W. Nikola-Lisa: Hello. My name is W. Nikola-Lisa. Now, a lot of people hear my name and they want to know what the W stands for. So I like to let kids guess. With the young ones, they come up with some interesting things like Wilbert, Winston, Waldo, Willy, Walter, Wendy, Wilfred.

One enterprising young girl, a kindergartner, she said, "Is your first name Writer?" I mean, I thought that was pretty good. She made that connection between my being an author and my first initial of my first name starting with W, being a writer. I thought that was really good, but most of them say, "Is your first name William?" Which it is.

Now, with older students, I let them guess, but only once. The reason was I had a big class of about oh probably 200-300 fourth and fifth graders, and I them, "Okay, kids. What do you think the W stands for?" And this kid shoots his hands up. He's way in the back of the room. I say, "Yeah. What does the W stand for?" He goes, "Weiner." I said, "No, no. Wrong." Anyway.

You know, it's good to let kids guess, but you gotta think about it twice before you do so. With the young ones, it's always fun. With the older ones, you take a deep breathe.

Anyway. My name is W. Nikola-Lisa.