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Welcome to Pareena Lawrence named next Hollins University president, where I teach in the MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating program each summer! We will sincerely miss outgoing President Nancy Gray, but Pareena looks to be a wonderful person to fill Ms. Gray's shoes. CLICK HERE or the image below to see the story at One News Page and learn more about our new President. Exciting!
And
CLICK HERE to read the official letter of introduction from Hollins (PDF).
Judges, Submission Guidelines Announced for the 2017 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature
Roanoke, Va. – Hollins University has named three distinguished authors as judges for the 2017 Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature.
Presented annually, the Margaret Wise Brown Prize recognizes the author of the best text for a picture book published during the previous year. The award is a tribute to one of Hollins’ best-known alumnae and one of America’s most beloved children’s authors. Winners are given a $1,000 cash prize, which comes from an endowed fund created by James Rockefeller, Brown’s fiancé at the time of her death. Each recipient will also receive an engraved bronze medal as well as an invitation to accept the award and present a reading on campus during the summer session of Hollins’ graduate programs in children’s literature.
Judges for the 2017 prize include:
· Phil Bildner, author of the Margaret Wise Brown Prize-winning picture book Marvelous Cornelius, which was also a Junior Library Guild Selection and a recipient of the Parent’s Choice Gold Award. Bildner has also written numerous other picture books.
· Jane Yolen, co-author of the Margaret Wise Brown Prize Honor Book You Nest Here With Me, as well as more than 350 other books. Her works have garnered two Nebula Awards, the World Fantasy Award, a National Book Award nomination, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, and the Golden Kite Award.
· Heidi E.Y. Stemple, co-author of the Margaret Wise Brown Prize Honor Book You Nest Here With Me and many others.
Publishers should submit four copies of each book they wish to nominate for the Margaret Wise Brown Prize:
· One copy should be mailed to Hollins University, with contact information included, at:
Margaret Wise Brown Prize
Graduate Program in Children’s Literature
Hollins University
Box 9678
7916 Williamson Road
Roanoke, VA 24020 · One copy should be mailed to each of the three prize judges. Mailing addresses for each judge may be obtained by contacting Amanda Cockrell, director of Hollins University’s graduate programs in children’s literature, at acockrell at hollins dot edu.
The deadline for submission for books published in 2016 is January 15, 2017. Books must have been first published in 2016; reprints are not eligible. The winner of the Margaret Wise Brown Prize will be announced in May 2017. Brown graduated from Hollins in 1932 and went on to write Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and other children’s classics before she died in 1952. Hollins celebrated her life and work with a year-long Margaret Wise Brown Festival in 2011 and 2012, which featured stage and musical adaptations of her work along with readings, workshops, guest lectures, and other activities for all ages.
The study of children’s literature as a scholarly experience was initiated at Hollins in 1973; in 1992, the graduate program in children’s literature was founded. Today, Hollins offers summer M.A. and M.F.A. programs exclusively in the study and writing of children’s literature, an M.F.A. in children’s book writing and illustrating, and a graduate-level certificate in children’s book illustration.
For more information about the Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children’s Literature, visit
www.hollins.edu/mwb.
Welcome home! Home these days is Edinburgh, Scotland. Stan met me at the airport and had this sweet sign lit up in the doorway of our flat waiting for me. He's also been plying me with chicken soup, sandwiches and noodle casseroles to recover from the massive jet-lag.
I would blame my exhaustion on the
insane flight... My flight to New York was delayed and finally cancelled due to bad weather. I quickly figured out I was going to miss my connector flight to Edinburgh so got rerouted through London. It only added a few hours onto the journey, although my luggage is still in the US somewhere. I did see a cool thing in London - undergraduate artwork being represented on signage around the airport called "
Talentspotting" - it included work from an illustration student from the University of Edinburgh.
But really, I'm recovering from six weeks of running on adrenalin.
Our Hollins University program is
wonderful and
intense. The students are so dedicated to growing and learning, they don't sleep much. When we don't have classes, the schedule is packed with lectures, get-togethers, personal work, and critique groups. As a teacher, that means I'm ON 24/7. (I sleep, but I get insomnia from thinking about it all.)
