Deep Dives with Merfolx: A Sparkling Interview with Jessica Love

Happy Thursday! We are back with the final installment of our MerMay entries, and I am over the coral moon about this one— an interview with the one and only, Jessica Love! The author and illustrator of one of my favorite books of all time, I feel so privileged and honored to have her on the Official SCWBI Blog. SO without further ado, let's get started!

 Hi Jessica, I am so beyond excited for you to join us on the Official SCBWI Blog. The wonderful author/illustrator of Julián is a Mermaid, and Julián at the Wedding, please tell us a little about yourself, in your own words.

Thank you so much for having me, Justin. When I was about nine years old my answer to the question "what do you want to do when you grow up?" was actor, artist, writer. Which is a pretentious answer for a nine year old but oh well, I suppose I was a little bit pretentious, but I guess I meant what I said because I've done all three of those things professionally as an adult. My parents are both artists--my mom is a weaver, my dad is a potter, and my extended family on both sides is made up of highly creative people. 

I grew up in Santa Barbara, California. I've always drawn and painted, and from as far back as I can remember I was making up stories and illustrating them. I was passionate about playing pretend, I was definitely one of those kids who would live inside a game for days at a time. Eventually I discovered theater, which felt like a bigger game of make believe, and I really fell in love with it. But I think both of my interests (visual art and theater) spring from an interest in make-believe.

 I see that you studied Drama at Juilliard and was a professional actor until you moved into publishing, very similarly to me being a dancer turned illustrator. How has your background in the theater world shaped your storytelling as an author/illustrator and how was that transition?

I didn't know you were a dancer! That makes me very happy. I am currently at work on the third Julián book in the series, and it is called, Julián is a Dancer. It's about that threshold moment when you enter a creative process with other people for the first time, and how intimidating it is at first but also how thrilling once the first step into the room has been taken. 

So yes, I was an actor in New York City for many years. I moved to New York after studying Visual Art and doing Shakespeare plays at UC Santa Cruz, to study Drama at Juilliard. After graduation I stayed in New York working as an actor in new plays and very old ones. I loved it. While I was doing that I had the idea for Julián is a Mermaid and started working on it whenever I had time. I developed it slowly over several years, the last draft I did before I started submitting it was completed backstage in my dressing room in a play called "The River". The actor (and brilliant writer as well, by the way) Mary Louise Parker helped me meet my wonderful agent, Meredith Kaffel-Simonoff, who immediately understood what I was trying to do with Julián and really guided me through the process of crafting a proposal and readying it for submission. 

So there were lots of practical ways my work as an actor informed my pivot to this new industry. But on a process level I think I am making use of much of the same vocabulary, and using similar principals as guidelines. In drama school one of the phrases you hear most often is "be specific" which is something I really try to do in my illustration. I like for every character to feel as embodied as possible, that's important to me. I think I also see the page as a kind of stage, in terms of the way I like to frame action. Another virtue of the theater I want to try to keep in mind more often is the possibility that is afforded by a really deep depth of field, it allows several different threads to be at play at once, and that's something I love in art, any kind of polyphony. I think I also tend to sort of act while I'm drawing, I'm making the faces, I'm trying out the movements in my own body. I also try to think of drafts of a book as rehearsal--a physical process you use to get the story in your body, so that when you do the final art I know what I'm doing so I can be loose.

When Julián is a Mermaid came out, everyone I know and who know the true me sent me the announcement. Not to exaggerate, but this is one of my favorite children's books ever. I've never felt more seen in a book. I, too, grew up in New York, had a secret love of mermaids, but unlike Julián, I didn't show my true love until I was older. 

I'd love to hear what inspired you to create the book and how did Julián come to you as he is? I mean, did you hear stories of me when I was eight years old?!

Wow, I love this question so much. It is incredibly, powerfully affirming to me to get to hear that from a reader, thank you so much. 

