In this week's episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Nova Ren Suma! Nova Ren Suma is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling The Walls Around Us and A Room Away from the Wolves , which were both finalists for the Edgar Award. She also wrote Imaginary Girls and 17 & Gone and co-edited the story & craft anthology Foreshadow: Stories to Celebrate the Magic of Reading and Writing YA . She has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and has taught creative writing at the U...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this week's episode of the SCBWI Podcast we are joined by Kate Messner. New York Times bestselling author Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too. Kate's titles include both fiction and nonfiction; she writes award-winning picture books, easy readers, chapter book series, and novels for young readers. Her books are frequently nominated for state book award lists and have been honored with the E.B. White Read Aloud Award, Golden Kite and Crystal...
May 16, 2025•1 hr
In this weeks episode we are joined by Barbara McClintock! Barbara McClintock is an American illustrator and author of over 40 books for children. Her books have received numerous awards and citations, including five New York Times Best Illustrated Picture Book Awards , four ALA Notable Book Citations , a Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Award , a China Times Best Illustrated Books Award , and a British Fantasy Award . One of her books is a best-selling title in Japan. Her artwork has been exhibited...
May 09, 2025•53 min
This week we are joined by author Kyle Lukoff and illustrator Levi Hastings! From Newbery Honor and Stonewall Book Award–winning author Kyle Lukoff and celebrated picture book illustrator Levi Hastings comes an “approachable, engaging” ( Publishers Weekly , starred review) picture book about how people found community in a time when they had to keep their true selves secret. “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” In a time when the LGBTQ+ community was forced to hide in the shadows, a woman named Doroth...
May 02, 2025•42 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast we are joined by Donna Barba Higuera! Donna grew up in Central California surrounded by agricultural and oil fields. As a child, rather than dealing with the regular dust devils, she preferred spending recess squirreled away in the janitor’s closet with a good book. Her favorite hobbies were calling dial-a-story over and over again, and sneaking into a restricted cemetery to weave her own spooky tales using the crumbling headstones as inspiration. Donna's M...
Apr 12, 2025•56 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast we are joined by Maria van Lieshout! Maria is a Dutch-American illustrator and graphic novelist. She was born and raised near Amsterdam, and studied Visual Communications at George Washington University in DC. Maria has illustrated and written 15 picture books for kids. Her graphic novel Song of a Blackbird is inspired by historic events, including those that affected her own family, during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. Maria lives in the San Francisco Ba...
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 6 min
In this episode of the podcast we are joined by Maggie Tokuda-Hall ! Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in creative writing from USF, and BA in art from Scripps College. She’s the author of numerous award winning, best-selling children’s and young adult books including Love in the Library, The Mermaid the Witch and The Sea duology, Squad, and The Worst Ronin. She has been called “... one of the most unflinching voices in contemporary genre literature.” Maggie is a founding member and national leader ...
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 3 min
In this episode we are joined by Erin Entrada Kelly ! Erin Entrada Kelly has received numerous awards and recognition for her work, including the 2025 Newbery Medal for The First State of Being, 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe , a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space , the 2023 NAIBA Book of the Year Award for Those Kids From Fawn Creek , and 2017 APALA Award for The Land of Forgotten Girls , among many other honors . She is also a National Book Award Finalist and author/illustrator o...
Mar 06, 2025•37 min
In this episode we are joined by Neal Shusterman ! Neal Shusterman is the New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty award-winning books for children, teens, and adults , including Challenger Deep, which won the National Book Award , Courage to Dream, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book , Scythe, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book , the Unwind Dystology, which won more than thirty domestic and international awards, and the highly acclaimed novels, Dry, and Roxy which he co-wrote with his son, Jarro...
Feb 27, 2025•51 min
In this episode we are joined by Paul O. Zelinsky! Paul O. Zelinsky grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, the son of a mathematics professor father and a medical illustrator mother. He drew compulsively from an early age, but did not know until college that this would be his career. As a Sophomore in Yale College he enrolled in a course on the history and practice of the picture book, co-taught by an English professor and Maurice Sendak. This experience inspired Paul to point himself in the direction o...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 2 min
In this episode we are joined by Oliver Latsch! Translator and agent Oliver Latsch grew up bilingual in German and English in East Africa and Germany. He trained to be a scientist and had just completed his PhD in Biology in the U.K. when he was asked to help get some best-selling German children’s books published in English. This led to a career as a literary agent and translator. Since then, he has accumulated 17 published book translations both from German to English and vice versa. His trans...
