2/5/2022: All About Graphic Novels Day, with Writer and Illustrator Master Classes
90 minute webinar panel with Megan Lloyd, Janna Morishima, and Kiara Valdez
Exploring writing or illustrating a graphic novel? Already have one in progress? Just want to learn more about a growing segment of children’s publishing? Learn more in the webinar offered by SCBWI.
In the morning panel middle-grade graphic novel author Megan Lloyd (Allergic, Scholastic, 2021), agent Janna Morishima (Janna Co.), and editor Kiara Valdez (First Second Books) will talk about craft, submissions, scheduling, the current market, and more, followed by Q&A.
RSVP Information
HOSTED BY: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
11:00 am ET
10:00 am CT
9:00 am MT
8:00 am PT
WHERE: Online
Registration to view webinar live and access recording for 30 days: SCBWI Members: $15; Non-members: $25
2 hour online masterclass for ILLUSTRATORS and writer-illustrators with Janna Morishima: Round Table Review of Finished Graphic Novel Spreads based on a Homework Prompt
Live participants will create a finished graphic novel page or spread based on the homework prompt. They also have the option of attending an online peer-to-peer roundtable on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, at 7-8:30 PM EST to give each other feedback on work-n-progress, and will receive an in-webinar review of their work during the master class.
Homework Prompt: Tell the story of a moment from one of your strongest childhood memories that had a big impact on you.
Specifications: Prepare your assignment in a 6” x 9” format (single page) or 12″ x 9″ (spread), using as many panels as you like. It can be color or B&W, in your own style. Make sure it includes character development, panels, and treatment of text/dialogue.
RSVP Information
HOSTED BY: Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
3:00 pm ET
2:00 pm CT
1:00 pm MT
12:00 pm PT
WHERE: Online
Registration with in-webinar homework review: SCBWI Members: $60; Non-members: $80
Registration to access recording only: SCBWI Members: $15; Non-members: $25
1/15/2022: Kathlyn J. Kirkwood, author of Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round, signing in Parnassus Books
Parnassus Books is pleased to welcome Kathlyn J. Kirkwood, author of Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round: My Story of the Making of Martin Luther King Day for a signing of her debut memoir for children. Drop in any time between 2-3 PM central to meet Dr. Kirkwood and purchase a signed copy of Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round: My Story of the Making of Martin Luther King Day.

RSVP Information
HOSTED BY: Parnassus Books
WHEN: 2:00 pm CST/ 3:00 pm EST, Saturday, Jan. 15
WHERE: 3900 Hillsboro Pike Suite 14, Nashville, TN 37215
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission. Thanks!
Praise for Kathlyn Kirkwood's Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round!
December 16, 2021PraiseMarketing,Good News
A review of Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round from Fabulous nonfiction children’s books you need on your bookshelf: Part Two by Pamela Kramer:
This brilliant memoir-in-verse tells the moving story of how a nation learned to celebrate a hero. Through years of protests and petition, Kathlyn's story highlights the foot soldiers who fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round is a deeply moving middle-grade memoir about what it means to be an everyday activist and foot solider for racial justice, as Kathlyn recounts how, drawn to activism from childhood, she went from attending protests as a teenager to fighting for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday to become a national holiday as an adult. A blueprint for kids starting down their own paths to civic awareness, it shows life beyond protests and details the sustained time, passion, and energy it takes to turn an idea into a law.
Deftly weaving together monumental historical events with a heartfelt coming-of-age story and in-depth information on law making, Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round is the perfect engaging example of how history can help inform the present.

"Memoirs like this one must be part of every library collection and classroom bookshelf."
- Fabulous nonfiction children’s books you need on your bookshelf: Part Two, Pamela Kramer, pamelakramer.com
The book has actually been in the works in one form or another for at least 10 years. It started as an oral history-a presentation I gave to young adults and teens titled “How Dr. King’s Day Came to Be.” Upon the suggestion of one of my church members, Jeanne Arradondo, I started thinking about turning that presentation into a book. It was still a number of years before I was ready to settle down and actually write the book that would become “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.”
- School Library Journal (SLJ)
In this memoir-in-verse, Kirkwood describes how she was affected by King to push for racial justice as a young person and, 20 years later, for King’s birthday to be made a national holiday. Kirkwood doesn’t claim to be a central figure in these efforts or in reducing illiteracy, her current focus, but she writes movingly of being part of positive change.
