Keynote: Mike Curato

Mike Curato is a lovely brilliant duckling who SCBWI is lucky to claim as a success story. I have good news and bad news and good news for you about his keynote. Good news: Mike's keynote was AMAZING. Deep and lovely ideas and fantastic imagery. It was funny and heartbreaking and thoughtful and silly. Bad news: There's no good way to blog a summary of that and retain an iota of his special genius delivery. But Good News II, I bet he will do this talk again, so if you weren't here to hear it, make every effort to see him at any other conference, okay? You're in for a planet-sized treat.

Mike sets up each of his published books as an 'assignment' with 'steps' you should follow to do as he's done.

Assignment One: Fulfill your lifelong dream of creating a picture book that captures the essence of everything you love about reading a picture book.

Step 1: YOU MUST EAT CAKE TO WRITE OR ILLUSTRATE A BOOK (nice shout out to my favorite cupcake shop Cupcake Royale (insert heart emoji)).
Step 2: Tell your inner demons to shut up.
Step 3: Think about the haunting or mysterious or endearing drawings and painting of the artists you love.
Step 4: Think about you as a kid, and how happy you were making art then.
Step 5: Draw things that are just for yourself, make things that make you smile. Think about how small you were and how life looked from that perspective.
Step 6: Go to a conference, win an award, get noticed, get a book deal...

And that's how Mike made LITTLE ELLIOT, BIG CITY.

We get to hear about EIGHT other assignments, all the amazing books Mike has worked on/is working on. This is where the blog can't repeat the magic of live Mike. Check out his website, see the wonderful follow up books to Little Elliot, his collaborations with amazing people like Samantha Berger, and his forthcoming graphic novel for teens.

Some final notes from Mike: "Don't think of publishing as the be all end all of telling your story. That stunted me as a story teller. You need to get it out. Even if you tell your story to just one person, that's important, make it count. Make this life count."

Great job, Mike (heart emojis squared).

Mike Curato Interviewed by Martha Brockenbrough: The #LA15SCBWI Pre-Conference Interview

Click on over to read this chat between SCBWI Team Blog's Martha Brockenbrough and debut author/illustrator Mike Curato.

They talk day jobs and publishing dreams, polka dot elephants and shows at cupcake stores. Martha even gets Mike's time-traveling advice to himself years ago, which includes this gem:

"Make things that make you smile inside."

Mike's publishing journey is one of our "SCBWI Success Stories" featured at the upcoming 2015 SCBWI Summer Conference on a Friday afternoon panel (that I'll be moderating, and that will also feature Martha herself!)

Mike will also be co-leading a Saturday Breakout session with agent Brenda Bowen on "The Artist Agent Relationship!"

We hope you can join us for #LA15SCBWI – and perhaps it will be the path to your own SCBWI Success Story! Detailed conference information and registration here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

Mike Curato: Conference Illustrator Journal #NY14SCBWI

Mike is in with this image, also inspired by Jack Gantos' keynote - pulling out a visual pun!

Mike Curato is an illustrator/author/designer living and working in Brooklyn. His debut picture book Little Elliot, Big City premiers 9/2. This is his third SCBWI Winter Conference.

You can visit his website here.