If you've met me, you know I'm a very social person. But I love what a friend (hi, Aliya!) recently claimed. She said, "I'm a very friendly introvert." Me too! I have to have my down time to refill my coffers and I didn't get much of that this summer. So, I am seriously exhausted.
That said, I have so much to DO! School starts back on 19 September and in that time, we have visitors coming, FRINGE is in full swing. I need to finish my dissertation reading for my MFA, slick up my PhD proposal, and do artwork for four book dummies I'm working on - one which has some publishing interest. So, I will give myself two days to be a brain-dead potato before I return to some kind of normalcy. I hope to be back to full swing soon. Wish me luck!
UPDATE! My luggage has been located and should be delivered sometime today - woohoo!
This year we had five graduates in the Certificate in Children's Book Illustration program from Hollins University. A few will be sticking around to continue on to the MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating, but a few will sadly be leaving us. That said, nobody ever truly leaves here, they keep coming back, every excuse they can drum up. It's one of the wonderful quirks about Hollins.
The ceremony kicked off with opening remarks by program head Ruth Sanderson, and then a lovely slideshow. Ashley Wolff did the commencement speech this year and created a funny poem featuring each student.
Then the crowns and diplomas were handed out. The crowns have become quite the coveted item at Hollins! Here are our graduates with the faculty (minus Lauren Mills, who had to depart early). They are from the back, left to right, Ashley Wolff, Mark Braught, Yours Truly, Ruth Sanderson, Kathleen Lorenzo, Martha Failinger, Kary Keppol, Marilyn Mallue, and Lucy Rowe.
After the official ceremony, we had a small reception in the gallery space where everybody enjoyed the students' work. It was a nice crowd and friends and family came in to cheer on the new graduates.
We took photos of each of the graduates by their gallery display:
We are so proud of our new graduates. They all worked so hard. Some of it was because of the assignments, but most of it was because the students were so incredibly driven to get as much growth out of the program as possible, and boy, did they! They found their creative voices, discovered new passions, and most importantly, learned to love the journey of creating. I couldn't be happier for them. And I hope they'll stay in touch!
Thursday was our last day of Picture Book Design at Hollins University. Students presented their dummies - the culmination of six weeks of struggles, lost sleep, and exploration. Here I am with all of my students. From the left, Kathleen, Kary, Me, Rebekah, Jennifer and Martha.
We began the day finishing up presentations. Each student gave a 20-minute presentation on an illustrator they admire and are inspired by. Among them were Melissa Sweet, Keith Negley, Cynthia Rylant, etc. Then, after lunch, we munched on bad-for-us snacks and read our final dummies to each other. It was a true moment of victory:
Jennifer read The Owl and the Pussycat
Martha read When Nana Dances (a manuscript donated to our program by Jane Yolen)
Rebekah created an adaptation of Red Riding Hood, now Blue
Kary created our first same-sex Owl and the Pussycat. First she presented her mini flip-book while Martha coaxed a funny smile out of her. (These guys truly bond over the intense summer term.)
And then she shared the full-sized dummy. (Covers were not required to be in color although some students took them there.)
Finally, Kathleen shared her version of When Nana Dances
Even when they choose to do the same stories, it's amazing how wildly different they turn out. Just goes to show how individual illustrator voices can truly define a story.
Next, was graduation! More soon...
Every year at Hollins University, students put on the Francelia Butler conference to celebrate the woman who made the world take children's books seriously. It's a one-day conference with visiting scholars, academic and creative readings by students, and this year - the first awarding of the Margaret Wise Brown Award for Best Picture Book, which went to Phil Bildner for MARVELOUS CORNELIUS.
Although my favorite part of his acceptance speech was when he shared this fabulous graphic: Teach/Learn. I always say teaching is learning!
Each year a theme is chosen to decorate the conference. This year's theme was "Stranger at the Door" - which led to some wildly creative decorations. Teachers - pay attention!
The Hogwarts door was especially creative - just some cardboard squares and VOILA!
Doors were everywhere!
Even the podium was decorated as a door - to a Hobbit Hole!
Each year there's an auction to raise money for future events. I snagged an original linocut by Ashley Wolff - woot! (Not a print - the actual linocut!)
