Kidlit Happy Hour kidlithappyhour
-
- Arts
-
Join New York Times bestselling and award-winning children’s book author Joanna Ho, and children’s book author Caroline Kusin Pritchard as we dive into storytelling - the craft, the industry, the creative life - with fellow kidlit authors, publishing professionals, and folks outside the children’s book world. Storytelling happens in many spheres beyond books, and we will draw insights and connections from all over to improve our craft and lives as writers.
Grab a drink, cozy up and explore storytelling with creative minds inside children’s publishing and beyond.
-
Ep. 21 Finding Audience: Emily Lyman on Reframing Self-promo and Why Good Marketing is Storytelling
Some highlights from our conversation with marketing guru Emily Lyman:
Reframing self-promotion as a celebration with your community
Individuals understand their “brand”
Good marketing IS storytelling
Why sharing your values, even if controversial, generates more loyal connections and community
Empathetic marketing
Emily spent nearly a decade working in-house with global publishers such as Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster managing both corporate and title marketing initiatives. Emily is now the CEO and Founder of Branch and Bramble, a digital marketing company. As an award-winning data artist, Emily specializes in blending data with heart and values to create meaningful audience connections for brand partners which include Patagonia, Paramount, and Penguin Random House. She's worked with companies with household names to individual authors just trying to get their books out in the world. She also runs the Mountain Brook Inn in the Catskills in upstate New York.
Branch and Bramble
Book influencer guide
IG @emilylyman
LinkedIn @Emily Lyman -
Ep. 20: Finding Audience: Cynthia Leitich Smith on Story as a Circle and Making Magic Out of Nothing
Here are select highlights from our conversation with NYtimes bestselling, award-winning author Cynthia Leitich Smith:
Story as a circle, gathering, and communal effort
Figuring out where your voice can best serve and where your heart beats with hope
Building on “and” instead of “vs”
Inviting people into the conversation AND being a part of the conversation
Social media dynamics as both tricky and powerful
Approaches to book promotion that start locally
How we can never surrender progress made by generations before
Only asking kids to take on battles we’re willing to engage in ourselves
Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee) is a NYTimes bestseller, 2024 Southern Mississippi Medallion Winner, and 2021 NSK Neustadt Laureate. Her titles include HEARTS UNBROKEN, which won an American Indian Youth Literature Award, the anthology ANCESTOR APPROVED, an Indigenous PETER PAN retelling titled SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA, HARVEST HOUSE, which is one of five Bram Stoker Award® Nominees for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel, and—the BLUE STARS series, also by Kekla Magoon and Molly Murakami. Cynthia looks forward to ON A WING AND A TEAR for middle graders. She is the author-curator of Heartdrum, a Native-focused imprint of HarperChildren’s.
Website: https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/
IG: @cynthialeitichsmith -
Ep. 19: Polishing Story: Tavita Pritchard on Trusting the Process and Letting 5-Year-Olds Feel Their Feelings
Highlights from our conversation with football coach Tavita Pritchard:
Centering relationships over x’s and o’s
How who you are shows up on the tape
How embracing his family history guides his coaching style
Believing in your process instead of over-indexing on an individual result
Connections between coaching and the writing process
Pritchard played quarterback at Stanford University from 2006-09 and joined the coaching staff in 2010. He worked his way from a graduate assistant, to defensive assistant, to running backs coach, to wide receivers coach, to quarterbacks coach, and ultimately assumed the role of offensive coordinator from 2018-22. During Pritchard’s time at Stanford, the team won three Pac-12 titles and two Rose Bowl championships. Pritchard coached a range of remarkable future NFL players, including QB Kevin Hogan, a fifth-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, who led the team to the 2015 Pac-12 title and a Rose Bowl win. Pritchard is now in his second year as the Quarterbacks Coach for the NFL’s Washington Commanders. He lives with his wife Caroline Kusin Pritchard (oh, hey!!!) and four kids in Oakton, Virginia. -
