Interview Wednesday is Here! and a Giveaway Reminder

I'm hosting the Kidlit Interview Wednesday round-up here on our TeachingAuthors blog today. Hopefully, this post will go live while I'm asleep so that early risers and bloggers around the world can share their links whenever it's convenient. If you have an interview you'd like to share, just post a comment below containing the url. The interview should meet the criteria listed at the end of this post. I'll check back during the day to add your links to this post. If you have a blog related to reading, writing, or publishing books for children and you'd like to host Interview Wednesday, visit the official Kidlit Interview Wednesday sign-up page.

Whether or not you have a link to share, be sure to read April's AMAZING interview with poet Janet Wong here on our TeachingAuthors blog. Janet generously shares an exercise in simile-writing that both teachers and aspiring writers will appreciate. And you can enter to win one of THREE autographed copies of Janet's latest book, Declaration of Interdependence: Poems for an Election Year.

Here's today's Interview Wednesday round-up so far:

• Over at Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) Tara Lazar has a great interview with author Ame Dyckman on the release of her new picture book, Boy and Bot (Knopf Books for Young Readers), illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. You can also enter to win a copy of the book.
• The Literary Rambles blog has an interesting interview with Jennifer Nielsen about her young adult novel, The False Prince (Scholastic). You can enter to win a copy of that book, too.
• As part of the Cynsations Bologna 2012 author interview series, Cynthia Leitich Smith has an interview with Kathleen Ahrens, author, SCBWI International Advisor Chair, and Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.
• The official SCBWI blog features an interview with Candace Fleming, winner of the Golden Kite Nonfiction award for Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart.
• Myra Garces-Bacsal at Gathering Books shares links to a two-part interview with award-winning author Margarita Engle. The first part looks into Margarita's latest novel-in-verse The Wild Book. In the second part, Margarita speaks about the women and the poetry in her writings .
• Jeanette Stickel at SpeakWell, ReadWell shares a link to her interview with Anna McQuinn about her picture-book series, Lola at the Library, Lola Loves Stories, and the newest addition, Lola Reads to Leo.
• Jone at Deo Writer shares her interview with author and editor Renée La Tulippe.
• And speaking of Renée, she has two poet interviews on her No Water River blog, one with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater and the other with Laura Purdie Salas.  Also, in honor of Poetry Month, Renée is sponsoring a giveaway of the beautiful picture book This House, written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Roberto Innocenti.
• Barbara Younger at Friend for the Ride shares another Cynsations interview, this one with Barbara's agent, Erzsi Deak. You have to check it out if only to see the photo of the crocodile!
• Laurisa White Reyes of A Thousand Wrongs shares three recent author interviews on her blog, with J. Anderson Coats, Marissa Burt, and Anne Nesbet. 
• Bruce Black of Wordswimmer shares an interview with Barney Saltzberg, who offers some helpful insights into how writers might view their "mistakes" as opportunities for new ways of seeing the world. 
• Moonduster at Imagine! Create! Write! blog shares an interview with author Genevieve Petrillo and Cupcake the Blogging Dog. :-)
• Jan Greenberg at INK: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids has an interview with award-winning nonfiction author Marlene Targ Brill.
• And I just discovered that Sylvia Vardell is doing a month-long series of interviews with poets in honor of Poetry Month on her Poetry for Children blog.

Do you know of a recent interview that meets the following criteria? If so, please post the url in the comments below. I'll check back later to add the new links you provide.

1.The interviews must be with someone in the field of children’s/young adult literature, including authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and librarians.

2. Interviews may feature writing tips, illustration tips, cyber tips, etc., as long as the information pertains to children's/young adult literature.

3. Interviews may be written, audio, or video.

Happy writing!
Carmela

Interview Wednesday, and a Bit More on the ALA Awards

I'm hosting the Kidlit Interview Wednesday round-up here on our TeachingAuthors blog this week. Actually, I'm writing this post on Tuesday afternoon, but I'll schedule it to go live just after midnight (with my fingers crossed) so that early risers and bloggers around the world can share their links whenever it's convenient. If you have an interview you'd like to share, just post a comment below containing the url. The interview should meet the criteria listed at the end of this post. I'll check back during the day to add your links to this post. If you have a blog related to reading, writing, or publishing books for children and you'd like to host Interview Wednesday, visit the official Kidlit Interview Wednesday sign-up page.

You'll find the interview roundup below. First, I want to say a bit more about the ALA awards, the topic of our current series of posts. Yesterday was the first time I've watched the announcements live (thanks to the ALA webcast). I joined the program in progress, just as they announced that the winner of the Coretta Scott King Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement was Ashley Bryan. A shiver of delight went through me--I'd heard Ashley Bryan read years ago at one of our Vermont College residencies. His reading was electrifying! His love of story and poetry and literature shone through in his voice, gestures, and facial expression. I'll never forget that day. So yesterday when they announced the winner of the Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement, I was thrilled to hear not only his name, but also the cheers and applause of all the attendees expressing their approval. Congratulations to author-illustrator Ashley Bryan on his well-deserved award!

Yesterday, Mary Ann shared the titles of the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and Printz winners. You can read the entire list of ALA award winners in their official press release. You can also watch the webcast of the ALA award announcements.

If you're looking for more great titles to read after you finish the ALA award winners, head over to the official SCBWI blog for links to other award lists. Or consider signing up for the Newbery reading challenge being hosted by a K-5 teacher-librarian at the Watch. Connect. Read. blog or the Caldecott reading challenge organized by a K-8 library media specialist at LibLaura5.

