After nearly three decades as a professor of economics, J. Patrick Lewis turned to poetry. He is the author of more than 75 children's books including A Hippopotamusn't (1990), BoshBlobberBosh (1998), Please Bury Me in the Library (2004), First Dog (2009), Spot the Plot (2009), and The House (2009).

He has recently been named the third U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011-2013) by the Poetry Foundation.

His books have been published by Creative Editions, Knopf, Atheneum, Dial, Harcourt, Little, Brown, National Geographic, Chronicle Books, Scholastic, Candlewick, Schwartz & Wade, Holiday House, Sleeping Bear Press, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, Dawn Publications, and others. Gulls Hold Up the Sky, his first book of adult poems, was published by Laughing Fire Press (2010).

Pat's children's poems have also appeared in CRICKET (26 times), SPIDER, LADYBUG, CICADA, ODYSSEY, RANGER RICK, HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, Ms. Magazine, YOUR BIG BACKYARD, CREATIVE CLASSROOM, STORYTIME, STORYWORKS, CHICKADEE, AHOY, LANGUAGE ARTS, JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, BOOKBIRD, READING TODAY and over 100 anthologies. He wrote the 1992 National Children's Book Week poem, printed on one million bookmarks and distributed nationally.

Lewis has received numerous awards from the American Library Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and others. He was the recipient of the 2010-11 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Children's Poetry Award, presented every two years.

WHERE I'LL BE NEXT--Schools, Bookstores, Conferences

October 14-16, 2011 Poetry Foundation--TED Lecture Chicago, Illiniois

October 23-25, 2011 NY State Reading Assn. Rye Brook, New York

October 28-31, 2011 Keystone State Reading Assn. Lancaster, Pennsylvania

November 5, 2011 Buckeye Book Fair Wooster, Ohio

November 8, 2011 Ashland University Ashland, Ohio

November 15-16, 2011 St. Joseph's College Rensselaer, Indiana

November 17-20, 2011 NCTE Convention Chicago, Illinois

December 1, 2010 Hillview Elementary Newark, Ohio

December 8, 2011 West Chester University (Dan Darigan) West Chester, PA

January 18, 2012 Richard Avenue Elementary Grove City, Ohio

January 24, 2012 Fouse Elementary Westerville, Ohio

March 1-3, 2012 Charlotte Huck Ch. Lit. Conference Redlands, California

April 3-5, 2012 Holland Hall Primary Tulsa, Oklahoma

April 12, 2012 Washington-Centerville Public Library Centerville, Ohio

April 13, 2012 Stingley Elementary Centerville, Ohio

April 17-25, 2012 Anglo-American School Moscow, Russia

April 29-May 2, 2012 IRA Convention Chicago, Illinois

May 10, 2012 Wynford Elementary Bucyrus, Ohio

March 22, 2013 OCTELA Conference Columbus, Ohio