I had a very clear goal for myself, which was to make the Juliáns of the world feel seen, and even celebrated by that seeing. I was deeply inspired by the documentary Paris is Burning about the golden age of the ballroom scene in New York in the '80's, the first time I saw it I immediately watched it over from the beginning. Those ballroom artists had created something astonishing. I was also pained by how many of those kids--because they were so young!--had been forced out of their birth families due to their unwillingness to reign in their self-expression. And of course they created new families with long legacies in the establishment of the different houses and family structures in which this culture thrived. 

With this picture book I wanted to reach way back to the early childhood of kids like Julián, and give them a story in which they express something deep about themselves, and are seen for who they are, and celebrated. Just a story of pure love and recognition being exchanged between two generations. I wanted to bottle that feeling you get when one of your elders really sees you and loves what they see. I really didn't write the book with just kids in mind, I had hoped it would reach the grown mermaids too, so it makes me so happy to hear your saw yourself in it's pages.

As a New York, I've attended the Mermaid Parade for several years. It is sort of my Pride celebration. I've always loved the parade just from its sheer inclusiveness. Being a mermaids doesn't come with the expectations and standards of what it means to be "human." It is a celebration of all people, from all backgrounds, ages, body types, cultures, etc. What drives you as an artist to celebrate representation in your work and in the book space?

This is what I love about the Mermaid Parade too! Despite being a dress-up as a fantastical creature parade, it is its human-ness that is moving to me. I love that it's on a day when it's SO hot and it's in the direct sun so everybody is all sweaty, and kind of naked, and truly, truly the crowd is made up of a raucously heterogenous sample of New York Humans, I absolutely love it. 

I think showing the world we live in means showing a diverse world. And beyond being accurate, beyond being fair, it's interesting to move your point of view around, and to remember that really it is only ever just that, a point of view in an vast number of points, each as real as you.

I just saw the announcement that Julián is a Mermaid will be making its way to become an animated feature, led by the Academy Award nominated director Louise Bagnall with Cartoon Saloon. How did it feel to be approached about the adaption and what are your hopes for the feature?

I am so excited for this film to come out. Louise and an absolutely incredible team of animators from all over the world have been working so hard on this for years and years. The script is written by Juliany Taveras, who is also a playwright and the way they managed to expand a 30 word story into a feature length film while maintaining the original bones of the house is a pretty awesome feat of ekphrasis. It's beautifully done, Cartoon Saloon is one of the last studios actually drawing everything by hand, which is really meaningful to me. A human hand was important in this story.

Last question, which I know I've personally pondered for ages, but if you were to sprout a tail right this second, what would it look like?

I'm so glad you asked. This season my tail is going to be like a black plum with the occasional scale of nacreous pearl, but my fins will be tipped in vermillion.

Check out more about Jessica Love, HERE, and follow her on Instagram @jesslovedraws.

That's all, Merfolx! Thank you for joining me on this month long journey through the seas! As MerMay comes to an end, I hope you've celebrated your mermaid-ness but also, in doing so, as Jessica said, your humanness! And for those who are in the NYC area, the Mermaid Parade is June 20th! Hope to see you there! Ciao!

Entering the World of Children's Books - Tita Berredo

Tita Berredo and the girl from her picture book, The Dress

Hello everyone, it's nice to see you again!

Alright, recap: I moved to the UK, took a Master’s in Children’s Literature and Illustration, and then I was out there in this new world with a portfolio under my arm.

I think it's important to share some really valuable lessons I took from my MA. One of them is how much weight we carry in the social responsibility of making books for children: how we can positively affect their lives with character shaping, sharing windows and mirrors to the world and offering a safe and empowering space to deal with their own emotions. 

The other one is how much you learn about yourself by experiment and play. It might seem contradicting but the more you share your work with peers and follow other’s works, the more you learn about how different you are and can be. What I mean in practical terms is that we all start drawing or writing for ourselves. Once we take it seriously we start thinking we must draw and write for others, only to find out that most of it is noise and you can only really connect to the other by doing it for yourself.