Nov 14, 2024•1 hr
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Erin Lee! Erin Lee is an elementary school teacher and artist living in Long Sault, Ontario. She graduated from the University of Ottawa with an Honors degree in Fine Arts, Visual Arts. Erin has published three award-winning children’s books: Benjamin and the Backyard Beast, Out of Season, and Maggie the Magnificent. Erin has written short stories and novels since she was a child. As a young student, she idolized authors such as Robert Munsc...
Oct 25, 2024•1 hr 21 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by artist John Parra! John Parra is an award-winning artist, illustrator, author, and educator, best known for his, Latino themed, children’s picture books. His work on, Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year. His MTA artcard poster, Birdhouse Subways, was displayed throughout NYC subways and his art was seen on six U.S. Forever Postage Stamps titled: Delicioso. He regularly speak...
Oct 18, 2024•50 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Michael Dante DiMartino! Michael Dante DiMartino is an American animator, producer, writer, and director. He is best known, together with Bryan Konietzko, as the co-creator of the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, both on Nickelodeon. He has also written for podcasts and has authored novels. You can purchase his latest, Both Here And Gone on his website: https://www.michaeldantedimartino.com/product-page/...
Oct 10, 2024•56 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Desmond Hall ! Desmond Hall was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and moved to Jamaica, Queens. He has worked as a high school biology and English teacher in East New York, Brooklyn; counseled teenage ex-cons after their release from Rikers Island; and served as Spike Lee’s creative director at Spike DDB. Desmond has served on the board of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and the Advertising Council and judged the One Show, the American Advert...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 3 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Margaret Finnegan ! Margaret Finnegan is the author of the Junior Library Guild Selections Sunny Parker Is Here to Stay , New Kids and Underdogs , We Could Be Heroes , and Susie B. Won’t Back Down . Her work has appeared in FamilyFun , the Los Angeles Times , Salon , and other publications. She lives in South Pasadena, California, where she enjoys spending time with her family, walking her dog, and baking really good chocolate cakes. Visit h...
Jul 18, 2024•51 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Dan Gutman ! New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Dan Gutman has written more than 190 books for readers from kindergarten through middle school. Dan’s My Weird School series includes 100+ titles, and has sold more than 35 million copies globally over the past 20 years. Dan also is the author of the best-selling Genius Files series, the Baseball Card Adventure series, and many more. Dan’s books have been named Junior Library ...
Jul 11, 2024•57 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess ! Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess first became a teacher as a young teen during the Bosnian Genocide. In a letter written by President Joe Biden himself, he wrote: “I am inspired by the bravery and strength you have shown in the face of heartbreaking tragedy and persecution.” Reflecting on Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess’ award-winning memoir The Cat I Never Named (Bloomsbury, 2020), the President described her as “the very idea of America”...
Jun 21, 2024•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Phil Bildner! Phil Bildner is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for young people including the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor-winning middle grade novel, A High Five for Glenn Burke , the Margaret Wise Brown Prize-winning picture book, Marvelous Cornelius , and the Texas Bluebonnet Award-winning picture book Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy . Phil is also the author of A Whole New Ballgame, Rookie of the Year, Tournament...
May 24, 2024•45 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Tracy van Straaten! TRACY VAN STRAATEN, Founder and President Founded in 2019, TvS Media Group LLC is an award-winning boutique public relations and consulting firm specializing in book publishing, entertainment, and brand management, with particular expertise in children's and young adult media. Founder and President Tracy van Straaten has more than 30 years of publicity, communications, and marketing experience, and she has created hundred...