- The Washington Post
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission. Thanks!
12/7/2021: The Power of Humor in Picture Books
Discover the power of silliness with a guy who knows how to get eye-level with kids and make them chuckle in this free webinar offered by Benchmark Education. New York Times best-selling author Ed Masessa will show educators ways to use picture books to spark joyful engagement. He'll focus on his two recent laugh-out-loud picture books, There Was an Old Dog Who Needed a Nap, and Snowman's Big Adventure.


RSVP Information
HOSTED BY: Benchmark Education
WHEN: 1:00 pm ET/10:00 am PT, Tuesday, Dec. 7
WHERE: Online
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission. Thanks!
Fall 2021 Good news
November 30, 2021marketingMarketing,Good News
BOUNCE BACK is out -- great review in SLJ!
"This story hits all the middle school sweet spots—friendship struggles, bullying, popularity, and awkward crushes.... Though this book will have special appeal to manga readers, the universal story and engaging art will delight a wide range of middle schoolers." – School Library Journal
Bounce Back just published on November 16, 2021 from Feiwel & Friends / Macmillan.
Congratulations, Misako!!!!
Two new picture books from Ed Masessa: THERE WAS AN OLD DOG WHO NEEDED A NAP, and SNOWMAN'S BIG ADVENTURE
Ed Masessa is well-known in the children's book world for his quirky sense of humor... and these two books don't disappoint!
There Was an Old Dog Who Needed a Nap published on August 1, 2021, and Snowman's Big Adventure is coming out on Dec. 1st from Reycraft.
Congratulations, Ed!!!!
AIN'T GONNA LET NOBODY TURN ME ROUND Launch Event at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN
Kathlyn J. Kirkwood's debut book is a middle grade memoir in verse about her coming of age during the civil rights movement in 1960s Memphis.
She is planning an unforgettable launch event on January 8th featuring a concert of civil rights era spirituals at the National Civil Rights Museum, which is built around the former Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
Contact me for more information.
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round is coming out on January 6, 2022 from Versify / HarperCollins.
Congratulations, Kathlyn!!!
MIMI AND THE CUTIE CATASTROPHE Chosen for Junior Library Guild!
Junior Library Guild is "the gold standard" subscription service for children's librarians. They've chosen Shauna Grant's debut early reader graphic novel, Mimi And The Cutie Catastrophe, for the next summer season.
Mimi And The Cutie Catastrophe is coming out in Summer 2022 from Scholastic Graphix.
Congratulations, Shauna!!!
Fall 2021 Deal Announcements
November 23, 2021marketingMarketing
50 States in 45 Days: How to Be in a Band, Go on Tour, and Completely Lose Your Mind by Elizabeth Jancewicz and Eric Stevenson
Graphic Novel Memoir
In this autobiographical comic, a young couple in a small band attempt to break a world record on an epic road trip through the lesser-known corners of America. Unfortunately, it may come at the cost of losing their sanity.
Publisher: West Margin Press
Anticipated Pub Season: May 2023
Documented by Tracy White
YA Nonfiction Graphic Novel
A docucomic follows four teens fleeing different home countries on their own, seeking asylum in the US, and trying to adapt to their new, uncertain futures in the United States.
Publisher: Street Noise Books
Anticipated Pub Season: Spring 2023
One Scoop or Two? And Other Ice Cream Questions by Marissa Walsh
Picture Book
An interactive picture book, in which YOU get to decide exactly which ice cream you want… but be warned: with so many decisions to make, it might not be easy!
Publisher: Sterling
Anticipated Pub Season: Spring 2023
The Deep! by Lindsey Leigh
Middle Grade Nonfiction
In this illustrated nonfiction book for readers ages 7-10, plunge beneath the waves and find a world of bizarre creatures who explain -- in their own words! -- how they have adapted to life in the mysterious world of the deep, dark sea.
Publisher: Penguin Workshop/PRH
Anticipated Pub Season: Summer 2023
Noisy Puddle by Linda Booth Sweeney
Nonfiction Picture Book
A lyrical picture book in which readers discover the magical world of the "now-you-see-me, now-you-don’t" wetland habitats called vernal pools.
