Image above: “Sunlight through storm clouds 2” by Holaday98 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Following the publication of my picture book When A Kid Like Me Fights Cancer, illustrated by Angel Chang (Albert Whitman & Co., 2019), a reviewer stated something that struck a chord.
Thank you for being a Cynsations reader!
Effective immediately, this blog is on hiatus for the week. We’ll return Nov. 30 with more inspiration, insights and information on children’s-YA writing, illustration, literature and publishing.
In the meantime, keep up on all those topics with Cynthia Leitich Smith on Facebook,
By Erik Talkin
I had been the talented “nearly” man for a while, with a middle-grade that was purchased by a mid-level publisher that promptly decided to get out of the MG market before the book was published.
This was followed by a novel that went to the final stages of acquisition with a major publisher,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Erik Talkin on Finding the Book You Are Uniquely Qualified to Write »
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabukukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: If Animals Gave Thanks by Ann Whitford Paul, illustrated by David Walker (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020).
Author/Illustrator Insights
Recently I chatted with Nasugraq Rainey Hopson, Tirzah Price, Rob Costello, and Monica Roe, four of Rural Voices’ (Candlewick, 2020) talented contributors. Here’s what they said about rural stories, stereotypes, and the representation of rural life in literature.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Nora Shalaway Carpenter & Challenging the Rural Stereotype »
Many people believe that fiction is creative writing drawn from the depths of a writer’s soul, while nonfiction is simply a recitation of facts gathered from a few standard sources. Nothing could be further from the truth.
To put this troubling misconception to rest, fifty of today’s most celebrated authors for children have come together to share a critical part of the nonfiction writing process that often goes unseen.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Melissa Stewart Shares How Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep »
Welcome to Ernesto Cisneros and Ash Van Otterloo! These two middle-grade debut authors will share with us the inspiration and challenge of staying true to their roots while writing for a young audience.
Ernesto Cisneros
What was your initial inspiration for writing this book?
Today, I am so excited to welcome Bree Rae to the Cynsations Team! Bree joins us as a reporter-at-large covering the many facets of the children’s-YA community.
Welcome to Cynsations! Could you tell us about your vision for your coverage here at the blog? Why did you decide to take on this role in the conversation of books?
Virginia Buckley, esteemed and beloved editor, died on Oct. 21 at her home in Leonia, New Jersey. She was 91.
Obituary: Virginia Buckley from Publishers Weekly by Shannon Maughan. Peek: “Buckley was a novice editor at the publisher Thomas Y. Cromwell in 1971 when she was paired with a writer named Katherine Paterson,
By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations
Spotlight Image: The Mysterious Stones by Enrique Pérez Díaz, illustrated by Yayo (Crocodile Books, 2020).
Author/Illustrator Insights
Literature Is a Bridge for Dreams by Enrique Pérez Díaz from We Need Diverse Books.