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Bethany Hegedus  

Award-Winning Children's Author

BETHANY HEGEDUS’ books include the award-winning Grandfather Gandhi and the newly released Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story, both co-written with Arun Gandhi, grandson to the Mahatma and illustrated by Evan Turk. The Grandfather Gandhi books join Bethany’s novels Truth with a Capital T and Between us Baxters in gracefully handling race, class and diversity issues.

A graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults, Bethany is prior editor of the literary journal Hunger Mountain. Bethany is the Owner and Creative Director of The Writing Barn, a writing retreat, workshop and event space in Austin, Texas.

She has sat on panels with Ilyasha Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, and Arun Gandhi, grandson to the Mahatma. A former educator, Bethany is an in-demand presenter and she speaks and teaches across the country.

Speech Topics


After the Final No: Saying Yes to Yourself When the World Says No

Overnight success is a myth and it's Bethany's mission to break it. Bethany shares her deeply personal story of how she turned a national tragedy into a triumph that changed her life (though it took over ten years) which led to the publication of Grandfather Gandhi and Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story and how she asked Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma to work with her when she was yet-to-be-published and un-agented. Based on Bethany's favorite rejection mantra, "After the final no, there comes a yes and on that yes the future world depends," Bethany turns rejection, near misses, and writer/illustrator frustration into the gift that it really is.

More than the Facts: How the Narrative Thread Brings Non-fiction to Life

Author Bethany Hegedus will bring educators behind the book--not just the Grandfather Gandhi books-- but two yet -to-be announced books being readied for publication. She will share how authors uncover the narrative thread that will appeal to young readers, connect to their own challenges, and showcase the many decisions someone tackling the nonfiction form faces.

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