Roland Lazenby and the Biography Lecture

Roland Lazenby shows an example of children's biography.

The class hung on every word.

Roland makes a point.

Roland Lazenby taught, told stories, asked the class for examples and experiences in his hour and a half class tonight for the Writers Series of the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference.

Roland, who has had a hand in nearly five dozen books, talked about biography in most of its forms, beginning with young adult books on through some of the more difficult tasks--some of which he has been involved in of late.

A crowd of professional writers hung on every word. Roland is nothing if not animated and informed, which made this second in the series more than a little worthwhile.

June 19 at Community High, the Series will be host for Karen Chase, whose book Bonjour 40, has caused something of a minor sensation in publishing circles of late. It is a self-published collection from a blog and Karen, who used to own a design shop in Roanoke, but now works out of Richmond, will talk about how she did it.