As we prepare to celebrate the Walter Award winners and honorees, we wanted to hear from the authors themselves on their awe-inspiring books.
You can livestream the eighth annual Walter Awards Ceremony and Symposium this Friday, March 17, at 10:30 am ET. Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award winner and 2018–19 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, will emcee the ceremony and Ellen Oh, WNDB CEO and award-winning author, will moderate the symposium!
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Angela Joy, 2023 Walter Award, Younger Readers Category for Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
Tell us the story of this manuscript. What was your life like while you were writing this book?
In 2017, a friend shared with me a podcast about Mamie Till-Mobley. I was amazed at how little I knew about her, beyond the atrocities committed against her son. The in-depth look at her life was both inspiring and timely. So, with Trayvon Martin and his mother Sybrina in mind, with Tamir Rice and his mother Samaria in mind, with Freddie Gray and his mother Gloria in mind, I began to write Mamie’s story for young people, knowing that the manuscript would be more than an historic record. It would also have to serve as encouragement for a community in mourning, balm for the walking wounded. The research was not easy. There were tears. There were days during edits, shortly after George Floyd was murdered, when all I could do was lie on my office floor and breathe. I still have those days. But again and again, in the name of Mamie Till-Mobley, I get up to choose life. I get up to choose hope. I get up to choose brave.
Why do you think it’s so important that young people have wide and varied access to books?
Why does ice cream come in one million flavors? Why does nature grow more than one type of flower, fruit, or tree? Why does music continually birth subgenres I’ve never heard of? Because variety is the spice of life! Variety keeps things interesting—keeps our synapses popping, gives us something to talk/think/write/argue about. Our individualistic, American culture has fought wars for the freedom to choose among varied choices. Yet when it comes to literature, there are some among us who have different aims. They’d like to deprive majority-culture children of all the fun, to dull their curiosity, to stunt their potential for greatness by limiting what they are allowed to read. I’m not sure whose hare-brained idea it was, but let’s make sure it doesn’t catch on. The future of our nation depends on it.
What’s the biggest misconception you hear about being an author or illustrator?
Many people rightfully assume that, for picture books, the author and illustrator meet and communicate frequently during the creative process. Yet for the most part, this isn’t true! Janelle and I were not formally introduced until Choosing Brave was complete. All communications came via our editor, Connie Hsu. On the surface, this arrangement seems challenging at best, horrible at worst. Yet, when you have a fast, brilliant, third “Musketeer” to balance everything, it’s quite comforting.
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Janelle Washington, 2023 Walter Award, Younger Readers Category for Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
Tell us the story of illustrating this book. What was your life like while you were amid the creative process?
The story of illustrating Choosing Brave is a meaningful one. Growing up, I learned about the death of Emmett Till and what Mamie said, “I wanted the world to see what they did to my baby.” as she viewed her son’s body. My school history books focused on Mamie’s decision, but those books didn’t go into detail about Mamie as a person. I knew she was an important figure in civil rights in American history, so I was glad that Angela had taken the time to view Mamie’s life as necessary enough to tell. I wanted my art to partner with Angela’s beautiful, well-written manuscript to honor this influential woman.
To honor Mamie, I viewed documentaries of her, watched interviews, and printed photos of her, her family, and the landscape in the cities she lived and visited. After viewing photos of Mamie, I sketched character sketches of her through the different stages of her life. Then, working from the manuscript, I made rough drawings of each spread and made changes after meeting with the Choosing Brave team. Next, when all the art had been finalized, I redrew the art using a computer art vector program and printed the pages to ensure the art was sized to the correct measurement. Next, I taped the printouts together and taped them onto black paper. Now I start cutting! Lastly, after cutting the art, I glued tissue paper to the back of the black paper to complete the illustrated story of Mamie and Emmett Till.
My life was lively, contemplative, and at times stressful during the creative process. Every day I was thinking about Mamie’s life and family, trying to learn new things about her and looking for photos from her life. At the same time, I was trying to understand how to illustrate a picture book by visiting the library and studying other biography picture books. All of this was during the pandemic, so I was also trying to stay safe and understand what was happening in the world around me.
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Christina Soontornvat, 2023 Walter Honors, Younger Readers Category, The Last Mapmaker
Tell us the story of this manuscript. What was your life like while you were writing this book?
I started writing this story in 2013 at a very chaotic and confusing time in my life. I had just left my full-time job, I had just given birth to my second daughter, I couldn’t get anyone to publish my first book, and I was trying to figure out if I should give up on writing altogether. Looking back, I feel like it’s no surprise that I wrote a story about charting courses and weathering storms!
Why do you think it’s so important that young people have wide and varied access to books?
Because the things that we consume shape us into the people we become.
What’s the biggest misconception you hear about being an author or illustrator?
I think the stereotypical image of an author is that we get struck by sudden inspiration in the night and then type out a brilliant novel in one feverish session. But the reality is much more mundane. We practice, we do a little every day, we slog through things, we get better over time. It’s more glacial than glamorous!
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Ibi Zoboi, 2023 Walter Honors, Younger Readers Category, Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler
Tell us the story of this manuscript. What was your life like while you were writing this book?
I started Star Child in 2013 and it was originally a picture book. However, a basic story about Octavia E. Butler’s girlhood doesn’t fully capture the breadth and depth of her imagination. There is so much to say about the time she grew up in and the comic books, movies, and authors that influenced her work. I wanted to contextualize her girlhood and experiment with how I wanted to tell her story. Over the years, more information has come out about Butler’s life. I visited the Huntington Library where I read some of her journal entries. Butler’s own persistence and passion for speaking her truth inspired me as I worked on other books. In the process, I questioned whether or not poetry was the best way to write her biography. After all, she wrote for adults and she didn’t describe herself as a poet. But when I read what she had written at just 10 years old, I knew that I had to tap into my own imagination to connect young readers to Butler’s unwavering passion and vision of the future. A young reader could possibly see themselves in a young Butler and reach for the stars as well.
Why do you think it’s so important that young people have wide and varied access to books?
Books represent the world—a wide and varied place where people’s perspectives and experiences shape our collective past, present, and future. It’s so important to cultivate a sense of wonder and curiosity in young people. Books and stories are where we can begin to find answers that will lead us on a journey to life-long learning. When a young person opens a book, be it fantasy or nonfiction, they have access to what’s possible for them. A biography can serve as an inspiration, or a fantasy story can broaden their imagination.
What’s the biggest misconception you hear about being an author or illustrator?
I often hear that writing for children is easier than writing for adults, or that children’s literature is less sophisticated. My colleagues have shown that this is simply not true. Some of the most well-read adults were avid young readers. We create lovers of books, and so much thought and skill go into our stories. We have to constantly tap into our younger selves to remember a certain age. We have to make lasting bonds with our young readers because our stories are foundational to their experiences as children and teens.
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Hear from the authors as they discuss Books Save Lives and more by livestreaming the eighth annual Walter Awards Ceremony and Symposium this Friday, March 17, at 10:30 am ET.
