Middle grade author Elly Swartz shares how true authenticity and emotional resonance are the secret sauce in her writing, and how important it is for children to dream big and understand that rejection doesn’t define them.
Category: Author Spotlight Series
Writing Ten Blocks to the Big Wok
Author-illustrator Ying-Hwa Hu is reminiscing the sunny walk in San Francisco’s Chinatown that brought about the creation of her author-illustrator solo debut Ten Blocks to the Big Wok. The sights, sound and tight-knit community she witnessed come together in a picture of happiness she tells in her story.
Graphic Novels Combine Words and Images to Create a Unique Art Form
Cartoonist Gavin Aung Than shares the process of creating his middle-grade graphic novel series, Super Sidekicks.
This Is A School! The Joy of Reading, Writing and Connecting with Students
On March 29, 2022 something interesting, something unexpected, something I almost didn’t welcome-in happened.
Treasure Hunt: Help Students Research Hidden Figures
Alice Faye Duncan shares three overlooked resources for biographical research. They include newspapers, museums, and family photo albums.
Ideas, Craft, and Stories
Author Aisha Saeed shares her writing inspiration and the relationship between authors and their young readers and how they inspire her storytelling.
The 7th Annual #TWTBlog Author Spotlight Series
For the next week, picture book authors, graphic novelists, and middle-grade authors will take over #TWTBlog to share their thoughts on writing, their writing processes, and the path to publishing with you. Check out their daily posts for book + author chat giveaways!
How My Immigrant Experiences Inspires My Book Ideas
Aya Khalil shares how she got ideas for her award-winning picture book, THE ARABIC QUILT, and experiences that inspired it. She talks about the importance of telling own voices and immigrant stories.
Writing Elephants and Jungles in Suburban England
Middle grade author Nizrana Farook lives in the leafy English county of Hertfordshire in the UK. Find out how she came to write a tropical adventure of jewels, elephants, bandits, and jungles.
SHOWTIME!
The biggest surprise about becoming an author and illustrator has been just how much standing up in front of hundreds of children I would have to do. Then the second biggest surprise has been how much I would come to LOVE it.
Writing, Mind-Blindness & Parenting a Neurodiverse Child
Author Victoria Bond discusses how aspects of her son’s autism helped her to see some of her own blind spots while editing the last novel in the Zora & Me Trilogy, The Summoner.
The Smile Shop: A Tribute to Language and London
Award-winning author-illustrator Satoshi Kitamura details the inspiration for his picture book The Smile Shop. He explains how his introduction to the Spanish language planted the idea in his head and how the book is a tribute to the London he knew and loved when he was living there and developing his career as an artist.