Entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and now author, Katrina Walker spoke with So Booking Cool about her book Unbreakable: The Katrina Walker story. The riveting memoir details the journey of a young girl originally from Ohio who grows up in Tennessee during a height of racial tension (she remembers when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and how her community reacted) and overcomes being a teen bride and mother, homelessness, and … Read the rest
Today we had the pleasure of speaking with the Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist and New York Times bestselling author Box Brown, who wrote André the Giant: Life and Legend (First Second Books, graphic novel publisher). Brown talks starting his career at 25, founding his publishing company, Retrofit Comics, and the upcoming Rugrats comic book series he’s writing (Boom!Studios Publishing). He collaborated with First Second Books again, last year, when he published… Read the rest
Tamar Rydzinski, Vice President, Director of Subsidiary Rights at the Laura Dail Literary Agency got bitten by the book industry bug while interning at an agency. At the time, she attended Yeshiva University, where she majored in Literature and minored in Business. Now with almost 12 years in her career (she previously worked at Greenburger Associates before joining Laura Dail in 2015) Rydzinski tells us how she’s seen the industry … Read the rest
This past Wednesday, the Assistant Editor in the Children’s and Young Adult Department at Publishers Weekly (PW) Matia Burnett, chatted with us about her career, including its successes and challenges. Burnett is a Columbia University alumni and former educator (she also worked at Columbia as a researcher) before working at PW, a Trade publication in print and web that is basically to book publishing what Vogue is to fashion.
When … Read the rest
Today we had the pleasure of chatting with Deanne Urmy, senior executive editor at Houghton Miflin Hartcourt, who edited award-winning actress Gabourey Sidibe’s debut memoir, This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare. Urmy discusses the editing process of the book, her expertise on memoir, and reveals that Sidibe’s book is among her favorites she’s ever worked on.
Here at So Booking Cool, we strongly agree that … Read the rest
Today we had the pleasure of candidly conversing with Shannon Hitchcock, author of The Ballad of Jessie Pearl (2013) and the Golden Sower Award nominee Ruby Lee and Me (2016.) A historical fiction novelist, Hitchcock discusses her writing process, her start as a children’s literary magazine writer, working with seasoned publishing professional Andrea Davis Pinkney (Vice President, Executive Editor, Scholastic) and about their next book, One True Way… Read the rest
This past Friday we had such a pleasure of speaking with Michele Martin, VP, founder and publisher of North Star Way (Simon and Schuster) about Keke Palmer’s debut self-guide book, I Don’t Belong to You: Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice. Martin recalls the acquisition process of “I Don’t…” and what prompted her to purchase it, how greatly Palmer was involved in the execution, Martin’s advice … Read the rest
Yesterday, we had the pleasure of speaking with the co-founders of Callaloo Kids, a children’s media company based in Washington, DC. In our interview, Marjaun Canady, and Nabeeh Bilal, who have known each other since high school, discuss the journey of creating Callaloo Kids, the importance of networking and building a team, as well as their perseverance and plans to keep evolving children’s media. To learn more about … Read the rest
I Don’t Belong to You: Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice, Keke Palmer, Author North Star Way $14.98 ISBN-10: 1501145398
Singer, actress, talk show host, humanitarian, and now author, Lauren “Keke” Palmer has gone from writing in journals to writing her youth empowerment book, I Don’t Belong to You: Quiet the Noise and Find Your Voice, a passion-project that has been in the making for three years. After … Read the rest
Today we had the pleasure of talking to Tamara McNeil, the founder of Just Like Me! Box, a monthly subscription that delivers 2-3 books in urban children’s literature to families. Get to know Tamara, the inspiration behind her company, the types of books she delivers and looks for in submissions, as well as why she is reluctant to expand her market to young adult fiction.
For more information on Just … Read the rest
