Kidlit Happy Hour

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.

Ep. 15: How to Build a Story: Angel Barreto on Making Samgyetang and That One Scene From the Bear

Here are a few highlights from our conversation with Angel Barreto, one of the most creative and celebrated chefs in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond:
 
Staying true to the traditional values of a dish while adding your own voice
How working within constraints can bring out innovation and creativity
How his family history as sharecroppers influenced his passion for food
Why being the first person of color to have a #1 restaurant in DC is both remarkable and disheartening
Navigating the tension of appreciation and appropriation
Why the best chefs know the history of the food they cook, even when it makes us uncomfortable
The one scene from TV show The Bear that may have hit too close to home…
 
Angel Barreto is the executive chef and partner of Anju, a contemporary Korean restaurant in D.C. that received three stars from the Washington Post. Barreto has had a culinary career that spans over a decade, with experience in both French and Korean cuisine from institutions like Vermilion, Wolfgang Puck’s The Source and more. Angel studied Korean food and history in Korea after winning a competition sponsored by the Korean embassy and was eventually recruited to Anju. Baretto was a finalist for the RAMMY Award for "Rising Culinary Star of the Year" in 2019 and was named one of Food and Wine's “Best New Chefs” in 2021. He was a James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist for "Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic" in both 2018 and 2019. He is also an advocate for mental health in the hospitality industry and works to eliminate the disparities and toxic work environments that often exist within the kitchen.

Ep. 14: How to Build A Story: Jerry Craft on Writing Authentic Feel-Goods and Characters with Body Odor

Highlights from this episode with Jerry Craft include:
 
Why building a story is like building a house
How eavesdropping enriches characterization… and body odor
Evolution of attending book conferences as a fan to becoming a headline author
Tricks to building a series that continues to feel fresh and relevant
Resistance to writing stories with horrific events, especially while centering Black characters
Exploring small, mesmerizing details that will crack open a kid’s world
 
Jerry Craft is the NYT bestselling author and illustrator of many books for kids including graphic novels New Kid and Class Act. New Kid was the first graphic novel to win the Newbery Medal, and the only book in history to win the Newbery, the Kirkus Prize, AND the Coretta Scott King Author Award. He has been a copywriter, a cartoonist and creator of the beloved comic strip, Mama's Boyz, and even an editorial director at Sports Illustrated. Jerry was born in Harlem and grew up in the Washington Heights section of New York City and now travels the world telling kids and their families about the importance of reading.

Ep. 13: How to Build A Story: Nic Stone on Walking Barefoot in Her Yard and Personifying Emotions

Highlights from this episode with Nic Stone include:
 
Nic’s famous mnemonic for the writing process, including a behind the scenes sneak peek to her third book in the Dear Martin series
The two questions to ask when working on a new story
The experience of having FUN while writing and how each book is a form of self-exploration
Reading (rather than avoiding) comp titles during the drafting process
Living an emotionally honest life in order to achieve emotional resonance on the page
Neurodivergence as a gift and the power of centering mental health
The power (and hilarity) of personifying emotions
Putting people from your real life in books… so you can murder them.
 
Nic Stone is the brilliant, prolific #1 NY Times-bestselling author of young adult fiction, including Dear Martin, Dear Justyce, Odd One Out, Jackpot, her latest Chaos Theory, and her co-authored book with Ibram X. Kendi: How to Be A (Young) Antiracist. Dear Martin was one of Time magazine’s 100 best YA books of all times and won the William C. Morris Award in 2018. The books sequel, Dear Justyce, was an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her middle grade books include, Clean Getaway, Easy Pitch, and Marvel’s Shuri series based on the breakout character from Black Panther.

Ep. 12: Finding Ways into Story: Frankie Quiñones on Moving Past Fart Jokes to Sharing His Truth

Highlights from this episode with Frankie Quiñones include:
Deriving inspiration from witnessing others people’s art and vulnerability
How laughter leads to the emotional center
Developing confidence to share painful traumas on stage and bring the audience along with him
Process of developing hilarious, detailed and heartfelt characters inspired by his family
Two overshares that span opposite end of the spectrum, from mortification to celebration
Frankie Quiñones is a stand up comedian, actor, and creator best known for his characters like Creeper, Juanita Carmelita, and countless others. His online videos have millions of views and will have you rolling on the ground laughing. Frankie stars in the new ABC Studios Hulu show "This Fool" and has made appearances on Comedy Central, HBO, TBS, Nickelodeon and more.
 
IG: @frankiequinones https://www.instagram.com/frankiequinones/