By Bree Rae
Award-winning children’s book author Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton (Inuvialuit) died on April 21, 2021. She was 85 years old.
Remembering Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton, children’s book author and residential school survivor from Quill and Quire. Peek: “Born on Baillie Island in the Arctic Ocean, the author of Fatty Legs: A True Story,
Continue Reading In Memory: Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton »
Above image: AJ Eversole with her well-read copy of Buffalo Gal by Bill Wallace (Holiday House, 1992).
It’s my pleasure to introduce our newest Cynsational reporter, AJ Eversole, who will cover children’s-YA writing, illustration, publishing and other book news from Indigenous authors and illustrators. And like me,
As a member of the Courage to Create community, Bethany Hegedus invited me to do a Behind the Book webinar on my picture book It Will Be Okay, illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett (Sourcebook Kids, 2021).
The Courage to Create is a program run by Bethany,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Lisa Katzenberger: Goes Behind the Book with the Courage to Create »
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: The First Blade of Sweetgrass by Suzanne Greenlaw and Gabriel Frey, illustrated by Nancy Baker (Tilbury House Publishers, 2021).
I have been a fan of Vaunda Micheaux Nelson’s work for decades now. We’ve been together in a writing group since 1997. I can’t imagine letting a manuscript go to my agent without having this amazing writer and friend cast her eyes on it first. I feel so fortunate that she is in my writing circle—my life circle.
Aimee Sicuro’s illustrations for my picture book, Bright Sky, Starry City (Groundwood Books, 2015), blew me away. There were so many elements that just opened up the universe of my story about a girl who loves the sky. When I saw the illustrations, I became convinced that Aimee had read my mind.
Continue Reading Guest Interview: Uma Krishnaswami & Aimee Sicuro Explore Creative Pathways »
Threads of Peace: How Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Changed the World (Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2021) took me all of nine years from contract to publication. When I began writing my first draft, I knew I’d need to look for photos.
I had decided to use a combination of archival images and photographs that my husband and I had taken in India and the United States in places important to the lives of both Mahatma Gandhi and Reverend King.
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender, and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Thank you to everyone who joined us over the 2020-2021 academic year!
We dearly appreciate the authors, illustrators, gatekeepers and industry pros who shared their insights and inspirations.
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: How to Wear a Sari by Darshana Khiani, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff (Versify, 2021).
Above image: downtown Austin from Lady Bird Lake, photo by Ron Rabakukk
Today I’m chatting with two debut Austin authors with very different books, but both feature strong female protagonists who were envisioned by creators dedicated to letting readers see themselves in stories.
Evan Griffith‘s picture book biography Secrets of the Sea: The Story of Jeanne Power,
Continue Reading New Voices: Evan Griffith & Sajni Patel on Reflecting Strength in Stories »