On Wednesday morning, Ally Condie, an author who writes young-adult fiction novels, visited the St. George’s Collierville campus while in Memphis to promote her new novel, Atlantia. While addressing the students and faculty, she discussed what she turns to for inspiration while writing, as well as her well-known trilogy, Matched, and her upcoming novel.

In her presentation, she stressed the importance of looking to pictures of people, places, or things for inspiration and using those to spark an idea in whatever creative project you’re working on. Through her dystopian trilogy, Matched, she used a compact as a symbol because it was the one thing the main character decided to keep.

“I liked her ideas about how you could take a picture and create something completely different from what the picture actually means,” said sophomore Megan Umansky. “She was really good at talking to young people, and I feel like she connected really well.”

“She made me think about my writing and made me want to be more creative,” said another sophomore Mimi McCarroll.

Students had the opportunity before her visit to pre-order her new book, Atlantia, and they could have their copies of her past books signed after the chapel.

To find out more about Condie and her work, you can visit her website at http://allycondie.com/