6 yo me wearing a dress I made of wrappings 

2017 developing my style with colours at Goldsmiths UOL

As human beings, our first instinct when arriving at a new environment is to mimic the others there. It’s safe and natural, but the more we get comfortable in such an environment the more we can show our differences in order to be authentic. Though, to get comfortable one must take risks and try to expand which brings me to the next step of my journey.

The first thing I did when I was out in the world as a recent “kid lit”  graduate was to share my work at any opportunity I had. That’s when I saw that the London Book Fair had a paid space for illustrators to showcase their artwork. It was provided by the Association of Illustrators and you could pay to put up two large canvases with your work printed on. I became a member of the AOI to get a discount, and that actually led me to an incredible community of artists for which I would end up volunteering, like SCBWI. Anyway, that two canvas option was a great one, because it meant that I could play it safe and take a risk. I then chose to exhibit two very different styles: a cutesy and traditional one with perfectly connected outlines filled with colourful anthropomorphised animals, that I thought would please publishers; and an edgy and expressively artsy one with rough brushstrokes and splashes of one bold colour, that pleased ME. 

Goldsmiths University of London Degree show 2018

London Book Fair 2019

My traditional cutesy more commercial style

My edgy and artsy more ME style

If I had to choose only one style to showcase, there’s a big probability I would have gone with the safe traditional style that was similar to every other children's illustrator, and would have been lost in the crowd. Don't get me wrong, the more traditional style is also full of me, and I still use it for some commercial work – and, most importantly, it pays bills whenever I have to compromise. But it is so important to keep a space where  you can develop something just for you, because it will set you apart and make you stand out. Showing both sides of me – of what I could do and what I wanted to do – was key for my creative career. I wish I could tell my younger self what a smart move that was at the time. It led me to my first professional jump: being scouted by my agent – who fell in love with… the ME style!

There’s another important lesson here: you should always show your work at any stage you are, even if you think you are not ready. As creators we are incredibly attached to our egos and surprisingly blind to our own potential. That affects our decisions about when, how, and if we share our work. The best favour we can do for ourselves is to doubt our insecurities and let other people judge our work for themselves. I was still quite raw and needing some shaping on the narrative side, but my agent saw the potential of my work and bet her chips into mentoring me. Because, as a professional, she could see beyond the stage I was and knew exactly what I needed to get there. So, when you do show your work as is, you allow others to decide what’s ready, what's appealing, or in need of development themselves – and trust me, they are better at it and more forgiving than you.

My agent, Sorche Fairbank, and I during a meeting at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2023

After this change of perspective, I realised something similar about contests, showcases, submissions and reviews: it's all so very subjectively personal that you have to keep looking for people who share something with you personally. In other words, it's the people who are a bit like you who will connect with the you in your work. So the main point of submitting your work is multiplying the chances of your work being seen by the people like you! I applied this perspective to my own goals, which also helped to overcome any fear rejection. If someone is not into my work, they're either not enough like me or I might not be showing myself that well through my work in some way – and I can always revisit my work under this healthy perspective.

As you can see, even after being agented, I kept chasing different ways to share my art and expand my network. The best way in my opinion, was yet to come... which will bring me to SCBWI.

I know that's where I stopped last time, but you are watching it unfolds as we go.  ;)

See you next Thursday! Beijos!

Read the full series in order here:

Part 1 - Changing Careers to Fulfil Your Dreams

Part 2 - Entering the World of Children's Books

Part 3 - Finding Your Footing

Part 4 - The Power of Community

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.

Tita is SCBWI's International Illustrator Coordinator, and a Picture Book reviewer for My Book Corner. 

Find Tita's work at www.titaberredo.com follow her on Instagram: @titaberredo

Let's Dissect A Picturebook Spread

            Hi SCBWI friends! My name is Sibu TP. I’m an illustrator and writer and my author-illustrator debut, Home, Home, released this past August (yay!) through Viking Press.

