Picture Book Summit | 2021

Bookeando: How Creating Books Helps Us Process Our Life’s Learning
How do we translate our life experience into picture books that enable children to practice their own life skills? Join Caldecott Honoree Yuyi Morales as she shows us what happens when we mine our lives for stories and how we transform ourselves in the process.

Meet Yuyi
Yuyi Morales was born in Xalapa, Mexico, the city of flowers and springs. After migrating to the US in 1994, she struggled with English and loneliness in a culture foreign to her but found solace in public libraries, where she read children's books with her son and discovered a renewed interest in stories and art. She is now the author and illustrator of many books for children, including the New York Times bestseller Dreamers, Niño Wrestles the World, and she is a six-time winner of the Pura Belpre Medal for an outstanding work of literature for children that best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience. Other honors include the Americas Award, the Golden Kite Medal, the Christopher Award, the Jane Adams Award, and the Tomas Rivera Award. In 2015, she received the Caldecott Honor for her book Viva Frida.

Using Your Fear
Making picture books can be scary, but your fears about it are often unique to you. However, neutralizing those fears can leave you with work that is just as unique. Caldecott Winner Jon Klassen will explore the idea that the anxiety about making a book doesn't have to stop you… in fact, it can be the very thing that makes it yours.

Meet Jon
Jon Klassen is the author-illustrator of This Is Not My Hat, winner of the Caldecott Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, the first book to receive both honors; and its companion books, I Want My Hat Back, and We Found a Hat, and The Rock from the Sky. He also illustrated two Caldecott Honor Books, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole and Extra Yarn, as well as Triangle, Square, Circle, and The Wolf, the Duck, & the Mouse, all written by Mac Barnett. There are over 2.7 million copies of his books in print.
Klassen’s work has received many awards and accolades. The New York Times Book Review says, ``no one does perturbed animals better,`` and The Los Angeles Times remarks ``The hallmark of Klassen's work is what is not shown but rather left to the imagination.`` Klassen’s work has appeared in Kung Fu Panda, Coraline, and The New Yorker.

Mind Mapping Your Way to Authentic Stories
Author and educator Rob Sanders will reveal how mind mapping can lead to both story ideas and ways to present stories that engage readers. Then he’ll take you on a mind-mapping journey to discover stories that only you can tell. You’ll have the opportunity to take one of those ideas and bring it to life through a guided writing exercise.

Meet Rob
Rob Sanders is a teacher who writes and a writer who teaches. He is known for his funny and fierce fiction and nonfiction picture books and is recognized as one of the pioneers in the arena of LGBTQ+ literary nonfiction picture books.

Rob is a full-time writer with a B.S. in Elementary Education and a Master’s Degree in Religious Education. Rob worked for fifteen years in children’s religious educational publishing and later as an elementary school teacher teaching fourth graders about books and words and reading and writing. He is co-regional advisor for SCBWI Florida and a frequent speaker, teacher, and critiquer.

Rob’s books include Two Grooms on A Cake: The Story of America’s First Gay Wedding (Little Bee Books), Stitch By Stitch: Cleve Jones And The Aids Memorial Quilt (Magination Press), and Mayor Pete: The Story of Pete Buttigieg (Henry Holt & Co).

Rules Schmules: How to Break the Rules and Get Away with It
Picture book writing is filled with “rules” on everything from word count to story structure to format. But what if your idea doesn't conform to all the rules? Can some be ignored or even broken? And, if so, are you skilled enough—and brave enough—to be a rule-breaker? Laura Backes will analyze picture books that successfully defied convention, including how the creators worked with intention and which rules they absolutely left intact.

Meet Laura
Laura Backes, a Picture Book Summit co-founder, is the publisher of Children's Book Insider, The Children's Writing Monthly (founded in 1990), co-founder of WriteForKids.org, host of the weekly Kidlit Distancing Social webcast and co-creator of WritingBlueprints.com, featuring step-by-step courses about writing children's books, including Picture Book Blueprint, for which Laura is the instructor. She also wrote Best Books for Kids Who (Think They) Hate to Read (Random House), and was technical editor of Writing Children's Books for Dummies (Wiley). Before starting CBI, Laura worked as a literary agent, a freelance editor, and in subsidiary rights of several New York-based publishers. She's also led writing workshops around the United States, most recently the Vermont Writers Roundtable. Laura's newest venture, debuting in June 2021, is Writer's Secret Sauce, which she developed with Dani Alcorn of Writing Academy.