Publisher: Owlkids
Anticipated Pub Season: Spring 2024
The Other Name of Love by Damon Lehrer
Graphic Novel Memoir
Damon recounts the story of his mother’s affluent Viennese childhood, its sudden end when the Nazis arrive, and her family's flight on the doomed St. Louis ocean liner. The narrative is interwoven with the story of Damon's own childhood and how he was affected by growing up with an overtly successful -- but deeply traumatized -- mother.
Publisher: Levine Querido
Anticipated Pub Season: Summer 2024
KCU Logo Contest!
June 4, 2021marketing,branding,contest,kids comics unite,website,logoBranding,Business,Marketing
Until now, Kids Comics Unite has been a private online community, but the next chapter in its existence will be a public website... loaded with useful resources for creators and professionals in the field of kids graphic novels.
But before we launch the website, we want to shape a new visual identity for KCU!
We are seeking artists and designers to help us craft that identity. And to do that, we're sponsoring a logo contest! Yes — IT’S BRANDING TIME.
The upcoming Kids Comics Unite website needs a brand spankin’ new logo, and that design could be yours.
The winner of the contest will get:
- a $500 cash prize
- a free one year subscription of Kids Comics Insider, and
- free attendance to the 2022 Kids Comics Intensive!
That’s a total value of $2,060. Sweet!
Are you enticed?
The creative brief and how to enter:
Click here to read the Logo Contest Guidelines
The deadline for entries is 11:59PM EST on June 30th, 2021.
We can't wait to see your work!
Have more questions? Here is our Q&A sheet and replay of the live Q&A session! If you have another one, leave a comment below or leave a message inside Kids Comics Unite!
Kids Comics Unite Community Development and Marketing Internships!
April 12, 2021Marketing,Business,Publishing,Writing
I am looking for Kids Comics Unite’s first “crew members” who will help me turn Kids Comics Unite into a website chock-full of resources, and continue growing and improving our fabulous community. You'll play a critical role in charting the future of KCU, and help create new programs that support all our members and leverage the knowledge and insight of our super users.
What You’ll Do:
- Help shape the future of KCU
- Help plan and launch the KCU website
- Celebrate, organize, and boost the resources and stories that come from our community
- Edit videos for posting internally and on the KCU YouTube channel
- Write a monthly KCU newsletter
- Oversee the future KCU blog
- Organize internal processes to support the development of consistent, high quality content and programs
- Track and report on our performance and make recommendations for improvement
What You Should Have:
- Passion for helping artists and writers build their careers, and for helping the kids graphic novel market grow
- Strong interest in the business and marketing side of publishing and online community building
- A friendly personality, team spirit, and desire to help others
- The ability to commit time and focus every week to this position
Skills I’m Looking For:
You don’t need all these, but at least some of them.
- Excellent listening and analytical skills and ability to spot “patterns in the noise”
- Strong organization skills
- Some experience in blogging, email or social media marketing, and/or community moderating
- Video editing expertise
- Great writing and editing skills
- Bookkeeping, finance, or administrative experience
What You’ll Get:
These are part-time paid internship positions. They include:
- Monthly private mentoring session with Janna
- Monthly stipend (tbd, depending on experience, scope of work, and time involved)
- Free membership in all KCU programs
- Behind the scenes experience in building a thriving online community, advising comics creators, and marketing a creative business
- Completely flexible schedule
Fill out this form to apply:
https://forms.gle/shErx1scT91Lksvi7
The application period is open until Wednesday, April 28, 2021. If you want to apply, you must submit your application by EOD on April 28th.
Interview with Serena Phu
August 15, 2020fantasy,painterly,anime,illustratorArtist/Author Interview
Tell me a bit about yourself. Where are you from? How did you decide to become an artist?
I was born and raised in central Connecticut with my parents and brother, all of whom enjoy art in some capacity (my brother is currently a hobby artist, and when I was younger my mother would often paint and tell us about her brief time in art school; my dad will occasionally doodle).
As a child, I would spend my free time drawing cakes, and later on my brother introduced me to anime, which started my foray into drawing people. When I entered the 6th grade, I made an unknowingly powerful decision that art would be my schtick.
How do you start your day?
I wake up between 8:30 and 9:30am and usually check social media on my phone, to catch up on artists I follow, as well as general current events. Once I’m satisfied or feel I’ve spent too much time in bed, I’ll wash my face, brush my teeth, and head to the kitchen to eat breakfast and drink water/tea.