And each year I listen to the speakers while I draw custom thank-you and congratulations notes for friends, faculty, and students. Here are some of this year's batch.
You may see some of these again as coloring pages...
Even nicer this year was the more conscious inclusion of our illustrators. Awards were given and the gallery show was impressive. We are so proud of our students here at Hollins. They do a great job!
One of the highlights of having my friends Vicky and Aliya visit me at Hollins, was sharing the horses with them. The barn sits at the high point of the University - with the most amazing view.
We first went by on Friday to pet fuzzy noses out in the field...
and in the stable. Aliya and Vicky were able to get up close and personal with Tucker.
Then we went back on Saturday. This time, I pulled Holiday out of his stall and they actually got to brush him. I've shared with you how much I love grooming horses. (I could care less about riding them.) It was so nice to be able to share my personal form of meditation with my friends!
Ashley Wolff teaches Creating Picture Books for Children here at Hollins University in the MFA in Writing and Illustrating Children's Books and Certificate in Children's Book Illustration programs. And I'm happy to share she had a new book come out this year while we were apart - IN THE CANYON written by Liz Garton Scanlon. Today, Ashley dropped by to share her creative journey with us...
Welcome to the Grand Canyon
by Ashley Wolff 
One the “Seven Natural Wonders of the World”
It’s about 270 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and a mile deep, Its walls contain rock layers that reveal a timeline of Earth’s history.
To make In The Canyon as good as it could be, I had to explore the Grand Canyon. I took my excellent and intrepid little sister and in we went!
from RIM to RIVER…
and back!
The main character of In the Canyon, written by Liz Garton Scanlon, speaks in the 1st person voice. She begins her narration like this:
“Here’s a map, some boots, a pack, a walking stick, a sandy track.”
I always enjoy working with a model and I found a lovely girl in San Francisco named Willa.
I spent a few hours with Willa taking pictures, and then used those to draw from while illustrating the book.
She gazes at the reader from the jacket, inviting you to join her In the Canyon.
As soon as you dip below the rim of the canyon you enter a vast, deep bowl that has no direct route to the bottom. The trails are constantly zig zagging down the steep walls. Occasionally you can spy the river, way down deep.
My sister Peri, seen from a few switchbacks above, with many more to go. The Colorado river, bright green, is crossed by 2 bridges. One is visible here.
If it is a cool spring morning on the rim, it is full, hot summer at river level. Along the way are blooming cacti and yucca, birds, lizards and curious squirrels.
I can't get enough shots of the blossoming Beavertails.
“Here’s a footstep, dusty red, another one and more ahead.”
Signs like this one are a regular sight. To do this rim to river to rim hike one must be very fit and prepared for a lot of heat and exertion.
Some people choose to travel by mule. Mules are chosen from Tennessee and Missouri. They are used for pack supplies to Phantom Ranch and pack mail out of the canyon and later promoted to trail mules.
I used a photo of a family, gathered under an overhang, as inspiration for this illustration.
“Now here’s a tiny slice of shade, a yummy lunch, some lemonade. And a lizard, still as sand, his head all speckled, body tan.”
Finally, we're at river level, where the deep shade around Phantom Ranch is most welcoming. Time to recharge and load up on water and salty snacks for the hike back out. Peri and I made it back to the rim by nightfall, a 16 mile roundtrip.
But the child in
In the Canyon is luckier. She gets to spend the night, camping by the river.
“Here’s the dark and here’s the shine, and here’s the moon—it’s like it’s mine. To tuck inside me way down deep, Grand and wild, mine to keep."
I'll come back to the Canyon someday, no doubt with enough overconfidence to descend to the bottom and back in one day as I did with Peri.
After all, I have what it takes: "a map, some boots, a pack, a walking stick, a sandy track.”
Every summer at Hollins, we go visit the woman who made our MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating program a possibility - Nancy Dahlstrom - former head of the Art Department at Hollins. She's since retired to her sweet Virginia country house surrounded by gardens and her extremely elaborate print studio. Its a joy to visit her little piece of Eden. Here she is sharing an etching with us.