(Pictured above: it me)

I’m super happy to be able to speak to you all this month. I’m a big believer that it's the specific details that carry the universal lessons, so I'm going to share some of how I work. Ultimately, I’m hoping it will be more helpful than naval-gazing, haha. Ok, here we go…

In this post, I’m going to walk you through my illustration process for one of the spreads in Home, Home. 

(Pictured above: Home, Home in thumbnails)

As with the majority of books (I see you, picture-less picture books), Home, Home started with the thumbnails. Here’s the entire book laid out in thumbnails. (spoiler alert!).

The earliest versions of the thumbnails are way rougher. Just like you would do with each individual drawing, when you're plotting the entire book, you think more broadly. First it's the larger shapes and then you work your way into the finer details.

By the time we were really cooking with the manuscript and the layout, I started tightening up more and more. I added that gray mid-tone to help flesh out the light source(s) – this also really helps with mapping how I want to direct the readers’ eyes on each page. It also helps with showing how varied the spreads are.

I’ll be focusing on this spread right here:

So a little background: this book is a fish out of water story. In this moment, my main character, Ajesh, is visiting his parents' homeland (Kerala, India). In the previous spread, they land and he's immediately pictured as being separated from everyone around him. In this spread, it's the opposite. This spread is supposed to depict a feeling of claustrophobia while also maintaining that feeling of seclusion.

So to depict this, I decided to throw him right into a busy street.

People everywhere. Dust being kicked up. Signage that's unfamiliar. The perspective of the illustration is eye-level with Ajesh and we stay in his world. Everyone around him is taller and they're all walking in the same direction. He's caught in that forward momentum. What he does have is his sketchbook. It's the one source of familiarity to him, a piece of refuge.

(Picture above: color compositions)

So from the initial thumbnails, I go to color compositions. Here's two examples above. I went through several iterations of this spread to see where I'd want color to be placed and deciding on the color palette. It's great to consider as much as you can before moving forward to finals. It sounds a little obvious, I guess because it is, but all these small decisions really help bring to focus what that initial idea is. And that's kind've what you're chasing: that first moment of imagery.

(Pictured above: the pencil drawing)

Once these decisions are made, I start on finals. I realized early on in making Home, Home that I draw better with pencil. My last illustrated book, A Taste of Home, was done completely in Procreate. I'm pretty new to digital art, so Procreate is a great stepping off point for me. While I was making that book, something felt off that I couldn't place.

When I started making traditional work again, I knew exactly what it was. The drawing just felt different when it was pencil and paper. It was more comfortable, more intuitive.

(Pictured above: first pass of paint)

So when I work now, I feel it out more. There's no set point in how far I take the traditional side. For this spread, i really just mapped out light. Warm and cool, warm and cool. What will the light be touching and what will be bathed in shadow. Once I laid this thin layer of acrylic paint out over the drawing, I felt like I wanted to move forward to the next phase.
I think it's good to stay loose with process. I'm sure as I get older and work more (knock on wood ;)) I'll start to settle in more and more to a set process, but I like that there's a level of spontaneity right now and being open to change and adaptability is exciting to me. So for this, I moved to digital at this above phase. For other pages, I pushed the acrylic paint phase further before doing light final touches in Procreate.

(Pictured above: first digital pass)

This is where the noodling and the fine detailing comes in. In this case, it's a lot of signage and patterns/textures and background actors. So many of the decisions were already made. So now, it's just a matter of nudging it across the finish line. Because everything is more or less decided, any additions or changes will be generally minor and so it won't be too difficult to make. Speaking of which...

(Pictured above: the final!)

Pro tip: nothing makes things better than a pupper (or a kitty). This is where I ended up. In place of having a crowd of too many people, I made the people in the image more varied visually. He's still caught in a crowd of people, but the amount of people, the strange environment, and the different patters around him are all contributing to how jarring this new place is for our Ajesh.

