Hi. I’m Megan. 

I’m the “new kid” at Echo-Lit. I’ll be contributing to this blog fairly often, so I thought my first post would be the perfect opportunity to introduce myself.

First, I’m not entirely new to the Echo-Lit family. I’ve worked on a couple projects with Jeanne and Chris in the past. If you’ve been a patron of EL for a while, you might have seen the Literary Event Calendar or the Classic Novels Movie Style Poster set. For a life-long reader it was an incredible honor to create images paying homage to some amazing and influential works of literature and the authors who created them.

As an avid reader, I’m so excited to join a team that promotes reading and literacy with so much passion. I grew up literally surrounded by books. When I was nine, I learned basic carpentry from my father when we built floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that covered two entire walls of our living room (even after filling the new bookshelves there were still shelves lining our hallway - we had A LOT of books). 

When it comes to pleasure reading, I tend to favor genre fiction - I love sci-fi, horror, and fantasy; but I’m not above climbing on the bandwagon to devour the latest best seller. I’m an absolute sucker for a good post-apocalyptic/ dystopian novel (heck, I’ll even burn through a mediocre post-apocalyptic if nothing else in my to-be-read stack is sparking joy). Re-reading an old favorite is my version of chicken soup for my brain. If I’m sick, or the weather is blah, or I’m sheltering at place during a pandemic I’m probably going to crack open one of my favorites. 

Every few years I revisit Stephen King’s The Stand, Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. In March, I celebrate my boys’ birthday month by listening to one of the Harry Potter books narrated by Jim Dale (I binge-read the first five books while I was pregnant). Jane Eyre comes down off the shelf about every ten years or so; I like to see how my perception of the story changes as I mature (I still cry every time Helen Burns dies). 

I’m always excited when the summer reading list comes home, I enjoy reading along with my boys and dinner discussions about plot developments!

Over the last decade, I’ve developed a real love of memoirs. Is it a product of maturity or are publishers finally tapping into the stories of the kinds of people I want to read about? I have no clue. I imagine myself a skilled home cook and a bit of a foodie, so a chef’s memoir - especially one with recipes - really gets my creative juices flowing. I’m also a bit of a comedy nerd (stand-up particularly), so I get fairly stoked when one of my favorites comics pens their story.

Another reason I’m so delighted to join is their continuing mission to provide beautiful classroom support materials to educators around the world. After almost two decades working as a print tech, freelance artist and photographer I was granted the privilege of teaching Art to grade school students. It was eye-opening to see the classroom from the other side of the big desk. I will always treasure my three years in the classroom and the gift it was to share my love of art and creative expression with so many amazing children.

Growing up with books was probably what made me so determined to become an artist. Before I could write my name, I was constantly drawing - trying to reproduce the lush illustrations I poured over within the pages of the tremendous child’s library provided to me by my father and grandmother. I spent so much time at the Kanawha County Public Library as a kid, I was even photographed for my library’s summer reading program when I was eight! That's me - that gal at the beginning of this post. 

I still love to wander the stacks of children’s books in libraries and bookstores seeking out beautiful stories and illustration. I still collect children’s books and I look forward to the annual Caldecott Medal announcements!

Well, that's enough about me for now. I look forward to exploring and sharing with you in the weeks to come!