Half-day author visits for middle schools

cindybarbera@comcast.net
Fiction Factory, author visits and workshops Request a Visit

Cynthia Barbera

Author and creator of Fiction Factory Workshops.

Request a Visit The books
Cynthia Barbera, author and creator of Fiction Factory Workshops

The short version

Cynthia Barbera wrote Secrets from the Sky, the first book in The Youngest Arrivals series. The concluding novel, Beneath the Falling Sky, is due in December 2026. She also co-authored the graphic novel Area 51: The Beginning with Jane White.

Fiction Factory Workshops is the school side of that work. It exists because the same question comes up at every school visit: where do you get your ideas. The honest answer takes about forty minutes and a room full of paper, which is roughly what the programme is.

Why middle school

Middle school is where a lot of students quietly decide they are not writers. It usually happens without anyone noticing, somewhere between being told to write creatively and being marked on it.

The workshops are built against that. Ten students, a real piece of their own writing, and the experience of reading it out loud to a room that takes it seriously. The certificate at the end is not a participation trophy. It has their name on it and it says author.

The books

Both published titles are available now. Each links out to the retailer, because nothing is sold on this website.

Cover of Secrets from the Sky by C. Barbera Cover of Area 51: The Beginning by Jane White and Cindy Barbera

Beneath the Falling Sky closes the series in December 2026. All books.

For press and school newsletters

Schools often need a photograph and a paragraph for a newsletter or a parent email before the visit. Both are here.

Short biography, ready to paste:

Cynthia Barbera is the author of Secrets from the Sky, the first book in The Youngest Arrivals series, and co-author of the graphic novel Area 51: The Beginning. Through Fiction Factory Workshops she runs school-wide assemblies and small-group writing workshops for middle school students.

Bring Cynthia to your school

Send the dates you are considering and the grades you want in the room. No payment is taken on this website.

Request a Visit Email Cynthia