Ep. 18: Polishing Story: Andrea Davis Pinkney on Screaming on the Cyclone and Our Page One Pact
Highlights from our conversation with Andrea Davis Pinkney:
- Why riding the Coney Island cyclone is one of the earliest steps to polishing a manuscript
- Relying on an inner circle that we trust with our unpolished work
- Physically dIsmatling a piece and then stitching it back together
- Making homemade audio book read alouds as part of the revision process
- The "page one pact" and “hook, pull, hold"
- How to push part deluding ourselves that we've done our best work
- Deconstructing the greats to find inspiration
Andrea Davis Pinkney is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of more than 50 books for children and adults. Her numerous awards including multiple Coretta Scott King Book Awards, the Boston Globe—Horn Book Honor, and the Parenting Publications gold medal, among other citations. She is a four-time NAACP Image Award nominee, recipient of both the Regina Medal and the Arbuthnot Honor Awar for her singular body of work and distinguished contribution to the field of literature. She's been named one of the “The 25 Most Influential People in Our Children’s Lives” by Children’s Health magazine, is among The Network Journal’s “25 Most Influential Black Women in Business,” and is one the “50 Over 50 Extraordinary Women” and “Women Who Light up the Arts Scene” noted by Good Housekeeping and Woman’s Day magazines. Andrea lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband. -
Ep 17: Lil Miss Hot Mess on Doing Nails, Dolly Parton, and Killing Our Darlings
Highlights from this episode with Lil Miss Hot Mess include:
Why nail polish is like writing a book
Writing for kids through the lens of performance arts
Why theater kids run the world
Lil Miss Hot Mess is a drag queen, activist, and children’s book author, known for her work with the #MyNameIs campaign and Drag Queen Story Hour. She has appeared on Saturday Night Live as a backup dancer for Katy Perry with a group of drag and ballroom performers. She is also a university professor with a PhD from NYU.
IG: @lilmisshotmess -
Ep. 16: How to Build a Story: Erin Entrada Kelly on Writing Organically and Trapping Guinea Pigs in a Well
Here are a few highlights from our conversation with Erin Entrada Kelly:
Building stories grounded in a single character
The gift of writing in your head
Why all roads lead back to one word: “organic”
The power of writing in longhand
Why novels should be like a blanket, not a quilt
Feeding your creative soul, and why it counts as writing time
Emotional tension vs. external tension
Remembering that characters are living, breathing people… not pieces on a chess board
Secrets hidden in her books… hint: Wuthering Heights fans and Trekkies will delight!
Erin Entrada Kelly is the award winning journalist turned NYTimes bestselling and award-winning author of a vast range of gorgeous children’s books. Among other honors, she won 2018 Newbery Medal for Hello, Universe, a 2021 Newbery Honor for We Dream of Space, 2017 APALA Award for The Land of Forgotten Girls, and the 2016 Golden Kite Honor Award for Blackbird Fly. Erin is also the author and illustrator of the beloved Marisol Rainey chapter books series. Erin lives in Delaware and teaches in the MFA programs at Hamline University and Rosemont College, and also teaches fiction with Gotham Writers Workshop.
Customer Reviews
What’s needed to support emerging authors
This podcast is full of insights to think about-ideas that one can then practice in their craft of writing. Loving all the guests AND the hosts are funny and down to earth❤️ A great pair.
I especially loved listening to the episodes with Nic Stone and Cynthia Leitich-Smith.
My Favorite Kidlit Podcast!
If you’re looking for a super fun podcast about storytelling and writing for kids (or for anybody,) this is it! Joanna and Caroline are gifted writers who are super curious about what they can learn from all sorts of creatives. Every episode is inspiring, grounded in love and respect for kids, and overflowing with joy. Who doesn’t need more joy?
Joyful and inspiring with so much depth and authenticity
I love listening to Caroline and Joanna’s conversations—with each other and with the incredible lineup of guests they’ve already hosted! This is such a joyful, inspiring, personable podcast that doesn’t shy away from deep and hard topics and questions. I really appreciate that balance—which is hard to pull off! And I’d really love to go to happy hour with these two lovely hosts!