A Storyteller’s Journey: Q+A with Award-Winning Author Christina Wyman

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Christina Wyman

Class of 2002

BA, Communications

An educator by trade, Christina Wyman is a multiple Best Book award winner and USA Today best-selling author of children’s books, including her debut novel, Jawbreaker, Slouch (October 2024), and Breakout (slated for a 2025 release), as well as a freelance writer for major news outlets.

Please tell us about the inspiration behind your publications.

With my children’s books, I write the stories that I wish I would have had access to as a child–stories that go deep with the struggles around painful family dynamics, socioeconomic precarity, emotional trauma, middle-grade angst, and other issues. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to unleash the stories that live inside me and that they are well received.

When it comes to my nonfiction essays, and when I’m pitching a major news outlet with an idea for an op-ed, it’s typically because I’m inspired by a current national discussion I feel I have something to contribute to by way of a unique perspective. My most fiery pieces often come from a place of deep irritation with the world around me (such as my essay about child-free cat-lady stereotypes, which landed with the Today Show).

Why did you choose to pursue a BA in Communications and how has your degree prepared you for your career?

The communications major, then-helmed by Professor Robert Klaeger, MS, and Maria Luskay, EdD, really spoke to me. The career options available to students were limitless; if I wanted to go into broadcasting, I could. If I wanted to write professionally, I could. If I wanted to go into public relations or radio, I could. As it turned out, I use my communications major to both inform what I bring to the classroom as a teacher and in my work as a writer.

How have your studies influenced the subject matter in your books?

My children’s books often incorporate the “stuff” of being a communications major. During my time at Pace, that meant learning a lot about broadcasting, journalism, media, public speaking, and many other avenues and topics germane to the major. Each of my books so far has aspects of my time as a student infused into the plots in both major and minor ways, and that are relevant to young people, such as writing for the school newspaper or joining a debate team.

Why did you choose to attend Pace and what activities and organizations were you involved in as a student?

I ultimately decided on Pace because of its Pleasantville campus. It is quaint and beautiful and situated in a part of New York State that my working-class roots did not really have access to in any real, sustained way, prior to those years. This kid from Brooklyn wanted to feel like she could be anything and go anywhere. That’s what going to Pace did for me.

“I use my communications major to inform both what I bring to the classroom as a teacher and in my work as a writer.”

When I attended Pace, I occasionally wrote for the school newspaper, was a member of several honors societies, and was also both a disc jockey for WRPW Pace University Radio Westchester (which could not have been a more fun gig) and sold ad space for them.

What were your experiences like in the Media, Communications and Visual Arts (MCVA) department? How had MCVA faculty been instrumental in your journey as a student?

Professor Maria Luskay, EdD, Professors Emeriti Robert Klaeger, MA, Daniel Bender, PhD, Diane Cypkin, PhD, and other Media, Communications and Visual Arts Department faculty gave me some of the best, most memorable years of my life. They were kind, accessible, and really worked hard to help us students shape the lives we wanted to live. They laughed with us but were also hard on us when they needed to be. They held us to high standards and brought in masters from the field and helped us forge connections. When I think of everything my professors gave to us, I can only hope that I model the same for my own students.

College is a significant time in a person’s life. In what ways has your time as a Pace and Dyson student influenced you to become the person you are today?

I think college is a real bootcamp in growing up and learning to advocate for yourself, and if it’s not, it should be. I attended Pace on a federal grant awarded to students with exceptional financial need, and, as a first-generation college student, did not have the same (or any) connections or resources many of my peers from Westchester County had at their disposal.

Even though I am now in a very different place, the ethic that fuels my work today is very much informed by my time as a student. As an educator, I also think I’m deeply sensitive to, and mindful of, students who are up-and-coming, and I often draw on my own years in college to support those without the built-in resources necessary for academic survival. Pace provided students like me with opportunities I didn’t even know existed, and I try to pay it forward.

What advice would you give to our students, as they navigate their college life?

My advice is that everything counts, even if it doesn’t seem to directly relate to what you think you’re going to be doing with your future. We often think we know exactly what we want to do with our lives as we move through our major and toward graduation, but that couldn’t be further from reality. We evolve after college, and our interests change. I never thought I’d be an educator and an author of children’s books. As it turns out, many of my experiences at Pace continue to inform and impact my life now.

Christina Wyman is a USA Today bestselling author and teacher living in Michigan. Her new middle-grade novel, “Slouch,” is about a tall girl navigating friends, family, self-esteem, and boundaries, and will be available fall 2024 wherever books are sold, including through local independent bookstores. Her debut novel, “Jawbreaker,” a middle-grade book that follows a seventh grader with a craniofacial anomaly, is a Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2023.