Kidlit Happy Hour

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 27: Setting: Liz Garton Scanlon on Creating Context and Chasing Stories Through a Dreamscape Sep 10, 2024

Show notes

Here are some highlights from our conversation with award-winning, bestselling author Liz Garton Scanlon:

📚 Why setting is not relevant only in hsitorical fiction or fantasy and how it impacts every single experience of ourselves and our characters

📚 Setting as context, and reverse engineering elements of craft

📚Honoring the rhythms of being a s l o w writer

📚 Stories emerging in a dreamscape

📚 How what we know about our fledgling stories becomes self-perpetuating; ask the questions questions, follow the pathways

📚 What to do with envy in a publishing career

Liz Garton Scanlon is the author of numerous beloved books for young people, including picture books Frances in the Country; Kate, Who Tamed the Wind; One Dark Bird; the Caldecott honored All the World, and many others, illustrated by some of the very best artists in the business. She's also co-authored several books with her pal Audrey Vernick, including the hilarious Bob, Not Bob, and the upcoming World’s Best Class Plant. Scanlon’s middle grade novels are The Great Good Summer and Lolo's Light, and her delightful chapter book series Bibsy Cross debuted in 2024. Liz has taught at Austin Community College, the Writing Barn, the Writers’ League of Texas, and at countless schools and conferences. She currently serves on the faculty and is faculty co-chair of the Writing for Children and Young Adults program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, but lives in Austin, Texas.

Liz's Facebook: Liz Garton Scanlon

Liz's IG @LizGardenSalad

Liz's Website: www.LizGartonScanlon.com

EPISODE LINKS:

Snag your copy of Liz's irresistable Bibsy Cross!
Joanna's latest A City Full of Santas is out TODAY! Get your copy at your local independent bookstore HERE!
That Instagram post we couldn't stop blabbing about....

Ep 26: Theme: Minh Lê on Burying Telephone Wires and Leaving Space for Connection Aug 27, 2024

Show notes

Highlights from this episode include:

Starting with a story and discovering theme along the way
Propping up a story with telephone poles and burying the wires in between
Leaving space for readers to lean in and discover things for themselves

Minh Lê is the award-winning author of household favorites Drawn Together (winner of the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature), Real to Me, The Blur, Lift (an Eisner Award nominee). He also writes popular middle grade graphic novels, including Green Lantern books and Enlighten Me. He is also a has been a contributor to a number of national publications including the New York Times, The Horn Book, HuffPost, NPR, Book Riot, and Reading Rainbow, and was until very recently, on the Board of We Need Diverse Books. He's also on the faculty of the Hamline MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

IG: @bottomshelfbks

Ep 25: Theme: Laurel Snyder on Maintaining an 8 year-old Brain and Creating in the Face of Capitalism Aug 20, 2024

Show notes

We're thrilled to introduce our first guest of Season 2, the brilliant author Laurel Snyder. Highlights in this episode include:

Theme bumping against character, setting, plot and more in order to find its path
Writing from the heart in a capitalist system
Writing like a cook, not a baker
Why the outline changes the minute she starts writing
The realities of loving, and envying!, authors like Kate Messner

Episode links:

Laurel's episode on the Commonplace Podcast with Rachel Zucker

The Ezra Klein Show podcast episode with Wilco's Jeff Tweedy

Laurel Snyder is the beloved author of many picture books and novels for children, including National Book Award nominee Orphan Island, the Geisel Award winner Charlie & Mouse, and the Sydney Taylor Award winner The Longest Night. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in writing for children and young adults program. She lives in Atlanta with her family and can be found online at laurelsnyder.com.

IG: @ohmylorelai

Ep 24: We're back! Caroline and Joanna Kick off Season 2 Aug 13, 2024

Show notes

In which we share ways we've taken our KLHH guests' advice to live life as inspiration for craft, and attempt to buckle down for this upcoming year - because the year actually follows the academic calendar, right?

We've got things cooking for you this season, and we hope we can find ways to connect with our listeners more. One way you can do that is by dropping your questions for upcoming guests on our KidlitHappy Hour IG! We're excited to be back for Season 2 - we've already got some gems ready for you!

Ep. 23: Reflections: Joanna and Caroline on Taking Leaps That Make No Sense and Our Favorite Moments From This Past Year Jun 25, 2024

Show notes

It’s our final episode of the inaugural season of Kidlit Happy Hour!!! Join us as we surprise one another with favorite moments from each episode, reflect on the season, and talk through where we’re going from here.

We will officially be back in August with our second season that is PACKED TO THE BRIM with brilliant minds across kidlit. In the meantime, be sure to follow the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen and catch up on any episodes you missed!

Ep. 22: Finding Audience: Claribel A. Ortega on Cultivating Real Community and No "Little Book Energy" May 15, 2024

Show notes

Highlights from our conversation with NYTimes bestselling and award-winning author Claribel A. Ortega:

The #1 way to connect to your audience
Claribel's tried and true mantra in publishing
Risks and benefits of sharing your writing journey online
Why writing your interests into your stories is a smart bet
The joys of trolling (not the kind you may be thinking) and why she loves receiving "hate mail" from readers
The brilliant approach to making self-promo work for you
Why supporting the writing community is everything, and focusing on online conversation vs. discourse
Ways to cultivate in-person community
What it's like drafting in Windings 3...

