Chris Barton

With 25 books, Chris Barton has been the first author that many thousands of young Texas readers have ever met. His fiction picture books include We Match! (2025) and bestseller Shark vs. Train. His nonfiction includes three biographies included on the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List, among them Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions and What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Through his main program, "Write What You'd Love to Learn," Chris encourages audiences—preschool and up—to turn the things they're passionate about into the subjects of their own fiction and nonfiction writing. After reading from his host's choice of his books, Chris uses that story as a jumping-off point for an age-appropriate discussion of research, revision, and/or collaboration, followed by answering as many audience questions as time allows. In addition to keynote addresses for adult audiences, he also provides workshops to writers of all ages—fun, informative, engaging opportunities for students to work with a published author to improve their own writing. Chris is happy to customize workshops to meet his hosts' needs, zeroing in on techniques students can continue to use long after they have left the classroom. Photo by Elizabeth McGuire.