The Winner of the 2015 Children’s Africana Book Award is The Red Pencil by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Shane W. Evans (Little, Brown, 2014).
Character Talents & Skills: Strong Breath Control by Angela Ackerman from Writers Helping Writers. Peek: “A practitioner skilled in this area must also be able to find their center of calm quickly,
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In 1984, Dana Walrath journeyed to Palu, in Western Armenia (now part of Turkey), where she saw the mill and farmlands that once belonged to her maternal ancestors, who were forced to flee the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Her family story became the basis of her acclaimed novel in verse Like Water on Stone (Delacorte,
Continue Reading Guest Interview: Dana Walrath on Like Water on Stone »
By Anne Bustard
Every writer wants her work to sing.
Writing that sings is exquisitely crafted. It lifts its voice in praise of language. Its story is pitch perfect. It invites readers to sing along and has the power to linger in a reader’s consciousness long after the last note.
Like a composer creating a musical score,
Continue Reading Guest Post & Giveaway: Anne Bustard on Musicality: Composing with Repetitions »
By Joy Preble
I took pause for a moment when my lovely friend and mentor, Cyn Leitich Smith, asked me to write about what it’s like to be at this stage in my career.
“You know,” she said. “You’ve got a foothold but you’re not a new voice or (yet) a grand dame.”
The truth is that she nailed it exactly.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Joy Preble on Being a Mid-Career, Mid-List Author »
From the promotional copy of They Call Me Alexandra Gastone by T.A. Maclagan (Full Fathom Five Digital, 2015):
When your life is a lie, how do you know what’s real?
Alexandra Gastone has a simple plan: graduate high school,
Continue Reading Guest Post: T.A. Maclagan on Spy Novel Covers & They Call Me Alexandra Gastone »
Interview with Anne Ursu About The Real Boy by Corrine Duyvis from Disability in Kidlit. Peek: “Oscar isn’t labeled as autistic or having any kind of special needs in the book, and it’s been interesting to see who picks up on his autism. And many readers don’t. I’ve found that it tends to be people who are closely associated with autism in some way or another who see it.”
The Children’s Book Council (CBC), the non-profit trade association for children’s book publishers in North America, and grassroots nonprofit We Need Diverse Books™ (WNDB) today announced their partnership on educational programming and resources for interns selected for the WNDB Internship Program, launching this summer.
The program is designed to open up the children’s book publishing industry to talented job-seekers from diverse backgrounds,
Browse-able Excerpt from Epic Reads
I.W. Gregorio is the first-time author of None of the Above (Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins, 2015). From the promotional copy:
What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?
When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen,
Continue Reading New Voice: I.W. Gregorio on None of the Above »
Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith will appear this week at the 2015 Annual Conference of the Texas Library Association
in Austin.
Cynthia will speak on the panel, “A Colorful Canon: Building Diversity in Children’s Literature from 2 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. April 14
in Convention Center Room 10 C, Level 3.
Continue Reading Cynthia & Greg Leitich Smith at TLA 2015: Sync Up! »
Linda at Cliffs of Moher
You’re a writer and an agent. Let’s start with Writer You. How did you come to literature for young readers?
When I was in middle school, I was obsessed with YA, like R.L. Stine’s Fear Street series (St. Martin’s Griffin), Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High books (Bantam),
Continue Reading Agent Interview: Linda Camacho on Prospect Agency »
