Addie Johnson

Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author’s visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I’m glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn’t just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”

Okosun: a passer on of stories. Although she had a love and passion for medicine, Author Ehigbor Okosun decided she loved writing even more. Years later, she published her first book, “Forged by Blood.”

The book club, also known as Page Turners, hosted an author visit for Okosun on Oct. 24, during which she shared her thoughts and answered the students’ questions. Okosun’s second book in her “Tainted Blood” duology came out the next day. She said that she felt conflicted about her book coming out.

“I was wondering if I would ever get to the point where I felt like I had done the characters enough justice and I’d given them enough room and space to grow and breathe on their own,” Okosun said. “And I’m very happy that once I turned in my edit I felt like I had. So I feel overwhelmed, but I also feel extremely grateful that I got to have this book and that I got to put it out the way it is.”

Okosun is working on and hoping to release a variety of books in the future. From book three of the Tainted Blood Duology to a mystery thriller to a fantasy, she said that she hopes to share many stories with the world.

“I want readers to know that they are seen,” she said. “I want them to see themselves celebrated in books. I want them to know that the world is vast. I want readers to be exposed to culture, language [and] so many [other] things.”

In addition to this, Okosun said that she wants to bring hope to people who have lost it. She said that because of the ills of our societies, people have fallen into the habit of existing instead of living.

“I think a lot of people have stopped believing in the power of young people, and I think that young people have stopped believing in themselves,” she said. “If there’s one thing I want to share with people around me [it would be to] learn how to hope.”

Librarian Keri Burns said she believes that authors can inspire people in many ways, with one example being author visits.

“Authors encouraging and uplifting the next generation to come alongside them [is very important],” Burns said. “Every author I’ve ever talked to had stories where somebody said, ‘come along, let’s do this, you can do this.’ And we all need that. People believing in you and believing [in] what you can do tremendously empowers us.”

Another way that author visits can help students is by giving them an opportunity to meet and get to know the author, according to Burns.

“I think the biggest thing with an author visit is making the authors themselves more human to us,” she said. “[They aren’t] unattainable, godlike [people] that you can’t communicate with and talk to and learn from. They are just like you and me. Being able to relate to them on that human level makes us relate to their art, to their books, and to their work better.”

Senior Amia De Leon said she agrees with Burns. De Leon is the president of Page Turners and said she hopes to share her love of reading with others and make them feel comfortable sharing their love of books in return.

“I love books,” De Leon said. “They’re like part of my soul and I don’t think I could ever separate myself from them. I also think that having a reading club is important because it lets you know there are other people out there who read. I know some people still may feel like reading is not cool, [or] their friends may not like it. So just having a group of people who are reading books and that come from different areas in life and that read different genres is just really important.”

Because she said she believes that author visits and having a reading club are so beneficial to students, whether they are readers or not, Burns will host many other author visits in the future.

“Come to the next author visits,” she said. “Come to Page Turners to join us; everybody’s welcome. You don’t have to complete the book, or read in a certain genre, or be a certain kind of reader or a certain kind of writer, anybody can enjoy and learn from artists, authors, [and] storytellers. We all have something to gain, no matter where we are in our own walks of creativity or where we are in our reading journey.”