Author Interview & Giveaway: Greg Leitich Smith on Writing Realistic vs. Speculative Fiction

Author Interview & Giveaway: Greg Leitich Smith on Writing Realistic vs. Speculative Fiction

Greg at Hogwarts

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Congratulations on the release of my favorite of your books, Little Green Men at the Mercury Inn (Roaring Brook, 2014)! What was your initial inspiration for the novel?

Broadly speaking, I drew on my childhood experiences of summer vacations in Florida.

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Varsha Bajaj on Reading Across Borders & Cultures

Guest Post & Giveaway: Varsha Bajaj on Reading Across Borders & Cultures

Varsha (taller girl) with her mother and sister.

By Varsha Bajaj

I grew up reading cross culturally because I didn’t have a choice. In the late ’60s and ’70s, British and American authors wrote the children’s literature available in India.

While I had not seen anyone with red hair like Anne Shirley in Anne of the Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1908),

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Guest Post & Giveaway: Debbie Ridpath Ohi on Illustrating Naked! (& what I did differently from I’m Bored)

Guest Post & Giveaway: Debbie Ridpath Ohi on Illustrating Naked! (& what I did differently from I’m Bored)

By Debbie Ridpath Ohi

Naked! is a new picture book written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by yours truly, published by Simon & Schuster at the end of April 2014.

This was my second picture book project and second collaboration with Michael.

While some aspects of the process stayed the same,

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Guest Post: Christopher Cheng on SCBWI: Celebrating 10 Years in Bologna

Guest Post: Christopher Cheng on SCBWI: Celebrating 10 Years in Bologna

SCBWI Bologna Booth

By Christopher Cheng

The SCBWI booth, a hotbed of activity? Yes, according to Publishers Weekly!

This year the SCBWI celebrated 10 years in Bologna. We have had a Bologna Children’s Book Fair presence every second year since 2004. That first booth was under the direction of the Erzsi Deak.

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