Rebecca Marsh
Equinox Staff
A mother is sitting with her child reading a bedtime story. The pictures are vibrant and the story is memorable. The child wonders how a picture can be made so beautiful just by a few colors, and the story so well written from just a few simple words. The Children’s Literature Festival gives more meaning to the children’s storybooks, in that the event brings together many authors and illustrators to talk about the work they have done to educate children.
On Oct. 27, the Thirty-Sixth Annual Children’s Literature Festival was put on in the Mabel Brown Room. The Festival started in 1978 by the Annual Director David White, professor of education at Keene State College. According to White, there is a lot of planning to this event. “I book the speakers three years in advance,” White said.
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White said that what he wants people to get out of this experience is “mainly learning the creative process of how the process is made.” The festival is a big event for fans of children’s literature, but according to White, it’s getting harder for people to come to the event. “We’re being hurt by the economy,” White said. White continues to say that in the beginning there were about 650 people, and it has now dwindled down to about 200 people.
This year, the festival brought together five speakers, who either illustrate or write children’s books, to describe what they do and why they do it. “I try to get writers for older and younger age groups,” White said
Among the three illustrators was Jane Dyer who comes from Massachusetts. She has illustrated more than 50 books. Among her books are “Time for Bed,” “I Love You Like Crazy Cakes,” and “A Woman for President: The Story of Victoria Woodhull,” the latter of which she collaborated with author Kathleen Krull, another speaker at the event. Dyer’s first published book is “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” [published 1984]. One of her newest books is “Lucky and Squash” by Jeanne Birdsall, according to the Children’s Literature Festival website. Another illustrator and writer, who spoke at the festival is Will Hillenbrand from Ohio who has illustrated over 50 books. Some of his books are “Down By the Farm,” “Look Out Jack! The Giant is Back!,” and “Spring is here!” His newer books that came out in 2012 include “Bear in Love” and “Kite Day,” according to the Children’s Literature Festival website.
Jim Murphy was an author and speaker at the event this year from New Jersey. He has written over 30 children’s books about American history. Among the many books he has written are “The Great Fire” and “Fergus and the Night-Demon.” He has won multiple awards for his work, such as the Newbery Honor Award, the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. One of his newly published works is “The Giant and How He Humbugged America,” according to the Children’s Literature Festival website.
The third illustrator is Boris Kulikov. Kulikov immigrated to the United States of America in 1997 from St. Petersburg, Russia. Kulikov grew up in Soviet Russia. He was always very artistic, according to Kulikov, art was in the family. “For me, there was no direction in which way to go,” Kulikov said, because both his parents were part of the theater as set designers. Another person that motivated him was one of his art teachers, according to Kulikov. When Kulikov immigrated to America, he began to work for the New York Times Book Review. Kulikov’s approach to art was more theatrical than realistic. According to Kulikov, the two types of art are different, but the approach is the same. “While I’m working on very real, traditional technique, I always add something conceptual,” Kulikov said. He has started working on creating more realistic drawings rather than theatrical drawings, according to Kulikov.
“Through the New York Times, I got more and more clients in different papers and magazines,” Kulikov said. He has also illustrated for Krull. The book the two collaborated on is “Fartiste,” a book about a man who made a profession from bodily functions.
Kulikov explained and showed the audience how he creates his illustrations from his sketches to the final product. “I draw and redraw my sketches,” Kulikov said. One of his more favored books to illustrate for was The Castle on Hester Street since it is about Russian immigrants.
Another author who spoke at the festival was Kathleen Krull from California. Krull started her career off as a librarian, but, according to Krull, she read on the job too much so she went to work in publishing where she was a senior editor. “I eventually broke out and started doing my own thing,” Krull said. She writes many history books about people such as the presidents of the United States, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Darwin, and many others. “I love writing for children,” Krull said. She continued, “I’m happy with what I do.”
Krull began her speech with how writing interested her and how she became a writer. She described her steps and achievements from kindergarten to the present about how she came to be a writer. Krull said, when she was young, she was complemented by a teacher who told her that she would be a writer. According to Krull, this is one reason she pursued writing as a career. Her husband is a writer and an illustrator as well, according to Krull. The two have done a few works together such as the book, “How to Trick or Treat in Outer Space.”
The books that Krull focused on were her “Lives of…” book series. “In these books, the ‘Lives of’ books, I put people that I really like, that I really admire, that I think are really heroes in some way that I think kids should know about,” Krull said. The newest book in the series is the “Lives of the Pirates.” Krull said she finds it an honor to be present at the event. “This is a really prestigious event. The most prominent people in the field speak here,” Krull said.
“I think it’s still an outstanding festival,” Lisa Leach said. Leach has come to about four festivals in the last 15 years.
“This gallery is a huge tribute to David White,” Judith Sbragna. She continued, “It’s amazing what he’s been able to accrue here during his term… We’ve been to other reading events where authors have been there with their books, but it was just a shorter period of time and I think this one is just so well done,” Sbragna said, “The speakers are given a good amount of time. You can really get a feeling of what their work is about.”
“I think it’d be great to have a catalog of all of these [illustrations in Rhodes Hall],” Leach said, “because I know, as a librarian, I would purchase it and bring it back to the kids to share.” The Children’s Literature Festival is a large part of Keene State College as it brings people together from all over the world to come and share their work. The event takes the colors of the world to create a picture to be shared with those willing to learn more about what goes on underneath the surface.
Rebecca Marsh can be contacted at
rmarsh@keene-equinox.com.