Sumo Joe is the debut picture book by Mia Wenjen and illustrator Nat Iwata.
Did you know that picture book authors and illustrators do not communicate until the project is completed? I think it’s to give the illustrator some creative space to bring the words to life. No one likes to be micromanaged by someone else’s vision. My debut picture book, SUMO JOE, with illustrator Nat Iwata is not…
Attending Kweli’s The Color of Children’s Literature Conference brought me to New York City, with just enough time to squeeze in a visit to meet Kandace Coston, my editor at Lee and Low Books for SUMO JOE, illustrated by Nat Iwata. The office building is secured, so I had to have the security guard call me…
When I took a picture book writing class two years ago through my local community education program, I had no idea that I would be in the company of talented illustrators. Flash forward two years later, and three of us now have debut picture book out (or coming out). Jannie Ho has over illustrated over…
If you haven’t been following my progress with my first picture book submission, I entered a New Voices children’s book publishing contest. I didn’t win, but I received an offer for editorial assistance on my book manuscript, Sumo Joe. I jumped on that offer. I’d been trying to get into a critique group where I…
I was standing in line of a dive Brazilian buffet restaurant with my husband for lunch. The food is inexpensive and delicious and we joke that this would be like visiting our grandmothers, if they lived nearby and were Brazilian. There was a line at the meat counter where it’s sliced off the skewers for…