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Most readers think that prolific children’s poet J. Patrick Lewis has always been a poet and an author of children’s poetry. But nothing could be further from the truth. Lewis was once an academic, teaching and writing articles about economics at a university before the allure of poetry beckoned him from his ivory tower world. This profile of the 16th recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children explores some of the influences on Lewis’s writing life as well as some of his favorite topics. Lewis also provides insight into his creative process and coins a phrase or two while sharing the start of a poem.