The Official SCBWI Blog: The Power of Community

Tita Berredo at the Bologna Children's Book Fair with fellow SCBWI volunteers

Wow, I can't believe this is our last post. This has been such a great part of my last few weeks. Thanks for beeing here with me. =D

I think I'd like to close this series with an ode to my years with SCBWI, and to all of the wonderful people I met (including you – even if we've been meeting indirectly). So let me just say this: never underestimate the power of community. In the case of this very special community, power comes in different shapes. It comes in the shape of emotional connection, shared memory and values, persistence, compassion, and most of all kindness.

Have you ever changed schools? Do you know that feeling of entering a new environment that already functions completely without you? Where you feel like you have nothing to add, and people are not only already settled without you, but your sudden arrival seems to cause strangeness and disturbance in other's looks? As you can probably tell, I never had much luck with changing schools in my childhood. I was a small weird kid, and hardly ever fit. Well, how the tables have turned... I never had the chance to feel that new school awkwardness from the moment I arrived in this community, nor was I ever seen as a small weird kid by it. Despite of experience or career level, the feelings we share here are pretty much the same: fear of rejection, self-doubt, all compensated by the warm generosity and the utter joy of being part of something that feels authentic.

SCBWI has played a defining role in my life and career, becoming far more than a professional organisation and evolving into the community through which I really found my footing. More than that, I was able to develop my identity in the children’s book community in the way I envisioned it. If I were to tell myself that emotional grounding has been as important as the professional support I received. It connected me with writers, illustrators, editors, and organisers across the country and beyond, giving me a wide network that has supported my growth and opened doors to collaborations and opportunities. The organisation became a place where I could both learn and lead, and where I could help others navigate the same uncertainties I once faced. The roles that I played gave me visibility, responsibility, and a platform to contribute to the field in ways that extended well beyond my own creative work. "Extension" is the precise word here, because it did come from within and keeps feeding my core, i's all connected and symbiotic. What I receive I transform and give, and so on.

Receiving the SCBWI Outstanding Contribution Award with Words&Pictures colleagues

2022 at the SCBWI BI Picture Book Retreat

In Brazil, there was this urban figure known as Profeta Gentileza, the "Kindness Prophet". Almost like a mythical entity, he was a long bearded poet who dressed in white robes and would fill Rio's street walls with his philosophy. His most know work, that gave him his nickname, was: "Gentileza Gera Gentileza", which translates to kindness begets kindness. Simple words that he would write in repetition to illustrate his meaning. Kindness begets kindness begets kindness begets kindness, and so on. His scriptures would fill kilometres of concrete across the city, inviting people to view kindness as a transformative thing rather than a gesture. This often comes to my mind when I look at our community. Every act of kindness that reached me was transformed within me and then shaped into another given to the next person. I used to think that if you are kind to someone they will be kind to you, but despite having positive comebacks it was never really about return. He meant that kindness is generative and ignites reciprocity.

With Amy Sharp, my mentee who won best portfolio at the SCBWI NY Conference 2025

With the talented and Fabulous Justin Campbell

Just like Gentileza’s murals softened the hard edges of urban landscapes, the kindness within this community softens the often competitive grounds of creative work. It turns comparison into collaboration, insecurity into belonging, sole effort into shared purpose. No gesture ends with the receiver, it multiplies, rippling outward. It shapes how we show up for others, and becomes part of ourselves. In a field built on generosity (of time, encouragement, and care), I learned that kindness becomes the soil in which creativity takes root.

With Ed Vere at SCBWI BI Conference

With beloved SCBWI colleagues Mike Brownlow and Paul Morton

SCBWI British Isles Conference 2023

With the wonderful US team at SCBWI NY Conference 2025

Lovely friends from US team at SCBWI NY Conference 2025

"Duelling" with Temika Grooms at the BCBF 2025

Taken together, all of SCBWI (UK, US, Brazil, International) has been essential to my journey. It offered me peers when I was new, structure when I was finding my path, and a platform from which I now can give back to the community. Volunteering helped me integrate into the UK children’s literature community more broadly, and then grow it beyond to the point that now I am confident to move back to Brazil and not lose a single bit of what I've built. I will be continuing my legacy overseas – in fact, I'll be bringing in more sunshine! Now that my career is ascending and I am a stablished writer-illustrator, I can see my colleagues proud of my hard work over the years and share my achievements with people who watched me grow. This is not incidental but foundational, and it curiously has been at the same time my anchor and my rudder.

We are all sailing together, chasing our dreams, supporting each other, and we are fortunate enough to express our true self within play. This... is the power of community.

Me \o/ at the SCBWI stand in Bologna, BCBF 2025

Well, this is it. My last piece of writing for this series. It's been an honour, and as I said before... I hope it's been as special for you to read what has been truly special for me to write. I'm sure we'll meet again!

Feel free to contact me at any time and with any purpose, I am fun and kind and kinda funny! Muitos beijos! (lots of kisses)

If you missed the previous posts you can find them here:

Part 1 - A Whole New World: Changing Careers

Part 2 - Entering the World of Children's Books

Part 3 - Finding Your Footing

Tita Berredo is a Brazilian children’s writer and illustrator. She holds an MA in Children’s Literature and Illustration from Goldsmiths UOL and a BA in Marketing from PUC-Rio. Her work has been recognised internationally, including a London's House of Illustration award and selection for the Bologna Children's Book Fair. She has illustrated books for the US and Brazil, and is making her author–illustrator debut with a Seuss Studios early reader published by Random House Children's.