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Dr. Annette Laing is a historian, a popular schools presenter, and the author of The Snipesville Chronicles series of time-travel novels.
Book 1, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When was published with Confusion Press in 2007. Book 2, A Different Day, A Different Destiny, is due to be released in October, 2009.
Book 1, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When was published with Confusion Press in 2007. Book 2, A Different Day, A Different Destiny, is due to be released in October, 2009.
Annette in Scotland, her native habitat.
Annette Laing's Quick Bio:
British-born Annette Laing is author of The Snipesville Chronicles, a series of novels about the adventures of three kids who time-travel in British and American history.
Dr. Laing is also a historian of early America and the Atlantic World. She has written several articles on popular religious culture, and delivered papers at conferences from Los Angeles to Glasgow, including an invited paper at Newnham College, Cambridge University.
As an historian, Annette is perhaps best known for her work in public history. She has developed children's history programs and presentations since 2003, most notably TimeShop (2004-2007), which was the subject of a 2006 Associated Press feature.
In 2008, Annette resigned her position in the history department at Georgia Southern University to devote herself full-time to her writing, presentations, and work advocating history for children. In Fall, 2009, she launched Imaginative Journeys Kids Programs of South Georgia, a nonprofit organization that creates and promotes non-boring educational programs for children. Annette was a presenter at the Georgia Council for the Social Studies Meeting (2008) and the California Council for the Social Studies Meeting (2009.) Annette will present at the National Council for the Social Studies Meeting in November, 2009.
Annette lives in Georgia with her husband and son.
An Interview With Annette Laing
Where do you come from?
Contrary to evil rumor, I was not hatched in a lab in Atlanta. I was born in Dundee, Scotland, and raised in Stevenage, in southern England. As a teenager, I was a high school exchange student in California. I had a blast, and came back to California for college in 1983. I have lived in America ever since, although I visit England and Scotland for at least a month every year.
Where do you live now?
Since 1996, I have lived in a small town in rural Georgia, a town that looks strangely like Snipesville in my books... Oddly, there really is a Snipesville, Georgia, but it's not where I live, nor is it anything to do with the small town in my books. Sorry to confuse everyone.
What are you a historian of?
Anyone who writes about the past can call herself an historian, but I count myself as the honest-to-goodness real thing. I hold a Ph.D. degree in early American and modern British history from the University of California, and I taught at universities in California and Georgia for fifteen years, including twelve years as the resident early Americanist and public historian at Georgia Southern University. My main scholarly interest has been in personal relationships among the people of colonial America and eighteenth-century Britain. I am the author of several incredibly boring articles and papers, mostly about eighteenth-century popular religious culture and early American travel. I have also taught public history, and I continue to advocate for academic historians to connect their work to "real" people's interest in history.
Why did you become a children's writer and presenter?
I have been interested for many years now in improving how history is presented and taught to elementary-age kids in America. I developed my first children's history program, a Colonial Kids' Fair, in 2003. But I am best known for creating TimeShop, an outrageously fun one-day event that harnessed kids' creativity to create a time-travel experience like none other. TimeShop's Wartime England program, in which kids pretended to visit England in 1940, was the subject of a nationally-syndicated Associated Press article in 2006.
I trained as a journalist, and so I have always enjoyed entertaining and teaching through the written word. My first novel, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, was inspired by my work with kids at TimeShop.
I never expected that my work with kids would become my life's interest, but it has, and I consider it the most important work I have ever done. That's why I quit my job as a tenured professor in 2008, and recently started Imaginative Journeys, a nonprofit through which I create and run kids programs. I never really expected anyone but my friends would want to read my book, so I have been amazed--but absolutely delighted--by the response of kids and adults all across America (not to mention Canada and Britain) who have discovered Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, and enjoyed it. All that said, I find myself grabbing time to write whenever I can: I'm on Facebook. And when I have time, I blog at News from Snipesville: Dr. Annette Laing's Non-Boring History For Kids
What do you like to do for fun?