Pitch Perfect: Fine-Tuning the Voice in Your Pitch
To pique an agent or editor’s interest, your pitch must capture the spirit and style of your book. But many authors make the mistake of crafting the pitch in the same business-formal voice as the query itself. In this workshop, Julie and Emma, co-Founders of The Complete Picture Book Submissions System, will give you the tools you need to make your pitches sing.

Meet Emma & Julie
Emma Walton Hamilton is a best-selling children’s book author, editor and writing coach. With her mother, actress/author Julie Andrews, Emma has co-authored over thirty children’s books, eight of which have been on the NY Times Bestseller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series. She is Director of the Children’s Lit Fellows program at Stony Brook University and co-host of the Julie’s Library Podcast.

Julie Hedlund is an award-winning picture book author, co-founder of the Complete Picture Book Submissions System with Emma Walton Hamilton, and founder of the 12 x 12 Picture Book Writing Challenge. Since 2012, 12 x 12 has encouraged thousands of picture book writers to get their stories out of their heads and onto the page. Julie is a frequent speaker at writing retreats and conferences. Her picture book credits include My Love for You is the Sun and A Troop is a Group of Monkeys. Her latest book, Over, Bear! Under Where? debuts this fall.

Adria Goetz is a senior literary agent with Seattle-based Martin Literary & Media Management. She specializes in picture books, middle grade, adult fiction, and graphic novels. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in English with a Creative Writing emphasis, as well as the Columbia Publishing Course in New York City, a six-week intensive course on all aspects of book, magazine, and digital media publishing. Adria also worked for Washington’s Pierce County Library System for two years.

Emily Forney is an associate agent for BookEnds Literary, a digital media and rhetoric teacher, cultural critic, and a writer for what feels like an eternity. She currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona at the mercy of two cats and a dream of owning a goat farm one day. After earning her MFA in Creative Writing from Northern Arizona University, Emily worked in editorial roles for literary magazines, journals, and digital prints before finding her home at BookEnds. She was a 2020 Publishing Fellow with the LA Review of Books and is currently on the Young Feminist Leaders Council for Feminist Press. She actively writes about identity, Blackness, and pop culture.

Stefanie Molina is an agent at Ladderbird Literary Agency. Prior to agenting, she spent her career advocating for marginalized folks in publishing as a technical editor at a national laboratory, senior editor at the literary journal F(r)iction, and book coach and editor for women of color. She is one-half Mexican, one-quarter Japanese, and one-quarter Irish and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, both from the University of California at Davis. Aside from reading, she enjoys hiking, swimming, baking strange new things, and playing the piano. Her favorite place in the world is Yosemite National Park.

Eileen Robinson has worked with children’s writers all over the world for more than twenty years. Former Executive Editor at Scholastic and Editorial Director at Harcourt, she has acquired published works from the U.K. and Italy, and created original works for U.S. markets. She teaches the art of revision through Highlights and workshops, and is an adjunct academic advisor for Rosemont College’s publishing program.

Helen H. Wu is a children’s book author and illustrator of over 20 picture books, as well as a translator, graphic designer, and publisher. She is the Associate Publisher of Yeehoo Press, a Los Angeles based children’s book publisher. Being fascinated by the differences and similarities between cultures, Helen loves to share stories that can empower children to understand the world and our connections. Born and raised in Hefei, China, Helen moved to the US in her 20s. She also lived in Beijing, Hong Kong, Zurich, Athens, Atlanta, and Des Moines. Currently, she resides in sunny Southern California with her family.

Naomi Krueger is an acquisitions editor at Beaming Books, a children's book publisher based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She acquires books that help kids thrive emotionally, socially, and spiritually. Naomi enjoys gardening, reading, and listening to public radio. She lives in Saint Paul with her husband and two young sons.