After we oohed and aahed and
learned in Nancy's studio, we moved the party to the back porch where we shucked corn and grilled chicken and vegetables for dinner, then had watermelon for desert. Ashley Wolff got this photo of me in perfect summertime mode.
The back porch is the perfect place to hang out and enjoy Nancy's beautiful garden
and the local critters.
Here we are - Ashley, Nancy, Me, Vicky and Aliya.
The sun started to set while we ate.
Before it got dark, we piled into Nancy's Gator and rode to the top of the mountain.
Nancy had bush-hogged the mountain so that the grass was walkable. It also meant we could see deer, and scream at the skunk we quickly u-turned away from. (He was running from us too!) Vicky and Aliya climbed up into the tree fort, where the view was even more amazing.
We caught fireflies, spit watermelon seeds, and generally had a marvelous evening. I love our annual cookouts at Nancy's and how nice to share it with friends!
I have felt so loved this past weekend! My dear friend Vicky Alvear Shecter drove all the way up from Atlanta to see me while I'm in the US. Her daughter, Aliya, joined her and we have been having such a marvelous time - I have to share!
They arrived late Thursday, so we went to "Hollywoods" for dinner. Friday, I arranged a Meet n' Greet for our Hollins students and faculty to meet Vicky and ask her questions about her books, history and creative non-fiction and historical fiction. She drew a crowd!
That evening we saw the new Ghost Busters - fun. Saturday, we went to downtown Roanoke to hang out at the farmer's market and wander about - a weekend ritual.
There are all sorts of hidden treasures in Roanoke, like the fish tanks (Aliya's blue hair matched perfectly)...
and the rooftop deck with a fabulous view of this adorable city in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here we are: Mark Braught, Candice Ransom, Me, Aliya and Vicky.
There's even a coi pond up there!
I had fun picking out clothes for my friends in my fave clothing shop - La De Da. One of the downtown stores has the friendliest boxer on the planet, Rutger. He loved Aliya.
That evening we went to a cookout - more on that soon!
We are a lucky bunch to call Charles Vess a friend. The illustrious illustrator has stopped by Hollins to share his work with our students for several summers now. My treat was the night before... Our faculty critique group had our regular get-together and Charles shared drawings from a new super-secret project. It was a nice gathering of who's who in children's lit. From the left, that's Ruth Sanderson, Mark Braught, Ashley Wolff, Hillary Homzie, Charles, and Rhonda Brock-Servais.
The next day, Charles spoke with our students. First, he shared the secret project - the drawings were
amazing.
Then he shared images from a not so secret upcoming project.
And a slideshow with artwork from a poetry collection he's doing. He's a busy guy!
And we are so lucky that he shares his work with us. So inspiring!
I have news from our most prolific Professor and author here at Hollins University. Candice Ransom has published over 130 books and she has more coming out this year. I'm thrilled to have her drop by to talk about these new books and her creative process.
Have (Orange) Notebook Will Travel
Candice Ransom I once believed nothing was harder than writing a picture book. Writing picture books is a cakewalk compared to beginning readers. Kids don’t have to read picture books, just enjoy them. Beginning readers are designed for newly-independent readers who have graduated from phonics texts. Levels vary according to publishers, but usually include an early level for pre-readers and/or kindergarteners.
The kindergarten readers have very short texts and are splashed with cheerful illustrations. They look easy to write. Fun, even! I’ve written three Level 1 books for the Step into Reading imprint of Random House. I’d love to brag I dash these fripperies off in a day or so, but my orange notebook would be quick to report the fib.
My orange spiral notebook is used exclusively for writing level 1 readers. It’s battered because I drag it everywhere. Sometimes I throw it across the room. The orange notebook knows I will pick it up with a sigh and go back to the difficult line giving me fits.
My first Level 1 ideas were rejected for being too sophisticated, such as the canine etiquette guide written by fleas. Gradually I understood this audience needs stories about their world.
I finally got it right with Pumpkin Day (2015). The story, about a pumpkin-picking family, employs rhyme and rhythm and has a narrative arc. The 113 words were carefully chosen and discarded, revised and reworked, page after scribbled page, as evidenced in the orange notebook.