May 10, 2024•1 hr 1 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Debbie Ridpath Ohi! Debbie Ridpath Ohi is a children’s book author and illustrator who has helped create over 20 books for young people. She loves her job. She is the author and illustrator of I WANT TO READ ALL THE BOOKS , WHERE ARE MY BOOKS? , and SAM & EVA (Simon & Schuster). Her illustrations have appeared in books by Judy Blume, Michael Ian Black, Linda Sue Park, and others. You can find Debbie on Bluesky , SubStack , Instagram ...
Apr 25, 2024•50 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by F.T. Lukens! F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels Spell Bound, So This Is Ever After ( 2023 ALA Rainbow Booklist; 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards nominee ) , In Deeper Waters ( 2022 ALA Rainbow Booklist; Junior Library Guild Selection ), and the forthcoming Otherworldly as well as other science-fiction and fantasy works. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, th...
Apr 18, 2024•46 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by renowned illustrator/cartoonist/graphic novelist Cece Bell! Cece Bell has written and illustrated many books for children, among them the beloved Sock Monkey books, the Geisel Award-winning Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover, and the Newbery Honor-winning graphic novel El Deafo. She and her husband, author Tom Angleberger, have also collaborated on the picture book Crankee Doodle and the Inspector Flytrap chapter book series. She lives in Virgi...
Apr 11, 2024•54 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by John Schu aka Mr. Schu! John Schu has made a career out of advocating for the people and things he cares about most: kids, books, and the people that connect them. He was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker for his dynamic interactions with students and his passionate adoption of new technologies as a means of connecting authors, illustrators, books, and readers. He is the children’s librarian for Bookelicious , a part-time lecturer at ...
Apr 04, 2024•54 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Cátia Chien! Cátia Chien is a children's book illustrator from Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is currently working in New York City. She graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California in 2004. She has produced work for several publishing companies, including Random House, Penguin Books and Candlewick Press. Buy The Bear and the Moon here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-bear-and-the-moon-matthew-burgess/14350474?ean=9781452...
Mar 28, 2024•43 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Richard Jesse Watson! Port Townsend painter, illustrator, and sculptor, Richard Jesse Watson, has received numerous awards and several of his books were New York Times Bestsellers. His paintings hang in museums, corporate and private collections internationally. Watson is an accomplished artist and perpetual experimenter. He often breaks out of boxes in his quest for originality. "His work is a process of thinking: …to balance and nod to the...
Mar 21, 2024•56 min
In this Podcast Replay, we are joined by James Ransome, the iconic illustrator of classics like Before She Was Harriet (written by Lesa Cline-Ransome), Uncle Jed's Barbershop, Visiting Day, and so many more incomparable titles. James never does the same thing twice, and in our expansive and focused conversation, we discussed ways of seeing, color and quilts, his mentorship with the great Jerry Pinkney, and how his love of Parliament Funkadelic keeps him experimenting. Follow James on Instagram: ...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 5 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Kwame Mbalia! Kwame is a husband, father, writer, a New York Times bestselling author, a former pharmaceutical metrologist, and a publisher with Freedom Fire Books, an imprint of Disney-Hyperion. His debut middle-grade novel, TRISTAN STRONG PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY was awarded a Coretta Scott King Author Honor, and it—along with the sequels TRISTAN STRONG DESTROYS THE WORLD and TRISTAN STRONG KEEPS PUNCHING—is published by Rick Riordan Pres...
Feb 02, 2024•53 min
In this episode of the SCBWI Podcast, we are joined by Eugene Yelchin! Eugene Yelchin is a graduate of the Academy of Theater Arts in St. Petersburg, Russia where he designed sets and costumes for stage productions until his immigration to the United States. In Los Angeles, CA, he earned his graduate degree from the USC School of Cinematic Arts after which, he went on to direct television commercials and illustrate advertising campaigns (designing the original polar bears for Coca Cola). His fir...
Jan 26, 2024•57 min
Theo Baker talks with the chart-busting illustrator and book creator, Vashti Harrison, about how she anticipated success, and built her incredible career. Theo even got in a few questions about experimental film. For all the latest on Vashti, head over to her website www.vashtiharrison.com, and follow her on Twitter at @VashtiHarrison and Instagram at @vashtiharrison. For more info about the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, please visit SCBWI.org. Support the show...
Jan 24, 2024•54 min•Season 6Ep. 9
