By Cary Shuman
Author and illustrator Huda Fahmy visited students at Chelsea High School Dec. 5 to talk about her comedic, multi-book series.
Fahmy spoke at the Andrew P. Quigley Memorial Library, continuing a successful author-visitation program organized by CHS Librarian Trent Bordok, with the assistance of Wondermore who made the visit possible free of charge through a grant from the Cummings Foundation. It is the third visit that Wondermore has made to the Chelsea school district to-date during academic year.
Bordok delivered the introductory remarks, expressing his gratitude to school administrators and Wondermore, and to CHS teachers for preparing the students for the visit.
“We’ve spent the last couple of weeks learning about our author and we’re excited to finally meet her,” said Bordok.
Fahmy told the students that she knew she wanted to be a writer early in her life.
“If you had asked me years ago what I wanted to be at five years old, I knew immediately that I wanted to be a writer,” said Fahmy. “I had told one joke and made somebody laugh, I got addicted to it. I really always wanted to make people laugh, and I always wanted to do it by telling them stories and things that happened to me that day.”
A child of immigrants and a first-generation American, Fahmy said she learned how to speak English by reading the comics in the newspaper.
“I taught myself how to speak English by reading comics,” said Fahmy, whose parents conversed with her only in Arabic.
Fahmy said she attended the University of Michigan where she majored in English. She received a full scholarship to law school but left after one year.
Fahmy became an English teacher (“I loved being a teacher,” she said) for eight years before leaving the field of education in 2016 to raise her child.
During that time, she decided to pursue a goal of being an author, but she was met with several rejections from book agents.
Fahmy complemented her elite writing skills by becoming a skilled illustrator, investing in software.
Ultimately through her determination and perseverance, Fahmy became a published author and a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
What was quite impressive to observers at the book talk at Chelsea High School was the respect, courtesy, and model comportment the students extended to the esteemed author throughout the talk. In the case of Fahmy’s visit, the author-visitation program was productive in creating an outside-the-classroom experience through which students were inspired while learning about the dedication that goes into writing a book and then having the book published.
Bordok said that Fahmy “captivated students’ attention with her funny sense of humor and inspiring success story.”
“What stood out was when she told students that they can do what they love if they’re willing to work for it,” said Bordok. “An important tip she gave students was to keep writing and drawing until they finish a piece of work instead of striving for perfection. Ms. Fahmy suggested having friends critique their finished work to provide feedback and help improve their writing and illustrating. After the visit, students mentioned they enjoyed getting their books signed, as it offered an opportunity to speak with Ms. Fahmy personally. Many thanks to the nonprofit organization Wondermore for providing the visit.”