I typically go to bed with an idea of what I need to do once I start the next day, so I try to get right into it, despite my lethargy. Although, if I’ve woken up to a very time-sensitive plan of the day, I might skip breakfast until I’ve finished the first important task.
What does your workspace/studio look like? What aspects of it are most important to you?
My workspace is rather cluttered at the moment! I tend to have a variety of stuff-making schemes, dabble in several different mediums, and hold onto a plethora of objects, materials, and doodles that I think could contribute to my work at some point.
My studio room has a wall of shelves that are mostly organized by type of object/what they’re used for/how often I might need to access them. I’m also a fan of tiered rolling carts, so I have 3 in my studio; one for watercolor & acrylics, one for oil paint, and one for miscellaneous things with a focus on merchandise production (screenprinting materials, tape, sticker paper, and some of my inventory).
I have a desk set up right in front of a south-facing window, and a drafting table on the opposite side of the room. On the walls, I tape up my paintings, useful notes or color studies, and in one section of wall I have hooks that hold badges I’ve accumulated from the conventions I’ve shown at.
What’s your favorite medium, and why do you love it?
My absolute favorite medium is oils, for sure. I love the tactility of the paint, and the way that it and I seem to both leave our own personal trademarks on a piece. I’m fond of how easily I can achieve immaculate, realistic detail or large but still visually interesting spaces, depending on what I need.
What tool has improved your workflow or creative process recently?
I’m constantly relying on the lists I jot down in my Google Keep app. I have so many lists, both personal and work-related, with things like tasks I’m in the middle of, long-term plans, ideas I have for pieces I want to make, and so on. I find myself overwhelmed very easily, mostly by my own choices as I try to be in the middle of several different projects at once.
Maintaining lists allows me to redirect my focus on a whim and gives me a mental “shelf” where I can passively keep tabs on everything I’m doing, and not have to think about all of them simultaneously at every moment.
When you’re feeling “artist’s block,” what do you do to get “unblocked”?
Most of the time, “artist’s block” comes to me in the form of a lack of activity. I feel most “blocked” when I haven’t made something that makes me feel genuinely excited or happy or satisfied for a long time, and I usually have to realize that first before I can address it.
Once I have, I go back to the list of ideas that I haven’t gotten a chance to work on yet, and pick whichever one I’m most interested in. If I’m in between a lot of projects, I make it a quick study or even a sketch, just so I can get something finished and rejuvenate my motivation.
What’s particularly inspiring to you right now? Where do you go when you need a dose of creative inspiration?
I don’t have an immediate go-to for inspiration resources per se, but I do take a lot of inspiration from fashion, so I may go to social media to find people’s fashion snaps or some streetwear blogs, especially Japan-based street fashion photographers. One of my favorites is Tokyo Fashion, which I tend to go to if I’m trying to think of an outfit design for a character.
When we’re not in a pandemic, I usually try to travel. It never has to be anywhere far, but I find that seeing new things gets my gears turning. I especially get hyped up whenever I see very modern architecture or interior design. If I can’t find that, I always feel inspired by very dramatically lit clouds; most of the time I don’t even have to look for them, but I’ll simply glance up and see an intense vision in the sky, and it always urges me to paint.
What’s a favorite project that you’ve worked on so far in your career? What did you love about it?
One of my favorite projects that I’ve worked on will probably always be the series of paintings I had done that were based off of a music video by the K-pop group, BTS. They were very self-indulgent pieces for me, but I was very satisfied with the process of painting them, and overall they are a nice showcase of my capabilities with oil paint. I made them in undergrad and presented them to my professors and colleagues at the time, and felt validated to know that they could be addressed as serious pieces outside of the context of my being a fan of a music group.
What is your dream project in the future?
For sure, my dream project is to work with BTS on basically anything. A lot of the themes that inspire me to make my own work are themes that I can also find in theirs, which means that a) I’m very interested in what I interpret as the intent of their work, and b) I think I’d jive really well with any creative project that they could ever invite me to work on.
In a more general sense, I come from a fine arts mindset, as that was what I studied and got my degree in. I’m very much into taking the stuffiness out of fine arts and bringing it to a more modern and accessible (perhaps even “mainstream”) landscape, and would love to get myself to a point where I could do a collaboration with a huge brand or non-painting artist, similar to how Takashi Murakami has done so many unconventional collaborations from the art-world perspective.
