Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 10
May 21, 2024
Guest Interview: Translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp Shares Insight on Translation Rights & the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Spotlight image: Ukrainian children’s books at the Ukrainian publishers’ stand at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
The 61st edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair took place April 8 – 11 in Bologna, Italy. Cynsations reporter Elisabeth Norton interviewed translator Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp about her experie...
May 20, 2024
Guest Interview: Publisher Prashant Pathak of Wonder House & SCBWI’s Sarah Baker Reflect on Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Spotlight image: Elisabeth Norton and Publisher Prashant Pathak in Wonder House Books’s booth at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, photo by Melanie Rook Welfing.
The 61st edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair took place April 8 – 11 in Bologna, Italy. Cynsations reporter Elisabeth Norton interviewed P...
May 17, 2024
Guest Interview: Illustrators Julien Chung & Jacinta Liu Share Tips for Navigating the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Spotlight image: Jacinta Liu in the exhibition of the 2024 featured country, Slovenia, at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
The 61st edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair took place April 8 – 11 in Bologna, Italy. Cynsations reporter Elisabeth Norton interviewed creators Julien Chung and Jacinta Liu a...
May 16, 2024
Throwback Thursday: Renée Watson’s Advice on Writing About Serious Topics
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Congratulations to Renée Watson on the publication of Summer is Here, illustrated by Bea Jackson (Bloomsbury, May 7, 2024)! From the publisher’s website:
Summer is here!
No dark clouds in the sky,
it’s a perfect day for play.
What joy will summer bring me today?
Summer is finally here, and she’s bringing th...
May 15, 2024
In Memory: Author-Illustrators Lynne Barasch, Laurent de Brunhoff & Mike Thaler
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Author-illustrator Lynne Barasch
“Picture book author-illustrator Lynne Barasch, who created lively biographies and stories inspired by her family life, died on March 7. She was 84,” reported Publishers Weekly.
In a 2007 Cynsations interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith, Barasch talked abo...
May 14, 2024
Author Interview: Flying High with Ritu Hemnani: A Creative Journey to Lion of the Sky
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Today we’re welcoming author Ritu Hemnani to Cynsations to discuss her path to publication and the role her family history plays in her middle grade novel in verse, Lion of the Sky (Balzer + Bray, May 2024).
Congrats on your U.S. publishing debut, Ritu Hemnani! Could you tell us about th...
May 10, 2024
In Memory: Author Kate Banks & Author-Illustrator Leonard Everett Fisher
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Author Kate Banks
“Prolific children’s book author Kate Banks, known for prose praised as lyrical, clever, and graceful, died February 24 in Switzerland, surrounded by her family, and following a long illness. She was 64,” from Publishers Weekly.
May 9, 2024
Throwback Thursday: Monique Gray Smith Shares Advice for Beginning Writers
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Congratulations to Monique Gray Smith on the recent publication of Circle of Love, illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt (Heartdrum/HarperKids, 2024). From the publisher’s description:
Everyone is welcome in the circle.
In this warmhearted book, we join Molly at the Intertribal Community Center, where she introdu...
May 8, 2024
Author Interview: Abigail Hing Wen on Point of View, Dialogue & Expanding a Short Story
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
Spotlight image: Abigail Hing Wen on the news, Asian Pacific America, NBC Bay Area
Today, we are super excited to welcome Abigail Hing Wen to Cynsations to talk about her new book Kisses, Codes and Conspiracies (Macmillan, 2024) which releases in August this year. New York Times and Indie b...
May 7, 2024
Author & Agent Interview: Meredith Davis & Alyssa Eisner Henkin on Timing, Trends, the Market & Writing From the Heart
Cynsations is celebrating its 20th anniversary by switching to a quarterly publishing schedule, featuring in-depth interviews and articles. Thank you for your ongoing support and enthusiasm!
I’m beyond excited to welcome my writing buddy and Vermont College classmate, Meredith Davis back to Cynsations, along with her agent, Alyssa Eisner Henkin of Birch Path Literary. Meredith’s debut middle grade novel, The Minor Miracle: The Amazing Adventures of Noah Minor (Waterbrook/Pen...
