by Bethany | Aug 30, 2019 | Courage to Create, Podcast
Nancy Churnin is the author of eight picture book biographies, including her newest release, MARTIN & ANNE: THE KINDRED SPIRITS OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND ANNE FRANK. Nancy is a native New Yorker who now lives in Texas. She is a graduate of Harvard University with a master’s from Columbia University, and she is a former theater critic for The Dallas Morning News. During their conversation on Courage to Create, Bethany and Nancy discuss how they both write about people who have made a positive difference in the world and who inspire them personally.
When Nancy realized Anne Frank and Dr. King were both born in 1929, she started to see the other parallels between them and how both responded with love and hope even in the face of hate. Their hearts beat with the same dreams and desire for justice. Nancy and Bethany believe there is now, and always will be, a need for books about what has happened in our world and how people have dealt with it. Nancy wants to teach children that all their dreams are valued and that we can embrace our anger but use it to act and be change makers like Anne Frank and Dr. King were.
Nancy is also teaching two upcoming online classes at The Writing Barn. For information on those, please go to www.thewritingbarn.com/upcoming-classes. For more information about Nancy, her books, and her school visits, go to www.nancychurnin.com.
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by Bethany | Aug 30, 2019 | Courage to Create, Podcast
Husband and wife illustrator and author duo, Megan and Jorge Lacera, join Bethany to discuss their humorous picture book debut, ZOMBIES DON’T EAT VEGGIES. Megan and Jorge wanted to create a book that depicted a family like theirs: bilingual, multi-cultural, funny, and imperfect! That desire resulted in zombies.
The couple first met while working at American Greetings, so the two have always enjoyed working together, and during the podcast, they discuss how they balance that relationship. They also talk about why diversity not only matters in their own lives but in the lives of all children who need books to serve as both windows and mirrors.
The couple has a second picture book in the works as well as an illustrated middle grade series, and they encourage new authors to be willing to talk about and promote their own books and say yes to school visits and speaking engagements, which is what they have done for their own work. For more about Megan and Jorge, go to http://www.studiolacera.com/
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by Bethany | Aug 30, 2019 | Courage to Create, Podcast
In this episode of Courage to Create, Bethany ruminates on what it means to refill our personal wells of energy, calling on quotes from previous guests on the Courage to Create podcast as well as her own experiences as an author and creative. How can we listen to others? How can we listen to ourselves? What does it mean to pay attention to our own process?
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by Bethany | Aug 30, 2019 | Courage to Create, Podcast
Sarah Aronson first appeared on episode 15 of Courage to Create, and she joins Bethany again in this episode to discuss her new picture book biography, Just Like Rube Goldberg. Sarah has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has published three stand alone novels: Head Case, Beyond Lucky, and Believe. Her most recent books are part of a new young MG series, The Wish List.
Writing about inventor and cartoonist Rube Goldberg allowed Sarah to learn about research and explore her own curiosity, one of her favorite endeavors. Sarah teaches other writers and does frequent school visits, and she loves to teach people to never say no to an idea but to let their curiosity run free. She discusses how ideas feel life gifts, so she feels grateful and obligated to use them and see what becomes of them. Rube Goldberg seems to her to be screaming at us to use our imaginations more and more, and that’s what Sarah strives to do in her own life as she explores themes about finding your place in the world, overcoming injustice, and finding ways to overcome the obstacles all people face. She and Bethany discuss making the most of failures and how to do that as well as how to stand up and be proud of what you write and create. For more about Sarah, visit her website at http://www.saraharonson.com/
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by Bethany | Aug 30, 2019 | Courage to Create, Podcast
In this episode of Courage to Create, author Jess Rinker and illustrator Daria Peoples-Riley join host Bethany Hegedus to discuss their picture book biography GLORIA TAKES A STAND: HOW GLORIA STEINEM LISTENED, WROTE, AND CHANGED THE WORLD. Jess is also the author of the forthcoming SEND A GIRL: THE BRENDA BERKMAN STORY and a middle grade duology, THE DARE SISTERS. She has a BA in Social Welfare and an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Daria Peoples-Reily is a former teacher with a BA in English and a Masters in Education, and now she is a full-time author and illustrator. THIS IS IT is her first picture book and a companion book, I GOT NEXT, comes out in July 2019.
During their discussion, the three women delve into the desire to be heard and how that desire fuels their own work just as it fuels Gloria Steinem’s work. Daria talks personally about the frustration of wanting to be heard but not being listened to and how she took a stand against it in college by becoming the president of the university’s NAACP chapter. Jess explains how she was already reading Gloria Steinem’s work when her agent suggested she write about Gloria Steinem, a perfect subject for Jess because of her interest in social welfare. Daria was hooked by the project after reading Jess’s manuscript and realizing she wanted to know more about Gloria Steinem, so the project felt ideal to her. Find out more about Daria at https://www.dariapeoples.com/ and more about Jess at https://www.jessicarinker.com/.
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