This is also why I’m interested in illustration, because of how it combines fine art with practical appeal — for example book covers for mysterious or fantastical novels that share my work’s aesthetic.
What advice do you wish you could give your younger self?
I wish I could tell my younger self to just do what they liked, and to not worry about looking smart or clever.
How do you balance work and art with personal life?
A lot of my personal life is actually, in ways, intertwined with my art. As someone with an interest in clothing, for example, I’ll be drawing and need to look at reference pictures of clothes and fashion, and doing that research will satisfy that itch for me. A lot of the people in my life are also involved in the arts, so I find that talking to them will often lead to discussions about art, which motivates me to get back to work, haha.
The thing I enjoy about being an artist is that more often than not, when I find something I become interested in, I try to express this excitement through drawing. Eventually, whether I consider it work or play, everything in my life coalesces.
What’s an example of a past rejection or “failure” that ended up helping you? How did it help?
As a sort of continuation of the advice I’d give to my younger self: I spent a long time framing the idea of a successful artist as one who makes completely new things that no one has ever thought of before. I thus spent a long time trying to come up with unorthodox ways to paint, mixed media pieces, and complicated metaphors and symbolisms to achieve this, without actually putting much thought into the simpler things that I enjoyed doing whenever I made art.
It wasn’t until my senior year in college, when I was trying to justify the art I wanted to make with a difficult, intangible metaphor, that I understood trying to keep it under this lens only hurt the work. It revealed the ego that I had developed about my art.
After a long trip, looking at myself and my favorite works, and looking at a bunch of art, I was able to see this, and reframe how I approached things.
How do you maintain your art career? Either in terms of marketing yourself, or developing multiple income streams?
In all honesty, I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I’m still getting the majority of my income from non-art-related work, but I try to maintain social media presence within reason. My focus in terms of the work I make and the things I post has been on authenticity, being more genuine about what my work is about, and trying to create for an audience of people that are truly interested in what I make and why I make it.
This question is difficult to answer mostly due to the pandemic, but usually, I try to build my presence by traveling to conventions and sharing my work at in-person events; I find this to work better than any attempts I’ve made at marketing myself purely through social media.
What are you working on now?
I’m working with a therapist to illustrate a children’s book about tolerance, as well as a new line of merchandise for my online store. And I have a large 9’ oil painting that I’ve been slowly making progress on, although I may be pausing it to focus on the book and merchandise.
I am also trying to start up more quick painting studies to do in between working on all of these things, to satisfy my painting itches.
In broader terms, I’m also working towards unifying what has always felt like 2 distinctive streams of thought in my body of work into something that’s perhaps multi-faceted, but also consistent.
Connect with Serena Phu:
See more art by Serena Phu!
Jennifer Holm Interview
August 9, 2020publishing industry,creative process,revising,children's books,jennifer holm,random house,comics,graphic novelsPublishing,Artist/Author Interview,Creativity
Jennifer Holm is the best-selling and award-winning co-creator of the Baby Mouse, Squish, and Sunny Side Up graphic novel series, and she's also the Newbery Honor winning author of numerous middle grade novels like Our Only May Amelia, The Fourteenth Goldfish, and Turtle in Paradise.
In this interview for Kids Comics Unite, we focus on how she got started in her career, her creative process, and why she branched out into graphic novels with her brother, artist Matthew Holm. She dishes on so many fascinating things:
- Her first job in NYC, before she became a writer (it involved PeeWee’s Playhouse)
- How she got her agent, and the unusual route she took to selling Baby Mouse to Random House
- How her first book ended up becoming a middle grade novel (originally she thought it was an adult book)
- Her biggest piece of advice for new authors
- How many times she typically revises (or rewrites entirely!) a book
- How and why she works with freelance editors, in addition to her agent and editor at her publishing house
- The television production technique she and her brother Matt use to create graphic novels together
- The reason why Baby Mouse is 2-color
- Why Jenni writes for middle grade (hint: she hated being a teen)
- The exact components of her author visits; how she makes them super interactive and fun
- The theme she returns to over and over in her work
Jenni is well-known for being an incredibly generous creator who constantly gives back to the children's book community. This interview is a perfect example of that.
Click to view the full interview on YouTube.