(Pictured above: my book Home, Home)

If you this post interested you, please click the cover art here and it'll take you to where you can find my book. My contact info is below, please feel free to hit me up! Happy art-making, friends! Until next time.

About Me

I’m a storyteller. I make picture books that tell stories that aren’t often told, whether they be cultural or societal. They are rich, colorful, and touch on universal stories to the masses through specific, small details and moments. I work through the belief that we’re all connected by our relationships and our emotions, and all of the small moments in life that are captured in my illustrations. Born and raised in New York, I am a first-generation child of immigrants. I spent a great deal of my childhood years scribbling and sketching, dreaming and imagining. Today, I tell stories through picture books.I received my BA in English Literature at Stony Brook University and my MFA in Illustration at the Hartford Art School. ​When I'm not in front of a drawing board, I've got my camera in tow, taking pictures while hiking, and running from squirrels.

You can find me @sibutp on all the things, mainly Instagram

sibudraws.com

sibup.art@gmail.com

(Pictured above: Actual me, hi!)

School visits: A few things I've learned along the way

I first started speaking at elementary schools in Iowa back in the early ‘90s, way before my first trade picture book published. At that time, I illustrated a lot of basal readers for educational publishing companies. My work soon got the attention of a local social service agency, who invited me to speak at elementary schools—whoa!? 

Like a lot of writers and illustrators, I was an introvert. And I was shy, too (there's a difference). The idea of talking to anyone other than myself or my mom was strictly out of the question. I mean, what would I talk about? Honestly, I knew the answer. Kids love art, and a visiting artist would be inspiring for them. Still, I needed time to get over my fear of public speaking.  

Fast forward thirty years later—I’m now way past my fear of speaking to large groups. In fact, believe it or not, I enjoy it. Today, I present at elementary schools all over the country—in person and virtually.  For me, there’s nothing more delightful than when I’m sharing my experiences with young readers. I love the excitement in their eyes when they meet “the author.” I love their interesting and over-the-top questions. And I love their letters and drawings that often follow. Here are a few things I’ve learned along my school visit journey:

 

First and foremost, visiting elementary schools is not a must. I’ve met many authors and illustrators

who have no interest in presenting at schools, but somehow feel pressured to do so—for promotional reasons; or because their publishers asked them to; or because, they think, children’s authors are supposed to do so. But here’s the thing: don’t treat children like they’re a promotional opportunity. Visit schools out of a genuine love and caring for children. As authors and illustrators, we have this wonderful career because of the kids! So, if you’re going to visit schools, do so out of the spirit of love, teaching, edifying, and inspiring a lifetime appreciation of reading. Also, if kids really aren’t your thing (yes, I’ve met a few children's book authors who fall into that category), do kids a favor: Write books, but don’t visit schools. 

Don’t be boring. I know, that sounds kind of simplistic, huh? But seriously, if I had a dime for every teacher or librarian who confided in me that most author visits they’d experienced were boring, I’d have quite a few dollars built up. Author visits are a day that children will carry with them for a lifetime, so make the day special. Now I don’t mean that you have to juggle flaming torches to get kid's attention, but you do need to think about and plan, and to find a way to engage them. Some kids already think that books are boring—I mean, books have to compete with TikTok, Netflix, and Minecraft. So, don't do a boring author visit. Keep in mind, learning to engage children isn't going to happen on the first few visits—being an engaging speaker is a learning process. Take a speaking course. Join Toastmasters. Show up (ask permission) at a school when a visiting author is in your area. How does that author engage an audience? Think about yourself as a child—how could a visiting author have grabbed your attention?

Make positive connections. As much as author visit day is about you sharing with students, it’s also a day for students to share with you. So make connections. The simplest way to make a connection is through a smile. No matter what kind of crazy my life is before entering a school, once I pass through the doors, I’m going to connect with everyone through a smile. I want everyone to feel welcome around me, I want to leave a positive impression. You never know what kinds of monsters a child might be dealing with. A simple smile, eye-to-eye contact with a high-five or a wave, goes a long way.