I like to read (no surprise there!), including history, biographies, and all sorts of novels. I also enjoy cooking: I love Indian food, and recommend a wonderful web site called Manjula's Kitchen for outstanding and easy recipes. Most of all, I enjoy spending time in England, where I visit historical sites and go to the theatre in London. It's always nice to come back to America, though! I travel widely in the United States, promoting my books, talking to teachers and students, and visiting new sources of inspiration.
British-born Annette Laing is author of The Snipesville Chronicles, a series of novels about the adventures of three kids who time-travel in British and American history.
Dr. Laing is also a historian of early America and the Atlantic World. She has written several articles on popular religious culture, and delivered papers at conferences from Los Angeles to Glasgow, including an invited paper at Newnham College, Cambridge University.
As an historian, Annette is perhaps best known for her work in public history. She has developed children's history programs and presentations since 2003, most notably TimeShop (2004-2007), which was the subject of a 2006 Associated Press feature.
In 2008, Annette resigned her position in the history department at Georgia Southern University to devote herself full-time to her writing, presentations, and work advocating history for children. In Fall, 2009, she launched Imaginative Journeys Kids Programs of South Georgia, a nonprofit organization that creates and promotes non-boring educational programs for children. Annette was a presenter at the Georgia Council for the Social Studies Meeting (2008) and the California Council for the Social Studies Meeting (2009.) Annette will present at the National Council for the Social Studies Meeting in November, 2009.
Annette lives in Georgia with her husband and son.
An Interview With Annette Laing
Where do you come from?
Contrary to evil rumor, I was not hatched in a lab in Atlanta. I was born in Dundee, Scotland, and raised in Stevenage, in southern England. As a teenager, I was a high school exchange student in California. I had a blast, and came back to California for college in 1983. I have lived in America ever since, although I visit England and Scotland for at least a month every year.
Where do you live now?
Since 1996, I have lived in a small town in rural Georgia, a town that looks strangely like Snipesville in my books... Oddly, there really is a Snipesville, Georgia, but it's not where I live, nor is it anything to do with the small town in my books. Sorry to confuse everyone.
What are you a historian of?
Anyone who writes about the past can call herself an historian, but I count myself as the honest-to-goodness real thing. I hold a Ph.D. degree in early American and modern British history from the University of California, and I taught at universities in California and Georgia for fifteen years, including twelve years as the resident early Americanist and public historian at Georgia Southern University. My main scholarly interest has been in personal relationships among the people of colonial America and eighteenth-century Britain. I am the author of several incredibly boring articles and papers, mostly about eighteenth-century popular religious culture and early American travel. I have also taught public history, and I continue to advocate for academic historians to connect their work to "real" people's interest in history.
Why did you become a children's writer and presenter?
I have been interested for many years now in improving how history is presented and taught to elementary-age kids in America. I developed my first children's history program, a Colonial Kids' Fair, in 2003. But I am best known for creating TimeShop, an outrageously fun one-day event that harnessed kids' creativity to create a time-travel experience like none other. TimeShop's Wartime England program, in which kids pretended to visit England in 1940, was the subject of a nationally-syndicated Associated Press article in 2006.
I trained as a journalist, and so I have always enjoyed entertaining and teaching through the written word. My first novel, Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, was inspired by my work with kids at TimeShop.
I never expected that my work with kids would become my life's interest, but it has, and I consider it the most important work I have ever done. That's why I quit my job as a tenured professor in 2008, and recently started Imaginative Journeys, a nonprofit through which I create and run kids programs. I never really expected anyone but my friends would want to read my book, so I have been amazed--but absolutely delighted--by the response of kids and adults all across America (not to mention Canada and Britain) who have discovered Don't Know Where, Don't Know When, and enjoyed it. All that said, I find myself grabbing time to write whenever I can: I'm on Facebook. And when I have time, I blog at News from Snipesville: Dr. Annette Laing's Non-Boring History For Kids
What do you like to do for fun?
I like to read (no surprise there!), including history, biographies, and all sorts of novels. I also enjoy cooking: I love Indian food, and recommend a wonderful web site called Manjula's Kitchen for outstanding and easy recipes. Most of all, I enjoy spending time in England, where I visit historical sites and go to the theatre in London. It's always nice to come back to America, though! I travel widely in the United States, promoting my books, talking to teachers and students, and visiting new sources of inspiration.
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