Cynthia Leitich Smith's Blog, page 37

Gayatri Sethi and Annika Sarin on Defying Categorization & Unbelonging

By Suma Subramaniam

I’m pleased to welcome Gayatri Sethi, author of Unbelonging (Mango and Marigold Press, 2021) and co-founder of desi kidlit community to Cynsations! Welcome, Gayatri!

What do you love most about the creative life/being an author? Why?

Collaboration. I love working with creatives, artists and writers in the spirit of collective upliftment. Saadia Faruqi and I co-founded the desi kidlit community a couple of years ago. We had sensed that spaces for creatives from the sub-contin...

Guest Interview: Liz Garton Scanlon & Carol Kim on Finding the Story You’re Meant to Write

By Liz Garton Scanlon

The Austin chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is particularly vibrant, and among its many offerings is a mentorship program named for Cynthia Leitich Smith!

I have been the program’s mentor twice, most recently working with the wonderful Carol Kim. In celebration of Carol’s first trade publication, King Sejong Invents an Alphabet, illustrated by Cindy Kang (Albert Whitman & Co., 2021) we sat down to chat and reflect on her journey.

C...

Cynsations Winter Hiatus

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

Happy Holidays, Cynsational readers!

Effective immediately, this blog is on winter hiatus. We’ll return after the ALA Midwinter Conference with more inspiration, insights, and info on children’s-YA writing, illustration, literature and publishing. In the meantime, you’re welcome keep up on those topics with me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

But first, let’s raise a cup of cocoa to Cynsations Editor-in-Chief Gayleen Rabakukk, Managing Editor Stephani Mar...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations

Spotlight Image: Thank You, Neighbor! by Ruth Chan (HarperCollins, 2021).

Author/Illustrator Insights

Q&A With Kekla Magoon by Sanina Clark from Publishers Weekly. Peek: “[A] lot of us don’t suit up to try to make a difference because we’re worried that our contribution can’t be big enough….My way happens to be writing….The key is to figure out who you are, what your skills...

Young Adult Authors on How Writing about Mental Health Saves Lives

By Rebecca Kirshenbaum

I spent an informative and inspiring hour talking with authors A.S. (Amy) King, Jason Reynolds, Francisco X. Stork, Bill Konigsberg (not pictured), and Cory McCarthy about mental health. In the course of our conversation, we covered our own mental health, stigmas around mental health, writing about tough topics, and why they agree that no topic is too tough for kids to handle.

Content Warning: This post references grief, loss, suicide and attempted suicide, depression, an...

Author-Illustrator Interview: Kristen Balouch Talks Inspiration & Design

By Clara Hammett

Kristen Balouch is an author and illustrator of award-winning picture books, most notably Mystery Bottle (Hyperion Books for Children, 2006), which won the Ezra Jack Keats Award. In addition to writing and illustrating books for children, she is a fabric designer and gardener.

All of her passions, particularly the outdoors and finding beauty in the small moments of life, are evident in her newest illustrated picture book, If You Are the Dreamer (Cameron Kids, 2021). If You Are...

Guest Post: Caroline Kusin Pritchard Reflects on the Influences of Gitty and Kvetch

By Caroline Kusin Pritchard

Stories are the work of a community, not a creator in isolation. I am struck by this truth every single time I hold my debut picture book, Gitty and Kvetch, illustrated by the phenomenal Ariel Landy (Atheneum, 2021), in my hands. Its pages carry the fingerprints of all the people who have poured into my life and this story. Each character, every turn of a phrase, any attempt at a laugh or tender moment… It’s all a reflection of the friends and family who have shaped ...

In Memory: April Pulley Sayre

Photo courtesy of Jeff Sayre.

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

April Pulley Sayre, award-winning author and photo-illustrator died Nov. 6 in South Bend, Indiana after a battle with advanced metastatic breast cancer. She was 55.

April & Jeff at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in September 2019. Photo courtesy of Jeff Sayre.

Much of April’s work focused on natural history, and because of her passion for conservation, she requested a green burial. Her husband, Jeff Sayre writes, “She was interre...

Cynsations Fall Hiatus

By Stephani Martinell Eaton

The Cynsations team is thankful to have you as a reader!

Cynsations blog is on hiatus for the week. We’ll return on November 29 with more inspiration, insights, and information related to the children’s-YA publishing community.

In the meantime, keep up with Cynthia Leitich Smith on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

At Cynsations, we celebrate Native authors and illustrators all year long, but we know teachers and child-caregivers may be searching for titles with supp...

Cynsational News

By Cynthia Leitich Smith, Gayleen Rabakukk, Stephani Eaton, Suma Subramaniam, Bree Bender and Gail Vannelli for Cynsations

Spotlight Image: I Am the Subway by Kim Hyo-eun, translated by Deborah Smith (Scribble US, 2021).

Author/Illustrator Insights

Outside the Box With Kelly Starling Lyons! by Jill Esbaum from Picture Book Builders. Peek: “[M]any of my stories focus on family and heritage. It’s important for kids to know that who they are, whose they are and where they’re from is enough. I want...