From picture books to young adult fantasy fiction chapter books, this year’s Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival introduced five well-known published authors.
Each author addressed a full house in the Mabel Brown Room Saturday, Oct. 25. They gave short biographical stories and explained their process as writers.
Many authors gave advice to prospective writers and tips on how they got to where they are now.
This year’s guest authors were M. T. Anderson, Diane deGroat, Oliver Jeffers, Richard Michelson and Pamela Zagarenski
“I’m picturing you all naked,” that is how author and illustrator Diane deGroat addressed the crowd as she took the podium.
Writer of the “Gilbert and Friends” children’s series, deGroat explained, “Authors rewrite their childhood the way they wished it could be and I think I do that a lot.”
She said her first experience illustrating children’s books was with “Little Rabbit’s Loose Tooth,” written by Lucy Bate.
She attended Pratt Institute in the mid-sixties and said she was not interested in reading until after she graduated and got her first job as a basic reading book designer.
Ever since, she has had a passion for books and illustration. “That’s our job, yours and mine, to show children the power of books,” deGroat said.
She has also illustrated for authors like Lois Lowry and Ree Drummond. She explained the difference in illustrating during a digital age versus the non-digital age.
She draws each image on her computer with programs like Photoshop, prints them out on watercolor paper and then paints over them with watercolor paint.
She uses watercolors usually when illustrating, but occasionally uses mixed media.
Author, artist, film maker and illustrator Oliver Jeffers also discussed the integration of technology in the world of illustration.
He referred to the transition as, “The great paper caper.” He uses a combination of Photoshop, paper mache, collage and water color to create his illustrations. He also hand-writes many of his books because, as he said, he loves the way his handwriting looks.
Recipient of the Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival scholarship and sophomore at KSC Caroline Plonsky said she enjoyed the speakers.
“I thought it was really interesting and I wasn’t expecting it to be this funny and I like what they have to say,” Plonsky, who is majoring in psychology, said.
She continued, “It’s pretty cool to hear their background and how they got involved in it.”
Another guest author, writer of The Norumbegan Quartet series, M.T. Anderson, gave humorous anecdotes from his real life stories about his family, medical troubles and pets.
Anderson attended St. Mark’s School, Harvard College, the University of Cambridge in England and Syracuse University.
He recounted exploring the ruins in Detroit, Michigan with author John Green, author of “The Fault in Our Stars,” and encouraged prospective writers to, “Explore your eccentricity, write about what makes you uniquely different.”
Anderson continued, “The best editor for your work would be you, if you hadn’t read it.”
The final author who spoke was Oliver Jeffers. Born in Port Hedland, Australia but explained that he is from Belfast, Ireland, he wrote children’s books like “How to Catch a Star” and “The Incredible Book Eating Boy.” On finding inspiration, Jeffers said, “Ideas can occur anytime, anywhere. Just by drawing and not really thinking about what I’m doing.”
“I do think I am at an advantage by adding pictures because pictures inform the story,” Jeffers said. He continued, “I was once asked which comes first, the drawings or the pictures, and I said, ‘both’.”
He explains that people think children’s book authors try to get inside children’s heads when writing, but “I don’t fully understand what goes on in a child’s head, so I don’t focus on what a child might want to hear. I focus on what I’d like to hear,” Jeffers said.
Jeffers also helped design an intro video for the TEDTalk conference in 2013 and the U2 lyric video for their song “Ordinary Love.” To prospective writers he explained, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
“Whenever I make a book I take a bunch of words and pictures and mash them together with a beginning, middle and an end,” he continued.
“I see stories in the world and I feel compelled to tell them,” Jeffers explained.
Hannah Sundell can be contacted at hsundell@keene-equinox.com