Marilyn Hagerty: 'Reading and writing go hand in hand'

Grand Forks Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty demonstrated just that yesterday at Literary Lunches when she read the writing of her son as well as her own work. She shared emails from her son Bob Hagerty, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, in which he described the penchant he had as a youth for Mad Magazine, something he didn't necessarily have for some of the literature in school. Yet he wrote his mother that, "Parents should not worry so much about what their kids are reading, just [so] they are reading."

Hagerty emphasized the importance for students in their busy lives "to stop and think about literature.....that will enrich our lives." Before reading her own work, she recommended Ernie Pyle's War, for its description of war like no other, and Jon Hassler's The Dean's List.  

Hagerty read from her own work Echoes, a collection of her Herald columns. She read about a man who mistook tulip bulbs for onions as well as about a gathering of Donna's. When Hagerty asked students if they knew anyone named Donna, senior Justin Fischer replied, "I know a Prima donna."

To keep up with the Literary Lunches schedule, click on the Literary Lunches tab at the top of the blog. Biographies for readers are being added to the schedule. A special thanks to Katie DeLong's Grand Forks Central Interventions students, who are helping create those biographies.