In addition, while I’m presenting, I try not to keep the focus only on myself. I want the students to tell me about themselves too. What are they really good at? What are their special talents? I keep the presentation interactive—an ebb and flow of author and students sharing with each other. Once they’ve shared their dreams and aspirations with the author, you’ve made a meaningful connection.

Personal gender pronouns. Okay, I’ll admit, I was slow to understand the pronoun conversation. I’m 58-years-old. For the majority of my life, “they” and "them" were plural pronouns that quickly earned a bad grade in English class, if you used them in the singular. Visiting schools turned me around, though. There's no worse feeling than referring to a child as “he” and then having them correct you—in front of the entire class—as, “I’m a she,” or vice versa. That happened a few times, and I felt awful. I want to be respectful of every child who crosses my path, so I learned. And I changed. During a Q&A at a virtual school visit recently, a child thanked me for identifying my pronouns on my profile picture, saying to me in front of the entire class: “You made me feel safe.” I want every child to feel safe and respected.

Don Tate is the award-winning author and/or illustrator of numerous picture book biographies, including PIGSKINS TO PAINTBRUSHES: THE STORY OF FOOTBALL PLAYING ARTIST EARNIE BARNES (Abrams, 2021) and SWISH! THE SLAM-DUNKING, ALLEY-OOPING, HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS (Little Brown, 2020). His WILLIAM STILL AND HIS FREEDOM STORIES: THE FATHER OF THE UNDERGROUND  RAILROAD (Peachtree, 2020) was an SCBWI Golden Kite winner in the nonfiction category. Don is a founding host of the Brown Bookshelf, a blog dedicated to advocating for Black authors and illustrators writing for children. When Don isn’t writing, illustrating or visiting elementary schools, he enjoys working out, swimming, yoga, and anything sweet and chocolaty.

Outside In: An Author and an Illustrator in Sri Lanka Discuss Their Publishing Journey

One is a writer; the other is an illustrator.

Both are from Sri Lanka, a country so far away from the US and so tiny on a world map, that most would miss it. 

So how did we succeed in getting published by some of the best publishers in the world?

We share our experience and advice in the hope it will inspire you, wherever you are and whatever your experience in writing and illustrating has been, that anything is possible. 

What motivated you to get published internationally?

Thushanthi: I’ve always wanted to write a book in my lifetime. And during the pandemic, I was fascinated by the news that a Sri Lankan writer I knew—Amanda Jayatissa—had scored a book deal with Berkley Publishing, an imprint of Penguin. Growing up, much of my personal library had the little penguin logo on it, but I didn’t think it was possible that a book written by a Sri Lankan in Sri Lanka could even be published internationally. That was how “out there” of an idea it was for me. But once I had this information, I couldn’t let it go. And when I wrote my first draft of a picture book, I started dreaming big. I decided that somehow, someway, my stories too would be side by side with the best books in the industry.

Bhagya: I have always loved to tell stories through my art. When I realized that I wanted to illustrate children’s picture books, I was reminded of the Russian and Japanese picture books that I read as a child. We didn’t have the luxury to access many books, but some of those illustrations are imprinted in my memory although I can’t remember the names of those books. Maybe it was because they showcased such unique cultures. Sri Lanka is also so rich in culture, I thought it would be wonderful to be able to share it with the world. Eventually, I start learning about the publishing industry and I found that the international publishing market provides more opportunities to perfect my craft and a wider audience. That’s when I decided to chase the dream.

How did you start going about it?

Thushanthi: I joined Twitter’s #writingcommunity and the rest is history! The kidlit community is so helpful and friendly, and I soon figured out what I had to do and set about doing it. I joined SCBWI, was invited to join a critique group, entered competitions, won a mentorship with WNDB, and wrote and revised…A LOT. 