Apple Picking Day, out July 26, follows Pumpkin Day. Same family on a different fall adventure. This story was even harder because there was no story. After you’ve picked pumpkins, what surprises await picking apples? Plus I had to use the same rhyme and rhythm scheme as in Pumpkin Day.
No metaphors, my editor warned. And no contractions. While I wasn’t given a word list, I relied on common sense. The stanza “Over mountains/cross a bridge/apple orchard/on the ridge” contained “mountains,” “bridge,” and “ridge.” I loved the image of the family’s little yellow car motoring through the countryside, but the stanza was too hard. The published version reads, “Over hill tops,/big and small./I see apples./Hello, fall!”
Tooth Fairy Night will be out in February 2017 to coincide with Dental Month. Draft pages in the orange notebook are littered with marginal lists of simple end rhymes, like stay, away, day, play. Words that seem ridiculously easy to us fill the youngest readers with pleasure and satisfaction.
I actually love writing these little stories. The orange notebook often sits on the kitchen counter while I fix dinner. I’ll mutter lines or try out rhymes while stirring spaghetti. If I’m riding in the car, my trusty notebook rests on my lap like a puppy.
When I was asked recently to write three more Level 1 “Day” books, I was glad my orange notebook came with me to Hollins. Right now I’m fiddling with “Snow Day.” My orange notebook already has lists of simple rhyming words and a tiny little outline. Outside it’s 92 degrees. In the orange notebook, it’s 30 degrees and snow is piled up high.
I've said it before but I never tire of it. One of my favorite things about teaching at Hollins University is my morning walks. This campus, deep in the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachian Virginia, are absolutely gorgeous.
The campus is like a snow globe - without the snow. I can't stop staring at it, especially as Tinker Mountain keeps us all in her care.
In fact, several of us make morning walks our daily ritual. Here's Ashley Wolff coming over the hill.
From the top of this hill you can see the vultures, who love to sit atop the church steeple and dry their wings in the mornings. Sometimes they can look rather ominous.
And sometimes they leave treasures to find. I gave this feather to Candice Ransom - one of our accomplished Professors who happens to adore buzzards (her license plate reads "bzzrd").
I've been spending a lot of time in the library this year, researching my PhD proposal. Don't you feel sorry for me?
Just up the hill from the church and the library is a haven for groundhogs. Can you see this one? I've named them all 'George' in honor of Bugs Bunny: "I will love him, and hug him, and call him George." Oh, how I wish I could!
I often also spot deer, rabbits, muskrats, and birds, birds, birds! Swooping sparrows, robins, and blue birds, who flash their colors seemingly just for me.
Past the main entrance, the road runs along the path of a gently gurgling stream.
There, I often spot herons - great blues, greens, and night herons. Here is our great blue heron getting his breakfast.
Past that the road curves around...
to the soccer field.
But just beyond the soccer field, we come to the big hill, which we call 'The Widow Maker.' Can you see why? It will give you a work out!
The reward is the stables at the top...
where I always stop to rub fuzzy noses. Sometimes I even stop to groom a horse or two - it's my meditation.
Truly, these are some of the luckiest horses on the planet and I'm lucky to spend time with them.
Their view is one of the best on campus and I am lucky indeed to share it with them every morning.
Each summer we have amazing speakers come in to talk to our students. This year so far we've had John Rocco (PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF), Tom Angleberger (ORAGAMI YODA), and Cece Bell (EL DEAFO), who spoke specifically to our illustrators about proudly simplifying one's illustration style - a highly relevant topic right now.
She mentioned that Mo Willems says, "I like to create characters that a child reader can learn to draw." Indeed, they make for extremely successful and appealing characters for kids!
That said, we were all still in awe by the genius behind Cece's seemingly simple style. It's one of the hardest styles to pull off successfully, and wow, she does it!
Recently I had the opportunity to share some creative brilliance from two of my favorite creators. It all began when
Judy Schachner visited Hollins University in 2014. She shared part of her creative process in the making of Dewey Bob Crockett - her new raccoon friend who follows her hit series, Skippyjon Jones. Judy always creates a Character Bible before she ever starts writing a story. Here's the one for Dewey.
In these bibles she collects images, colors, sketches - everything that might feed into sharing who her character is.
