The Webb community was treated to a very special day with award-winning author John Scalzi '87. On April 19, John, who flew in from Ohio, visited the Webb campus before his weekend appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

In the morning, John spoke with students from an AP Lang and an Honors Foundation of Virtue class, leading them in a discussion about the role of the artist in society. He also did a reading from his well-known article, "Being Poor", a piece he wrote in 2005 in response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

The Alumni Office sponsored a Meet-the-Artist lunch in Jackson Library. A group of about 50 alumni, students, teachers and staff attended. John gave a reading from his upcoming novel REDSHIRTS (due out in June), and he talked about life as a writer. He also spoke about the "10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing" and he encouraged the students to work hard at their writing and to gain lots of interesting life experiences.

Many thanks to John for a great day. Click here to read in John's words about his "Day At Webb."

About John Scalzi
John has published 8 novels and 8 non-fiction books; his most recent work Fuzzy Nation reached #23 on the NY Times Bestseller list, and his sci-fi novel, Old Man's War, is being adpated for the big screen by Paramount Studios. His blog, WHATEVER, is one of the most visited personal blogs on the Web, with 5.4 million visits recorded in 2011.