JILL KOLONGOWSKI will discuss her book Life Lessons Harry Potter Taught Me: Discover the Magic of Friendship, Family, Courage, and Love in Your Life, an approachable and inspiring series of short essays that examines the greatest YA series ever with a combination of adult literary criticism and childhood curiosity. The Harry Potter novels played a significant role in the childhoods of millions of adults. This collection of literary criticism revisits the bestselling YA novels through the perspective of a grown up, examining the impact of, and lessons that can be learned from, Harry and his fellow wizards.
Jill Kolongowski is a Hufflepuff who teaches writing and literature at the College of San Mateo. She is also the managing editor at YesYes Books. Her essays have won Sundog Lit's First Annual Contest series and the Diana Woods Memorial Prize in Creative Nonfiction at Lunch Ticket magazine. Other essays are published in Profane, Sweet: A Literary Confection, Southern Indiana Review, Fugue, and elsewhere. She lives in California, and her Patronus is a tortoiseshell cat.