It was a genius idea, but I didn't see myself making it part of my own creative process.
Then I went down to Northumberland to have a play date with author/illustrator
Julia Patton.
Julia was doing something with a similar concept, but her creation was called a Style Bible. Her idea is to break up a nice sketch book into the alphabet. Under each letter she includes
narrative sketches of things that fall under those letters. For "A" - aardvarks, amoebas, antelopes, ants - you get the idea. But the key phrase is
narrative. She tries to make sure that everything she includes has a bigger idea around it - the blossom of a story. So it becomes and ant who, or an ant that...
She doesn't actually sketch in the bible. She collects sketches from elsewhere and the Style Bible is constantly changing and evolving. The result is that she eventually has a very clear idea of how she draws trees, or telephones, or bears. It's her look, clearly defined.
Not only can a Style Bible help illustrators find their illustrative voice, it can also spark ideas. Not only does it give you a context for what to draw (if you happen to be stuck - work on your "B's.") Or put two sketches together and see what happens. New relationships emerge, new idea, and a whole lot of streamlining. It can be the first step before creating Character Bibles or book dummies. It becomes your creative brain on the outside.
In fact, Julia no longer shares a portfolio with potential editors. Now she shares her bible and she's sold quite a few upcoming books as a result.
Meanwhile, Julia gave me some homework for the summer and I decided to share it with my students at Hollins University.
I'm making my very own Style Bible this summer. Julia guarantees that by the end of the summer I'll have a clear direction of my stylistic voice as a result. So I'm sketching away, adding to my alphabet, and finding lots of new story ideas along the way. Won't you join me?
Earlier this week our newest Professor, Mark Braught gave a demo on working with pastels - his favorite medium. Mark decided to honor our most famous graduate and did a portrait of Margaret Wise Brown, author of GOODNIGHT MOON.
He began with the underdrawing. It's charcoal with an acrylic wash over the top. He said he never likes to work on white.
Here are his supplies.
The class was glued to his process as he built up layer after layer of COLOR! It was so funny watching all the cameras - our students were fascinated. I was too! I had no idea you used so much pastel on one piece!
Mark layered and scrubbed and mixed the colors right there on the paper. He used a bristol which can hold up to the abuse.
The workshop lasted for just 1 1/2 hours, and yet, Mark was able to turn this beautiful portrait around!
He did tweak it some more after the workshop ended, but it was an impressive accomplishment in that short window. And now the program has a treasure to keep in its permanent collection of Margaret Wise Brown memorabilia - fantastic!
Yes, we have a gorgeous library here at Hollins University with a lovely children's section in it. That's it to the right...
However, each summer in the Visual Arts Building we create a pop-up children's library consisting of picture books from our own faculty collections.
The returns pile alone is like my favorite candy store.
(We have student workers who refile these by theme.)
I even have my orange book shelf here, covered with some of my personal faves.
But what I was most excited about returning to this year were our
new books.
We have a new, well-funded award hosted through Hollins University this year - the
Margaret Wise Brown Prize in Children's Literature. To submit books to the prize, publishers have to send four copies of their books to be considered to Hollins. Most go to the judges, but one lovely copy goes to our children's book collection here at Hollins.
OMG - can you say
droooooool? So, each year, the best and top picture books from the publishing houses will be making their way to our campus, where me and my students will be glued to the pages as we flip through them all with glee. It's a lot of books to go through, but I've already begun. Can you say HEAVEN?
Returning to Hollins University was like coming home. The MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating program takes four years to complete, so students and faculty become like family. And it was like no time had passed since I last saw everybody (even though, it's been a very big year)!
Our first week back was chocked full of getting studios prepared, supplies in place, books in order, groceries purchased, orientations, meet and greets, and of course, classes! Crazy, I tell you!
But in getting John Rocco back to the airport on time on Saturday, we also got to see Roanoke again. We took him for BBQ and the downtown farmers market which happens every Saturday.
With a few minutes to kill, we wound up a curvy road to a small park at the top of Mill Mountain and the Star Park. I do love this adorable little Appalachian town. For one thing, it is positively BEAUTIFUL here.
