Invite Grant to Speak

Audie Award-winning author, journalist, and audio drama producer. Wichita, Kansas.

Grant Overstake works in two capacities. He teaches, in classrooms and residencies, where students make something of their own by the last session. And he speaks, at events built around the books and the history under them. The programs below have all been delivered. Every one of them can be scheduled again.

GRANT AS TEACHER

Multi-session work in classrooms, libraries, and enrichment programs. Students write. Students finish something.

The Real Education of TJ Crowley in the Classroom

For a class that has finished the novel or the audio drama. Two builds, chosen by the assigning teacher. The English and language arts build is about craft: how real Wichitans became Ivy and Dr. Washington, how the book is put together, and how a novel became a nine-hour full-cast audio production. The social studies and history build is about the record: the 1958 Dockum Drug Store sit-in, the first lunch counter sit-in in the nation, the murder at 13th and Grove, and how redlining worked at street level in 1968 Wichita. The reading is already done when Grant walks in, so the hour goes to the questions the book raised. Audience 12 and up. Sixty minutes, one class. $450.

Maggie Vaults Over the Moon in the Classroom

For a class that has read the novel. Perseverance, and where Maggie Steele came from: the decathlon at Kansas, a newspaper job at 18, and what it takes to keep going after the bar comes down. Same material as Grit, Resilience, and the Stories That Build Them under GRANT AS SPEAKER, sized for one classroom instead of an auditorium. Sixty minutes, one class. $450.

Class Sets and the Classroom Talk

A class that buys 25 or more copies of The Real Education of TJ Crowley or Maggie Vaults Over the Moon directly from Grain Valley Publishing receives the classroom talk for that title at no additional charge, within one hour of Wichita. Beyond one hour, the talk is included with a 25-copy order, and mileage and meals are billed at cost. Classes that have not purchased a set book the talk at the standard $450.

His Way with Words: The Creative Process of Gordon Parks

Four 45-minute workshops, high school. Students read a Gordon Parks book, study how Parks actually worked, then build and test a creative process of their own. They produce two original pieces and a reflection comparing the two methods. Pairs with a museum visit where one is available. Grant developed this program after studying Parks’ methods with Marcia McCoy, Parks’ longtime executive assistant. Four sessions, one class. $1,800.

Writing from the Deep Place

Pencil and composition notebook, nothing else. Grant teaches the working practice behind two published novels: morning pages, the difference between clock time and the other kind, the uses of silence, and how to build a space where the work can actually happen. Delivered at the Kansas State University Young Writers’ Workshop at the Beach Museum of Art. Single workshop, two hours. $450. Three-day book-creation intensive. $1,800. Five-day book-creation intensive. $2,800.

“The Quest” Nine Weeks of the Creative Life

A full-term after-school residency. Students are selected by application, meet weekly, and read original work aloud in front of an audience in week nine. Capped at 12 so every student is known by name. Nine weeks. From $2,000.

Teaching Hard History Through Story

Professional development for faculty. How to teach The Real Education of TJ Crowley in a mixed classroom: discussion protocols, content advisory language, and the two-audience principle that keeps no student in the room cast as villain or object lesson. The book and audio drama are taught at Wichita State University in both history and criminal justice courses. Two to three hours. $1,200.

GRANT AS SPEAKER

Single events for schools, libraries, museums, congregations, and conferences.

The Real Education Listening Series

Audiences follow along in printed scriptbooks while selected scenes from the Audie Award-winning full-cast audio drama play with their original music and sound design, then join a guided conversation. Two builds: The Redline, Heard, a 60-minute companion program for museums and institutions exhibiting redlining history, and The Wide Open Space, a 75- to 90-minute community listening event designed for rooms that rarely share a table. Launched at Watermark Books & Café in January 2026.

Wichita-area partner venues: hosted at no cost through 2026, supported by a City of Wichita Cultural Funding Activation Grant. Outside the grant area: $1,200.

Grit, Resilience, and the Stories That Build Them

For schools and youth audiences. The decathlon at Kansas, a newspaper job at 18, and Maggie Steele. What perseverance looks like up close, told without a motivational sermon. The single-class version for readers of Maggie Vaults Over the Moon is listed under GRANT AS TEACHER. Assembly, 60 minutes. $450. Assembly plus writing workshop, half day. $850.

From 72 Rejections to the Audie Award

For writers, publishers, and creative professionals. How an independent Wichita press produced a full-cast audio drama that beat the biggest names in audio, and what that path teaches about craft, collaboration, and staying human in the age of AI. Keynote or workshop. From $2,500.

It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again

For writers, career changers, and anyone starting late. Wheat is up in a season. A tree takes decades, and then it can be a house, a table, or a fire. A talk about which kind of project you’re standing in front of, built on retiring at 62 instead of 65 and what those three years bought. Keynote or workshop. From $2,500.

PROGRAMS AND FEES

Wichita and within one hour
Single session, 60 minutes: $450
Half day, up to two sessions: $850
Full day, up to four sessions: $1,500
Educator professional development, two to three hours: $1,200
Four-session classroom residency: $1,800
Multi-week residency or book-creation intensive: from $1,800

Beyond one hour from Wichita
Day rate: $2,000, plus travel and lodging at cost
Conference keynote: from $2,500

Class sets of the books and scriptbook can be added at a school rate. Title I schools, small rural libraries, and congregations should ask about adjusted rates and about outside funding. Programs of every size have been supported by arts and humanities grants, and Grant will help you find the application.

RECOGNITION

2025 Audie Award, Best Young Adult Audiobook. IPPY Outstanding Audiobook of the Year. AudioFile Earphones Award. Kansas Authors Club J. Donald Coffin Memorial Book Award and “It Looks Like A Million” Book Design Award.

THE TRACK RECORD

The Watermark Books reading drew an overflow crowd of nearly 70, with staff setting out extra chairs. At Horace Mann Dual Language Magnet, a gifted-class unit built on The Real Education of TJ Crowley culminated in a live listening session with the author, a classroom model the teacher now commends to other educators. Grant has appeared on PBS Kansas and on podcasts nationwide, and has presented at the Winfield library, the National Rural Library Conference, and educator and writer conferences across Kansas.