I’m super excited today to be sharing with you not only a fun, interesting, and inspiring new story about an American icon, but also a
Authors & Illustrators Wild About Kidlit!
I’m super excited today to be sharing with you not only a fun, interesting, and inspiring new story about an American icon, but also a
Carol Gordon Ekster: I met a fellow NESCBWI member, Amanda Davis, on social media and when I read her debut book, 30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring
Guest Post by Matt Forrest Esenwine This is a story about four books and a poem, and how interconnected the publishing life can be. Folks
I consider myself super-duper lucky, as a Writers’ Rumpus blogger, to be able to meet and interview so many talented kidlit authors. I learn new
Laura: Jacqueline, I’m honored to welcome you back to Writers’ Rumpus to discuss this deeply touching book. After reading it, I can truly say you’ve more than achieved your goal of “honoring the lives lost and the resiliency of a city that rebuilt within a year.” What was your inspiration for creating this heartfelt collection of poems?
CAROL GORDON EKSTER: Abi, your new picture book came out in May. You wrote and illustrated WOMBATS ARE PRETTY WEIRD: A [not so] serious guide
The word “taming” in the title Wild Blue: Taming A Big-kid Bike, written by Dashka Slater, is a clue to the metaphor that energizes this heartfelt story. When
I’ve been ANTicipating today for ages because it’s SMARTY ANTS’ book birthday! One of the reasons SMARTY ANTS sold is because of its many layers.
It’s my great pleasure to welcome Rajani LaRocca back to Writers’ Rumpus to discuss her upcoming books in 2023- three picture books (fiction and non-fiction alike) and an epistolary middle grade novel co-authored with Chris Baron.
VERY! That’s my conclusion. I have been reading and writing in both YA and MG for nearly twenty years (where has the time gone). My querying nightmare continues to be comps!
Carol Gordon Ekster: Phaea, more than two years ago Writers’ Rumpus interviewed you about being a debut author when JET THE CAT first came out. Now that you are an established author, what has changed for you?
When I ask writers which word confuses them the most, the most common answer is THAT! There are some complicated grammar rules, but rest assured, I waded through them and strove to make my explanations as clear and understandable as possible. I promise we’ll ease into this slowly, starting in the shallow end and moving progressively deeper.
Today is a very exciting day here on the blog. I have Ryan Van Cleave here with me, who, if you don’t know, is a bit of a writing and poetry rock star. And some of what he does, you may actually not know, because he has ghostwritten many books (in addition to those under his own name) and coaches and mentors many writers behind the scenes.
It had been about a year since my debut picture book, Counting to Bananas (Flamingo Books, April 2022, illustrated by Estrela Lourenço) had been acquired. My editor, Cheryl Eissing, emailed to say her team was exploring the idea of Banana possibly carrying a picture book series. Was I interested? I had never thought about writing a sequel and, as a debut author, never imagined I would be asked to. But was I interested? Seriously? Of course I was bananas about it!