New York Times Bestselling and award-winning author, Claribel A. Ortega is a former reporter who writes middle-grade and young adult fantasy inspired by her Dominican heritage. When she's not busy turning her obsession with eighties pop culture, magic, and video games into books, she’s co-hosting her podcast Bad Author Book Club. Claribel is a Marvel contributor and has been featured on Buzzfeed, Bustle, Good Morning America and Deadline. Claribel’s NYT Bestselling debut middle grade novel Ghost Squad is being made into a feature film. Her latest book Witchlings (Scholastic) was an Instant NYT and #1 Indie Bestseller. Her graphic novel Frizzy with Rose Bousamra was winner of the 2023 Pura Belpré Award for Children's Text and an Indie Bestseller. Instagram, X and Tiktok @Claribel_Ortega Twitch @radbunnie Website at claribelortega.com

Ep. 21 Finding Audience: Emily Lyman on Reframing Self-promo and Why Good Marketing is Storytelling May 07, 2024

Show notes

Some highlights from our conversation with marketing guru Emily Lyman:

Reframing self-promotion as a celebration with your community
Individuals understand their “brand”
Good marketing IS storytelling
Why sharing your values, even if controversial, generates more loyal connections and community
Empathetic marketing

Emily spent nearly a decade working in-house with global publishers such as Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster managing both corporate and title marketing initiatives. Emily is now the CEO and Founder of Branch and Bramble, a digital marketing company. As an award-winning data artist, Emily specializes in blending data with heart and values to create meaningful audience connections for brand partners which include Patagonia, Paramount, and Penguin Random House. She's worked with companies with household names to individual authors just trying to get their books out in the world. She also runs the Mountain Brook Inn in the Catskills in upstate New York.

Branch and Bramble

Book influencer guide

IG @emilylyman

LinkedIn @Emily Lyman

Ep. 20: Finding Audience: Cynthia Leitich Smith on Story as a Circle and Making Magic Out of Nothing Apr 03, 2024

Show notes

Here are select highlights from our conversation with NYtimes bestselling, award-winning author Cynthia Leitich Smith:

Story as a circle, gathering, and communal effort
Figuring out where your voice can best serve and where your heart beats with hope
Building on “and” instead of “vs”
Inviting people into the conversation AND being a part of the conversation
Social media dynamics as both tricky and powerful
Approaches to book promotion that start locally
How we can never surrender progress made by generations before
Only asking kids to take on battles we’re willing to engage in ourselves

Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) is a NYTimes bestseller, 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, and 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. Her titles include HEARTS UNBROKEN, which won an American Indian Youth Literature Award, the anthology ANCESTOR APPROVED, an Indigenous PETER PAN retelling titled SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA, HARVEST HOUSE, which is one of five Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel, and—the BLUE STARS series, also by Kekla Magoon and Molly Murakami. Cynthia looks forward to ON A WING AND A TEAR for middle graders. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperChildren’s.

Website: https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/

IG: @cynthialeitichsmith

Ep. 19: Polishing Story: Tavita Pritchard on Trusting the Process and Letting 5-Year-Olds Feel Their Feelings Mar 19, 2024

Show notes

Highlights from our conversation with football coach Tavita Pritchard:

Centering relationships over x’s and o’s
How who you are shows up on the tape
How embracing his family history guides his coaching style
Believing in your process instead of over-indexing on an individual result
Connections between coaching and the writing process

Pritchard played quarterback at Stanford University from 2006-09 and joined the coaching staff in 2010. He worked his way from a graduate assistant, to defensive assistant, to running backs coach, to wide receivers coach, to quarterbacks coach, and ultimately assumed the role of offensive coordinator from 2018-22. During Pritchard’s time at Stanford, the team won three Pac-12 titles and two Rose Bowl championships. Pritchard coached a range of remarkable future NFL players, including QB Kevin Hogan, a fifth-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, who led the team to the 2015 Pac-12 title and a Rose Bowl win. Pritchard is now in his second year as the Quarterbacks Coach for the NFL’s Washington Commanders. He lives with his wife Caroline Kusin Pritchard (oh, hey!!!) and four kids in Oakton, Virginia.

Ep. 18: Polishing Story: Andrea Davis Pinkney on Screaming on the Cyclone and Our Page One Pact Mar 05, 2024

Show notes

Highlights from our conversation with Andrea Davis Pinkney:

- Why riding the Coney Island cyclone is one of the earliest steps to polishing a manuscript

- Relying on an inner circle that we trust with our unpolished work

- Physically dIsmatling a piece and then stitching it back together

- Making homemade audio book read alouds as part of the revision process

- The "page one pact" and “hook, pull, hold"

- How to push part deluding ourselves that we've done our best work

- Deconstructing the greats to find inspiration

Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than 50 books for children and adults. Her numerous awards including multiple Coretta Scott King Book Awards, the Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor, and the Parenting Publications gold medal, among other citations. She is a four-time NAACP Image Award nominee, recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Arbuthnot Honor Awar for her singular body of work and distinguished contribution to the field of literature. She's been named one of the “The 25 Most Influential People in Our Children’s Lives” by Children’s Health magazine, is among The Network Journal’s “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business,” and is one the “50 Over 50 Extraordinary Women” and “Women Who Light up the Arts Scene” noted by Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day magazines. Andrea lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband.

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