Celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2017, Somerville-based independent children’s publisher Candlewick Press has become an industry leader in producing high-quality books for young readers. President and Publisher Karen Lotz and Creative Director and Associate Publisher Chris Paul will be in conversation with some of their acclaimed authors and illustrators. Ekua Holmes was already a celebrated visual artist, curator, and arts educator before illustrating her first picture book. Voice of Freedom (words by Carole Boston Weatherford) went on to win a John Steptoe New Talent Illustrator Award and was recognized with a Caldecott Honor. Holmes has continued to develop her mixed-media illustrations in Kwame Alexander’s Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets. Mira Bartók has also pivoted toward children’s books, having previously published a memoir, The Memory Palace, before penning the new middle-grade fantasy novel The Wonderling. Baseball-loving Matt Tavares has written and illustrated picture book biographies of Babe Ruth, Pedro Martinez, and Hank Aaron, but his latest project is Red and Lulu, an illustrated love story about cardinals (the birds, not the baseball team!) and Christmas miracles. Book lovers will get a behind the scenes look at the publishing process, from editorial and design collaboration all the way through to the finished bound books you see on store and library shelves. Here is a chance to ask some of the most talented creators in the children’s book industry about how they craft the incredible stories and books that become the fabric of our childhood. Sponsored by Candlewick Press.
