:00am – 11:00am EST