VS Grenier ~ Award-Winning Author, Speaker & Podcaster

Join Host Virginia S Grenier on Monday May 20, 2013 at 3:30pm EST as she chats with Hadiyah Joan Carlyle about her memior "Torch in the Dark". Torch in the Dark tells the moving story of how Hadiyah Joan Carlyle, a single mother haunted by memories of her own traumatic childhood, pioneered as one of the first women since World War II to enter the trades as a union welder. Hadiyah Joan Carlyle grew up in a Jewish immigrant neighborhood in New Jersey, became active in the Civil Right movement of the sixties and migrated to San Francisco’s colorful Haight-Ashbury to be part of the counter-culture there. In the seventies, she was the first and only female shipyard welder in Bellingham, Washington, north of Seattle. In the eighties, Hadiyah returned to the East coast to earn her MSW at Rutgers University. In 2003, she completed the certificate program in Memoir Writing through the University of Washington Extension. She is an active member of Seattle’s thriving community

Once a teen runaway, Jewel Kats is now a self-made Diva. She’s authored seven books! Think: ­Loving ­Healing Press (USA.) Think: Marvelous Spirit Press (USA.) Think: Kube Publishing (UK.) For six years, she penned a syndicated teen advice column for Scripps Howard News Service (USA) and TorStar Syndication Service (Canada). She’s won $20,000 in scholarships from Global Television Network and women’s book publisher, Harlequin Enterprises. Jewel also interned in the TV studio of ­Entertainment Tonight Canada. Her books have been featured in Ability Magazine twice. She recently made a guest appearance on Accessibility in Action. Jewel appeared in a documentary series by the Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) in September of 2012. VS: What do you do to help balance your writing life with your family life? Jewel: I have yet to master the art of creating a perfect balancing act. My family—thankfully!--is very understanding when it comes to my passion for writing. Though, someti

In my book, What Do You See When You Look at Me?, I use bright and colorful real life photos of both wild and domestic animals. With each picture, I invite my young readers to look carefully at the animal and describe what they see. Underneath each photo is a one-sentence caption of what I see. For example, the first photo is of a flamingo, not the whole bird, just the head and neck. I see a pink, curvy neck yet I also see the letter S. I hope to teach children to look at more than just a flamingo or elephant but to see the detail in each animal. I also hope that they can look closely at the animal and look for emotion such as the smile on the elephant's face, the tear in the horse's eye or even the big yawn of the tiger that is either tired or bored. If I were to talk to parents or teachers about my book and how I would like for them to use my book with children, I would tell them that aside from looking at fun pictures and learning to read the simple text, I would hope t