And now, for the Interview Wednesday roundup so far:

• Be sure to read April's great interview with author-illustrator Barney Saltzberg here on our TeachingAuthors blog. Barney has some terrific advice about writing rhyming stories, and he shares a fun writing exercise. He also talks about the inspiration for his inspiring picture book Beautiful Oops. And don't forget--you have just until 11 pm CST today, Jan. 25, to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy of Barney's book. See April's interview for all the giveaway details.
• My good friend Karen Schreck and her "book twin," Katherine Grace Bond, interview their Sourcebooks editor, Leah Hultenschmidt at the Crowe's Nest blog.
• On Monday, the Literary Rambles blog featured a fun panel interview with five middle-grade girls who love to read. I especially enjoyed one girl's response to the question: Are there things your favorite authors could do that would make you more likely to visit their website, their blog, or become a fan on Facebook? Her answer: Write more books. :-) 
• Iron Guy Carl at the Boys Rule! Boys Read! blog has posted a fun interview with Lenore Look, author of the Alvin Ho books. 
• Laurina at We Love Children's Books shared an interview with Jack Gantos about Dead End in Norvelt, his newly-crowned Newbery winner
• And, speaking of award winners, my co-blogger JoAnn shared two more interviews: Virginia Euwer Wolff's interview with Thanhha Lai regarding her National Book Award and Newbery Honor Winner Inside Out & Back Again, and Chris Raschka's interview with NPR about his Caldecott Honor Book, A Ball for Daisy.
• Margo at The Fourth Musketeer shared an interview with Kristin Levine author, author of The Lions of Little Rock, a historical novel set in 1958.
• Today, Heidi at Geo Librarian posted an interview with Kate Coombs, author of Hans My Hedgehog: A Tale from the Brothers Grimm.
• Greg Pincus also posted an interview today on The Happy Accident blog. He asks children's author Eve Yohalem about social networking, self-publishing vs traditional publishing, and building a platform. 
• And how could I forget: On Monday, The Pen and Ink blog posted an interview with picture book author Bill Kirk. 

Do you know of an interview that meets the following criteria? If so, please post the url in the comments below. I'll check back later to add the new links you provide.

1.The interviews must be with someone in the field of children’s/young adult literature, including authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and librarians.

2. Interviews may feature writing tips, illustration tips, cyber tips, etc., as long as the information pertains to children's/young adult literature.

3. Interviews may be written, audio, or video.

Happy writing (and reading!)
Carmela

Kidlitosphere Interview Wednesday is Here Today!

Hi Everyone,
As promised, we're hosting Kidlitosphere Interview Wednesday here today! Below are links to recent interviews related to children's/young adult literature. If you have an interview you'd like to share with us, please post a comment containing the url. The interview should meet the criteria listed at the end of this post.

To start out, I'm excited to remind everyone about Esther Hershenhorn's terrific interview with teacher, author, and children's literature expert Leonard Marcus here on our TeachingAuthors blog last Wednesday. Leonard has just released The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth, which includes not only background information about the writing of the novel but also Leonard's own comments on the text. Read Esther's interview here for some fun (and funny!) behind-the-scenes stories, and be sure to enter for a chance to win your own autographed copy of  The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth. Entry deadline is this Friday, November 4, at 11 pm (CST).

Here's the round-up so far. I'll check back later to add more links as they're submitted.

• Tabitha at the Writer Musings blog shares a link to her interview with author Greg Fishbone on the release of his humorous middle-grade novel The Galaxy Games: The Challengers.
• Myra at the Gathering Books blog shared a link to her interview with Ken Spillman, author of the young adult novel Love is a UFO.
• TeachingAuthors' follower Lois Barr suggested we take a look at the Whole Megillah blog, which recently featured an interesting three-in-one interview with the author, editor, and illustrator of the picture book Sadie’s Sukkah Breakfast, written by Rabbi Jamie Korngold, edited by Joni Sussman, and illustrated by Julie Fortenberry.
• Yesterday, the Cynsations blog featured Lena Coakley's intriguing interview with Hadley Dyer, the newly appointed executive children's editor at HarperCollins Canada. 
• Bruce Black at the Wordswimmer blog shares an interview with author Eric Kimmel on his writing process.
• Dawn Simon at the Plotting and Scheming blog has an interview with picture book author George Shannon.
• Did you know that November is Picture Book Month? There's a special website devoted to the celebration. Every day this month, the site will feature an essay by a picture book author and/or illustrator on the importance of picture books. While these aren't technically "interviews," they're definitely worth reading. I've added the logo and link to the official website in the sidebar of our blog. You can also access the Picture Book Month site directly here. In addition to the essays, the site includes activities and resources for celebrating picture books.

Now it's your turn! Do you know of an interview that meets the following criteria? If so, please post the url in the comments below. I'll check back later to add the new links you provide.

1.The interviews must be with someone in the field of children’s/young adult literature, including authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and librarians.

2. Interviews may feature writing tips, illustration tips, cyber tips, etc., as long as the information pertains to children's/young adult literature.

3. Interviews may be written, audio, or video.

Happy writing (and reading!)
Carmela

Interview Wednesday Here Tomorrow!

I'll be hosting the Kidlitosphere Interview Wednesday roundup here on our TeachingAuthors blog tomorrow. I'll be sharing links to interviews that meet the following criteria:

1.The interviews must be with someone in the field of children’s/young adult literature, including authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and librarians.

2. Interviews may feature writing tips, illustration tips, cyber tips, etc., as long as the information pertains to children's/young adult literature.

3. Interviews may be written, audio, or video.

If you have or know of an online interview that meets the above criteria and would like to share the link early, please post it in the comments below. I'll include qualifying links in tomorrow's roundup. Meanwhile, don't forget to check out Esther Hershenhorn's recent interview with Leonard Marcus here on our TeachingAuthors blog, and enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth.

Happy writing!
Carmela