Breakout Session #3 - So, You Want to Write a Memoir! With Ruth Chan

Ruth Chan is an award-winning author and illustrator of comics and children’s books, including her graphic memoir Uprooted which won the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Illustrated Book/Graphic Novel for Older Readers, and was named one of NPR's best books of 2024. Prior to illustrating full time, she spent her teens in China and a decade working with youth and families in underserved communities. She is a proud Canadian who now lives and works in NYC.

Ruth acknowledges that writing a memoir can be an intimidating and intense experience compared to writing fiction, but it can also be fun and bring about unexpected beauty and some pretty good laughs. Ruth helps attendees explore different approaches to getting started in memoir writing, and the ins and outs of what it means to share yourself with children and others.

Memoir is pretty simple to spot, it is a non-fiction, first-person narrative that focuses on one specific time or event—it is NOT an autobiography encompassing a whole lifetime. Memoirs that stand the test of time focus more on exploring thoughts and feelings than they are focused on exploring facts. 

How do you figure out your memoir inspiration? Ruth shares a brainstorming exercise with attendees on how to find the values and themes important to their own life story and gives a great exercise for figuring out how to determine the most effective tone for your memoir.

What keeps your memoir feeling authentic to readers is to maintain authenticity in your personal story even when it might be unflattering or painful, and sharing it in a way that readers can say, "This is so me". Ruth lists some common themes children's memoirs often share, a very strong theme you can center your story around makes for a very compelling memoir that is not bogged down by sidestories that often bulk out an autobiography.

Ruth shares a number of exercises attendees can use to help focus their memoir theme as well as generate rich sensory details imperative to making a memoir stand out as unique. 

Prior to writing, Ruth recommends reading published memoirs for the age range you hope to target as well as reading adult memoir that resonates with your core themes. But she recommends NOT reading others memoirs once you've started drafting your own memoir to give your own memories room to breathe and get figured out on the page without being influenced by others.

And of course scour any of your OWN primary source materials, like journals you've kept, family and friend interviews, and photo albums to build your memoir around. 

As a fellow spreadsheet lover, this was my favorite nugget from the session: 

As Ruth started to build out her UPROOTED memoir draft in chronological order, she used Excel to build a spreadsheet for the timeline, not just for documenting the events in order, but to note how her theme of belonging was or was not present in each scene.

Check out the forthcoming conference session replays (which will be available until September 15, 2025) and hear how Ruth handled the emotional aspects of memoir-writing, both for herself and those mentioned in her memoir, as well as the unexpected gems that come from writing vulnerably about your real life and the many unexpected connections that can come from sharing your personal stories.

Keynote: Frank Morrison

Frank Morrison is the illustrator of over 20 children’s books, including the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winners Standing in the Need of Prayer and R-E-S-P-E-C-T, the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award winner, Jazzy Miz Mozetta, and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor books, Little Melba and her Big Trombone and Let the Children March. You can find out more about Frank at MorrisonGraphics.com and Instagram.

Natta Rabin (Publisher and Creative Director of Klutz, a division of Scholastic) introduced Frank.

What an inspiring and energy-filled keynote! Frank reminisced about his early interests and influences, like graffiti and dancing. Yes, I said DANCING.

Frank played an old music video where he was dancing in the background (wow, so impressed!), and told us about his teacher Mrs. Moore (sp?), who encouraged him when he was young. 

When he invited to Europe to tour with his music group, he was blown away by the art at The Louvre in Paris. 

His love of jazz and rhythm also influences his art. Some of his Frank's art is influenced by the African-American experience. He said he put the water gun in this piece, for example, because his own kids can't safely do this because some police may assume it's a real gun.

Frank wants kids who read his books to be able to see that they can find ways to be creative and find their own space in any kind of environment. 

He encourages us all to persevere. Frank received many rejections but didn't give up, and Lee & Low offered him his first picture book project.

