ELLY GRIMM
• Leaders & Times
The summer reading fun at the Liberal Memorial Library continues next week with a very special presentation.
Storyteller Jefferson Knapp will visit the Liberal Memorial Library on Monday, July 1, to talk about his journey in creating his stories and book series. The presentation begins at 1 p.m.
His path to becoming an author was, as Knapp tells us, long and rocky.
“Officially, I’ve been a full-time writer since 2010. I started writing in 2008, but it took a couple of years to get a book and everything ready to officially get started,” Knapp said. “I started with an idea for a book and found out that this particular idea would be better suited as a series, and that went from three books to six, so it’s a very big story. It’s a fantasy series similar to the ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ series, with the first book coming out in fall 2010 and the last in fall 2023. I started writing children’s books around 2015, and in the meantime I’ve been able to ghostwrite or co-write books for some famous athletes and coaches. In the summer I like to visit libraries and give talks, and I do the same during the school year. My goal is to help kids get excited about reading and maybe even inspire some future writers.”
Knapp said the idea for his first stories came about in a somewhat strange way.
“When I first started writing, I was working as a groundskeeper for the school district in Andover. One day I was mowing a baseball field and my mind wandered to memories of a dog I had as a boy. I came up with the idea that the whole time he was my pet, he had a secret life that involved lots of adventures,” Knapp said. “That day I got the idea for my first story, and even though I’d never written a book before, I knew I had to put it all on paper. So I devoted the next few months to writing, and then once I had a first draft, I was really happy, and then I started editing, which can be quite tedious. I’d enjoyed writing for assignments and projects in school, but I’d never necessarily aspired to be a journalist or a professional writer of any kind. When I had that initial idea, I wanted everyone else to know about it, and eventually I discovered that this was what I wanted to do. I’ve tried many careers, but this is the one I enjoy the most and find the most fulfilling. But if you had asked me as a boy what I wanted to do when I grew up, I probably wouldn’t have imagined being a writer.”
Knapp has lived in the area before and is looking forward to his upcoming visit to southwest Kansas.
“I actually lived in Dodge City with a friend and his wife for a while and was the coach of the high school football team, so I knew Liberal pretty well because we played against each other on the field,” Knapp said. “Every time I come to that area, I love it. Every part of the state is so different and it’s always fun to come back to southwest Kansas. I think it will be great to visit such a cool place again. And I don’t know the library there that well, so it will be fun to meet the staff, get a new audience and see how everything runs. Since it will be mostly kids in the audience, I really try to emphasize imagination and how important it is to use it. I grew up in the 1980s and back then we had to use our imaginations because we didn’t have nearly as much technology and devices as are available today. I always tried to tap into my creative side to have fun or play outside. That’s why I always try to convey to the children in the audience the value of imagination. I also talk about how I came up with the ideas for my books and a little about the writing process. I also try to stress that I’m not anyone particularly special and that other people can become writers and be creative if they want to. They just have to believe in themselves.”
Knapp added that he hopes for a large audience at his presentation and said he always enjoys visiting libraries.
“If you have kids who aren’t necessarily avid readers, but you’d like them to be, I hope my presentation sparks at least a little bit of something — and if not, then hopefully I’ll at least make them laugh a little bit, because my presentation has some funny moments in it,” Knapp said. “I also hope to get their interest in my books, especially since these stories are set right here in Kansas and are by a Kansas author! And not just with my books, I hope to get kids interested in reading, because books take you to another world and can open your mind so much. I also brought some cool props that will hopefully also help spark some humor and increase interest in reading. I love being in libraries. I talk to kids all the time about growing up before home computers — if you had a home computer, it was a BIG deal, and they were a lot more expensive back then than they are now. Going to the library was basically the highlight of every week for me, and that helped fuel my imagination as well. I also mention to my audience that I’m still interested in cryptozoology, creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. That interest started when I was a boy. I used to borrow books about that kind of thing and it’s still so cool to go to a library because it almost makes me feel like a boy again and brings back those memories.”
Overall, says Knapp, the audience should have a lot of fun with his presentation.
“If anyone wants to learn more about my books, they can visit jeffersonknapp.com or krakenbooks.com or follow my Facebook page where they can see my entire bibliography and see the projects I’ve been involved in,” Knapp said. “I’m very excited to come to the Liberal Memorial Library and it’s always a great pleasure for me to be able to visit southwest Kansas.”
