Glee star Chris Colfer is a mufti-hyphenated wonder these days. Not only does he sing and dance as Kurt on Glee, but he’s penned, produced and starred in a movie, Struck By Lightning, due out later this year. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s written a children’s book set to be released on July 17th called The Land Of Stories.
In that capacity, he emceed a breakfast this morning at the Book Expo in New York City. After speaking about his own book, he introduced a panel of esteemed children’s authors that included John Green (The Fault in our Stars), Lois Lowry (The Giver) and illustrator, Kadir Nelson.
In his talk, Chris discussed the genesis of The Land of Stories, that began when his mother read him fairy tales at bedtime. Soon he was imagining all sorts of adventures with his imaginary friends. The book–which he first began writing at the tender age of 10–centers on twins who fall into a fairy tale world and come face to face with the characters they’ve read about. Chris brought along drawings he made as a child of the characters he imagined–which the book’s illustrator managed to recreate.
Chris also reads a list of actual questions reporters have asked him on various red carpets like “Is there singing and dancing in your book?” and “Why didn’t you make an album instead?”
The talk is super geeky…but also really funny. Check it out below. You can watch the entire breakfast at the BEA website. Click on the “Authors Breakfasts and Editors Buzz” tab and then “Children’s Book and…” video. Chris’s part begins at about the 10 minute mark.