Author speaks to Ball State students about “Little Princes†memoir

“If I was in a store and I saw this book, I wouldn’t pick it up either.” This ironic statement was met with bursts of laughter from students as best-selling author, Conor Grennan, took the stage.

“Just the cover gives an impression of the book that it really isn’t,” Grennan said.

Grennan spoke Tuesday evening at John R. Emens Auditorium to students about his memoir “Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal.”

He spoke briefly of his experiences, his work with the children and the creation of his nonprofit organization Next Generation Nepal, an organization bent on finding and reuniting trafficked children with their families.

Grennan’s book was chosen for this year’s Freshman Common Reading and Writing Experience, a program that is now celebrating its 17th year. Melinda Messineo, chairwoman of the Department of Sociology and associate professor of sociology, is in charge of the Freshman Convocation Program and said they are working with Ball State alumni for the program to reach a “legacy status.”

“Most students have never met an award-winning author of a book that they have read,” Ball State President Jo Ann Gora said.

Grennan’s speech hit home as he informed the students it did not matter who they start off as, as long as they found something they were passionate about, they could accomplish extraordinary things.

He took part in a short Q-and-A after he was done speaking, answering student’s questions.

Grennan revealed his hardest challenge saying, “You walk out on more people than you can help, and you had to be prepared for that.” He also commented that everything happened for a reason while he was in Nepal.

The freshman class was the dominant party in attendance last night.

“I thought it was cool how he related to us and used terms that we could actually understand. He definitely gave us the idea to try something new,” freshman Sami Schweiger said.

Grennan said he hopes students take away one simple lesson from his story.

“I love sharing the story and I hope very much that they take way the fact that they can, that this is not an extraordinary person doing this at all, that this is a very ordinary person that just got involved with something and continued to take it to the next level,” Grennan said.