From graffiti artist and dancer to a published book creator (over 50 books!); Frank says that he shares his story with kids in hopes of inspiring them to pursue their own dreams, and for them to know that anything is possible.

------

If you want to view this session to hear the full content, along with the rest of the conference, register at https://www.scbwi.org/events/summer-conference-2023. Replays of the conferences will be available until September 10th, 2023. See the index to all 2023 SCBWI Summer Conference blog posts.

Also be sure to check out the Faculty Conference Bookshop and the Portfolio Showcase!

Interview: Druscilla Santiago, SCBWI Summer Conference materials illustrator

Curious about the illustrator behind the wonderful art on the SCBWI Summer Conference 2023 banner and other conference materials? Keep reading!

A member of SCBWI Hawai'i, Druscilla Santiago lives and draws on the island of O'ahu. She has a background in graphic design and art direction, and her comics have been published in Cubby at Home and Illustoria magazine. In 2021, she received the SCBWI Narrative Art Award for her piece, “City Bear.” She is represented by Kelly Sonnack at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. You can find out more about Druscilla on her AdventureFun.club website, and on Instagram at @adventurefunclub.

From TeMika Grooms, SCBWI's Manager Of Design And Illustration: "Druscilla's reading-themed illustration showcases the playfulness, patterns and color palette you will find in much of her creative work.  It was the perfect inspiration to enliven our Summer Conference visual assets. I'm delighted to have worked with her on this project."

  Q. I love your wonderful conference art! How did you become the official illustrator for this year’s SCBWI Summer Conference? 

 A. Thank you, Debbie! I was asked to create the art for the summer conference shortly after the SCBWI Winter conference where I was awarded the Agented Grand Prize at the Portfolio Showcase.

 Q. What was your creative process? 

 I start most projects with a list. For this, I asked myself, "What is summer?" I wrote things like: Snacks, Screentime, Gramma’s House, Camping, Playing in the Streets, etc.  I am from Hawaiʻi and weather-wise, it’s summer all year round so I wanted to push past the sunny skies and think more about the freedom and massive amount of time that kids have when they’re out of school. I sketched out a few of my ideas and ultimately leaned into what I love: close up drawings of people. I decided on a pair of siblings cruising at home with some books and snacks. After a few rounds of sketches, I added color and final details and our summer readers where brought to life!

Here is their story:

These two siblings went to the library, grabbed a pile of books and then stopped by 7-11 for snacks on the way to gramma’s house where they’re going to hang out until their mom gets off of work.

The girl is a fan of horror. She is still learning to read so she gravitates to early reader comics. Her brother loves fantasy and sci-fi. He’s a year or two older, so he’s reading a chapter book. Their gramma (not pictured) loves mystery shows and is currently watching Colombo.

I had a lot of fun with this illustration. These are the kids we’re making books for, you know?

Q. What advice do you have for illustrators working on their portfolios?

I found portfolio reviews very helpful. Getting a few different opinions about my work at different stages has helped me grow immensely. I got advice about the type of work I should be adding to my portfolio, the areas that I needed to improve on, and how to present my work more clearly. While I don’t always agree with all of the feedback, I appreciate the chance to see things from a different perspective. So, if you find yourself with an opportunity to get a review—I’d say go for it.

Q. In what kind of kidlit book illustration work are you most interested?

This is a tough question! I definitely love picture books. But lately I’ve been thinking about book covers and chapter headers. I think it’s the graphic designer in me. I also like the idea of concept board books. I love to play with the book as a medium. And board books have these sturdy pages that flip or fold out or have shiny and textural elements… they can be really interactive and I’d love to explore that realm someday.

Q. What are your recent or upcoming books? What are you working on now?

My debut picture book as an illustrator, Hands-On Science: Matter, by Lola M. Schaefer, was just published by Charlesbridge on July 11th, which was very exciting! 

It is the first in a series of three interactive science books that will roll out over the next year. And, at the moment I am working on the illustrations for A Hat for House, by Audrey Perrott which should come out next year.

