Interviews (scroll down) with book creators and others in the children’s book community. I’m still gradually moving these over from the old site; thanks for your patience.
Many of these book creators were kind enough to offer useful Advice For Young Writers and Illustrators.
Melanie Florence is a writer of Cree and Scottish heritage based in Toronto. She was close to her grandfather as a child, a relationship that sparked her interest in writing about Aboriginal themes and characters. She is the author of Missing Nimama, which won the 2016 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award, the . . .
I first met Kate Blair at CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination conference, when she was helping during my presentation. Her debut YA, TRANSFERRAL, came out from Dancing Cat/Cormorant soon after; I posted about it here. I enjoyed Transferral so much that I couldn’t wait until Kate’s second book came out…and I wasn’t disappointed. TANGLED PLANET is fantastic. Canadians . . .
Tess Callero is one of the fabulous literary agents at Curtis Brown Ltd (another fabulous agent is Ginger Knowlton, my own agent). I got to know Tess when I recently did an Instagram takeover of the CB feed; the fact that I had so much FUN was largely due to Tess’s enthusiasm and help . . .
Heather Camlot grew up in Montreal and was raised on Expos baseball and Canadiens hockey. After graduating from New York University with a degree in journalism, she became a writer, editor and translator. She lives with her husband and two children in Toronto, but still calls Montreal home. Clutch is her first novel, . . .
Earlier this week, I was so tickled to see this tweet: And then I also noticed that Hannah happened to be my 35,000th follower! I asked Hannah to tell me more about herself and her role at the library. “My name is Hannah Gavalis and I’m a third generation librarian! . . .
I met the delightful Ana Aranda through the SCBWI Illustration Mentorship program, when she was selected for the program in 2014. I love Ana’s positive outlook, enthusiasm and good humor….and I especially love her ART! Ana was born and raised in Mexico City, she currently lives in San Francisco. You can find . . .
Jody Jensen Shaffer writes books and poetry for children. Her award-winning poems have appeared in magazines like Ladybug, Babybug, Highlights, High Five, Clubhouse Jr., and more. Jody writes from her home in Liberty, Missouri, which she shares with her husband, two children, and their rescue dog, Sophie. You can find more info . . .
Back in 2013, I posted an interview with Scholastic editor Celia Lee, who invited Inkygirl readers to submit picture book manuscripts for a limited time. Two book contracts came out of that, including Josh Funk’s PIRASAURS! story (see my interview with Josh Funk and the illustrator, Michael Slack). I’m delighted to . . .
I’m delighted to be one of the stops on THE GREEN UMBRELLA blog tour! This is a debut picture book for author Jackie Azua Kramer and illustrator Maral Sassouni, just launched from NorthSouth Books. The story is fun and imaginative, with gorgeous art, and the underlying message of sharing, generosity and looking . . .
I met Joanne Levy through the local Torkidlit group. I love her wry wit and also loved her middle grade, Small Medium At Large (Bloomsbury); you can see my interview with Joanne from a few years ago, where she talked about how she wrote the book, her work process and advice for aspiring authors. I’m loving . . .