This is the view from the lookout set below the Roanoke Star.
It's an enormous star that lights up every night and the city is known for it. At its base is a lovely little park. I can't believe Stan and I didn't find this in all our bimbling here last summer. There a mini-trail to hike, with lush green, cooler temperatures, and a welcoming woodsy smell.
And it took so little time to wind up the mountain to see it. Gotta come back here! Ahhhhh!
Wowsa - we hit the ground running at Hollins University this year! We had our main speaker come in the first weekend. I was thrilled to have John Rocco here as he's been one of my illustrative heroes for years. And he's a darned nice guy.
John has a plethora of books like these three and one of my faves, WOLF! WOLF! which I use in my Picture Book Design class.
Although, the ones you are probably most familiar with are the Rick Riordan books - PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF. (And all the sequels and accompanying titles.)
John spoke two times. The first was to a general audience in the theater, where he shared his history as a clam fisherman (seriously) and his path into children's books.
The next day he did a talk and a workshop in the studio with our students.
He was as enlightening as I'd hoped he'd be. I know our MFA in Children's Book Writing and Illustrating and Certificate in Children's Book Illustration students learned a ton - I certainly did! He was so kind and entertaining as well - a big hit with everybody! Faculty (this is Dennis Nolan and Lauren Mills)
and students alike! (Click the image below to see it larger in a new window.)
Me, Ashley Wolff and Ruth Sanderson took John out for BBQ before we had to send him back to California. Wish we could have kept him around - what a nice and talented guy! Get back to work, John - we want to see more from you!
Here it is!! I am live on TED! Although it's best to view it on Youtube where you can leave comments. I hope you'll share it with your friends and help me go viral!!! Cheers! CLICK HERE or the image below to watch.
How We Got Here:Sunday night a small group of the volunteers and speakers had a screening of our talks. Vincent introduced the event:
Shannen made sure we were all comfortable and the tech was working.
And we had a blast watching each other's talks - laughing and commenting all the way through - something we couldn't do live! We were all thrilled with the job the editors did. (Although I wish they'd edited out where I forgot the term "planned obsolescence." Oh well!) Here are Miri, Sabrina, Vimbai and me. (For more on who these people are, go to my
TED Day Wrap Up.)
Sabrina and Vimbai gave two of the best talks, I think. You can go watch them at:
Sabrian Syed: How to feel in place, any placeVimbai Midzi: Writing ourselves into historyHelp them go viral too!!! And we will have a Youtube channel with all the talks together soon, I'll update the link here.
Every year at Hollins University student volunteers put together the Francelia Butler conference. One of the highlights is the annual video. A few faculty are usually hijacked, shanghaied, asked to participate. This was my year to play the White Witch. So with baited breath, I hesitantly share... (Click the image to see the video on YouTube.)
Four of my students graduated this year from the Certificate in Children's Book Illustration at Hollins University. I'm so proud of them! Here are Julie Coyle, Kelsey Findlay, Kassy Keppol and Shawn Walton:
And Kassy with her ever-present and helpful brood:
And Kelsey and Shawn in "Otis" - the busy elevator in the Visual Arts Building:
But before they graduated, they had to complete their final assignment, which was to read their book dummies to the class. Because, after all, picture books are a kind of performance art and are not completely finished until they are being read aloud to an enraptured audience. In this case, it was an audience of exhausted classmates, who assumed the role of kindergartners. Here's Marilyn Mallue to the right and Lucy Rowe below.
As you can imagine, the lack of sleep and deep sense of accomplishment led to things quickly deteriorating out of control. The audience played their part well, shouting out random facts and observations. We were all laughing so hard we were in tears.
What was clear was that everybody had done a great job, and had a great time in the process of creating their books. It was also clear how close they'd all grown over the last six weeks of late nights, sometimes tears, and struggles. I was lucky indeed to have such a group of kind, funny, and caring students this year. I'll miss them all but wish them well as they continue to chase their dreams! (And some are coming back next year to pursue the
MFA in Writing and Illustrating Children's Books!) Here's Julie, Shawn, Kelsey and Shawn:
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By: Elizabeth O. Dulemba,
on 12/1/2016
Exciting! Can't wait to meet her!