Bhagya: It all started with the pandemic. At the time I was occupied with architectural work as professionally I am an Architect. However, the pandemic allowed us space to explore our artistic sides and connect with like-minded people virtually. In the beginning, I knew nothing about publishing; especially not the specifics such as agency, agent, editor, art director, publisher, and so on. I thought that doing an illustration and sharing it on social media was enough to get a new project or recognition in the children’s industry (although I did get some amazing opportunities after a long wait). This continued until I met this amazing friend Kamla M. Nair , who is from India. She educated me about what it is to have an agent/agency represent you and how I should focus more on my portfolio if I wanted to get published internationally. That’s when I focused more on perfecting my craft, all through self-learning.

What are the challenges you have faced as an outsider?

Thushanthi: I would have to say the cost. The Sri Lankan rupee was weak against the US dollar – more so now—so anything that would cost a lot of money I would avoid as I couldn’t justify it. On the flip side, I was grateful that so many resources are freely available online. And thanks to the pandemic, I was able to attend loads of writing conferences and webinars virtually. I appreciate the diverse scholarships and mentorships that don’t require you to be a US citizen to enter. I really hope this aspect remains even as things go back to in-person. The other challenge is the time difference, nearly half a day! Waking up at 4.30am is not fun, but again, I’m grateful that there is space for me at all.

Bhagya: The cost of study materials such as online courses and online books is often too high to be affordable because of the extremely unfavorable exchange rate. This makes it almost impossible to access them. This led me to study from YouTube tutorials and other websites with free access. Fortunately, I was able to learn almost everything I know through these free resources! The time difference is also a challenge, mostly when it comes to the end of the project where quick feedback is vital to make the necessary progress in order to meet deadlines.

Finally, what is your advice to anyone living outside the US who wants to get published there?

Thushanthi: It is hard work. You need to be committed to improving your craft. Read recently published books in the genre you want to write, even the award winners, and compare those against your own writing. Study and learn how to write a book—technique matters as much as talent. Be prepared to revise the same story dozens of times and be rejected repeatedly before you find success; it can take years. Mostly, you need to be confident in your abilities and proud of your differences; your identity is what makes your stories unique and authentic! And keep building your community. I couldn’t have come this far without my writing friends. Even from miles away, their support is invaluable.

Bhagya: My most important advice is that there is an incredible artist community out there who is openly willing to help each other. Do not be afraid to reach out to them, stay connected and educate yourself in the areas you are lacking. Improve your artistic skills, question what is missing in your art style, and improve that. Get out of your comfort zone every now and then and learn something new. Of course, the path is not smooth and learning and improving yourself is a never-ending process. So don’t forget to enjoy every bit of it and eventually you’ll get there without even knowing it!

Thushanthi Ponweera is an author and poet from Sri Lanka. Her debut middle-grade verse novel I am Kavi is forthcoming from Holiday House in 2023. She is a former We Need Diverse Books mentee and a blogger for the same organization. Her writing reflects the frustration she feels at the inequality and injustice she sees around her, and also the deep love she feels for her island home. You can read more about her at www.thushanthiponweera.com and she can be found tweeting furiously as @thushponweera.

Bhagya Madanasinghe is a children’s book illustrator and architect from Sri Lanka, a colorful little island in South Asia. Bhagya's style combines simple shapes with ambiguous colors and she is dedicated to creating characters with emotions and actions emphasizing the mood of her illustrations. She loves exploring new places to inspire her work. Her forthcoming books include Something is happening to our planet written by Marianne Celano & Marietta Collins, published by Magination Press, My teacher has tattoos written by Darren Lopez and published by Soaring Kite Books, and Awe-Samosas written by Marzieh Abbas published by Clarion Books. Besides being an illustrator, Bhagya enjoys developing architectural design concepts with her husband in his architectural studio. You can find her on Instagram as @moving_doodles.