Sumo Joe is the debut picture book by Mia Wenjen and illustrator Nat Iwata.
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…
A huge thank you to Amanda of Miss Panda Chinese for interviewing me on her channel. We talk about Multicultural Children’s Book Day, Chinese versus Japanese New Year Books for Kids, and more! Her post is here. Her interview is here: Miss Panda Chinese and I Talk Multicultural Children’s Book Day and More! And here…
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 the line at 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…
One of my New Year’s resolutions was to take a children’s book writing class so I signed up for one through my local community education program: Children’s Book Writing with Margo Lemieux. She teaches art at Lasell College but has also written children’s books. Interestingly, she has not yet illustrated her picture books. I found…