Glorious Impossibles: Writing ‘for children’ panel brings together rockstar, award-winning authors

Madeleine said that artists, like children, are good believers. She also denied that writing for children was any different from writing for grownups (a perspective that came up recently during Children’s Book Week).

The techniques of fiction are the techniques of fiction. They hold as true for Beatrix Potter as they do for Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Characterization, style, theme, are as important in children’s books as in a novel for grownups.  — Walking on Water

At this year’s Walking on Water Conference, we’re going deeper. We’ve pulled together a panel of authors to explore how faith–their own, and/or their characters–shows up in their’ writings, and what writing “for children” means.

Joining the “Glorious Impossibles” panel are:

Moderator Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich: Olugbemisola was a student of Madeleine’s, a story you’ve got to hear her tell.  She’s also the author of 8th Grade Superzero, a Notable Book for a Global Society and Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. She is co-author of the NAACP Image Award-nominated Two Naomis, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and its sequel, Naomis Too. Her nonfiction books include Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow, and the picture book biography Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-Ins, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People. Olugbemisola is also the editor of The Hero Next Door, a 2019 middle grade anthology from We Need Diverse Books. Visit her online at olugbemisolabooks.com and on Instagram.

And “Glorious Impossibles” panelists:

  • Ibi Zoboi: Ibi holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing has been published in The New York Times Book Review, the Horn Book Magazine, and The Rumpus, among others. Her debut novel, American Street, was a finalist for the National Book Award and has received five starred reviews. Under the same imprint, her latest YA novel, Pride, was released last fall, and, Black Enough, a collection of stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America, made its debut in January. Her middle grade debut, My Life as an Ice-Cream Sandwich, is forthcoming in late August. You can find her online at www.ibizoboi.net.

 

  • Veera Hiranandani: Veera is the author of The Night Diary, which received the 2019 Newbery Honor Award, the 2019 Walter Dean Myers Honor Award and the 2018 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature. The Night Diary has been featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, is a New York Times Editor’s Choice Pick, and was chosen as a 2018 Best Children’s Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Amazon, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews, among others. She is also the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, which was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asian Book Award Finalist, and the chapter book series, Phoebe G. Green. A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College’s Writing Institute and is working on her next novel. Online, you’ll find her at  www.veerahiranandani.com, on Twitter, and on Instagram.

 

Register now to hear this panel (and tons more) at the first Walking on Water Conference, Nov. 16. Details, registration, and news about a pre-conference retreat are all here. Early bird pricing ends August 31, so don’t wait!

Til then, looks like your reading list is filled up!

Happy reading,

~Erin F. Wasinger, for MadeleineLEngle.com.

/by