Q. Where can people find out more about you and your work?

The best place to discover more about my work is my website: adventurefun.club and instagram: @adventurefunclub

To find out more about me, we should get coffee and a treat at the next SCBWI in-person conference!

There's still time to register for the upcoming virtual SCBWI Summer Conference at https://www.scbwi.org/events/summer-conference-2023! Every attendee has access to the content of all 50 sessions for up to one month after the conference concludes. See the index to all 2023 SCBWI Summer Conference blog posts.

Raúl the Third Keynote

Raúl the Third is the Pura Belpré Medal award-winning illustrator of the Lowriders graphic novel series as well as the new picture book Vamos! Let's Go to the Market.

Raúl credits his interest in art to comic books, and his interest in comic books to being a kid bored during the summers in his hot, hot hometown of El Paso. His father, trying to get him out of the house, asked him to go buy a paper at  7-11, which then turned into Raúl spending lots of time out of the house at 7-11, looking at Ralph Snart comics while drinking his custom fountain soda mix of Coca Cola, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and a dash of Orange Crush.

Raúl's mother took him and his younger brothers to the library in El Paso, though none of the family spoke much English at that time, Raúl credits the librarians at this local library with finding books he could see himself in, turning him into a voracious reader.

Fast forward a bit, and Raúl tells us about how he followed his girlfriend (now wife, fellow faculty member Elaine Bay) to Boston. While she was busy in school, Raúl would hang out at the coffee shops near Candlewick or Houghton Mifflin Harcourt offices and take part in what he called

SPD

SPD = strategic public drawing

Though SPD never resulted in a book deal! It turned him into 'that guy who draws'. Local bands started asking Raúl to make gig posters, and one of the coffee shops he drew in regularly asked if he would like to have his work on display at one of the shops.

Raúl didn't think he had enough work, or big enough pieces, to fill up all those blank walls. He thought back to something he'd recently read:

"One of the keys to happiness is to start your own gang." -- Kurt Vonnegut

So Raúl put together an art collective of friends to help fill up those walls. The connections of that collective ultimately resulted in his Lowriders series and opened up  the world of children's book illustration to Raúl.

Raúl's advice for kids who want to pursue art or are on their way to college:

When you are a young artist, don't be so quick to define what type of artist you are. 

He's painted switch boxes, set designs, outdoor murals, a putt-putt golf course, books, fine art and zines, and he'd never have tried all of those different things if when he'd been asked to do so, he'd thought that wasn't his 'future career path'.

Raúl's also got some good advice for zinemakers:

"Make sure you make friends with someone who works at Kinko's."

With all of these experiences making all kinds of art, Raúl wanted to start teaching other people how to do all these things, too. So he went on to teach children and adults all over the Boston area and beyond.

And this is just the partial recap of his great keynote!

Please please go check out Raúl's work with museums and other institutions in the Boston area, it's truly inspiring and groundbreaking stuff, like the And Their Families exhibition.

Stacy Innerst: School Visits as an Illustrator

Stacy Innerst’s picture books have earned numerous honors including the BCCB Blue Ribbon, two Parents’ Choice Gold Medals, and a Smithsonian Notable Book Citation. His illustrations for The Music in George's Head: George Gershwin Creates Rhapsody in Blue, written by Suzanne Slade (Boyds Mills), received the 2017 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Illustration. Visit www.stacyinnerst.com.

Stacy Innerst's breakout session at the Los Angeles SCBWI Summer Conference was absolutely packed with information about school visits for illustrators.

He walked us through his personal school visit slideshow, beginning with the images he uses to introduce himself. In lieu of a typical biographical slideshow (Here's where I went to school; here are the books I made), Stacy shares images from home, of his son, of books he loved and read as a kid, and things he did as a kid (like scribble in books when he shouldn't have) -- something almost any kid can relate to. He then explains the process of making a book from researching and creating characters to showing images of his studio space and art materials.

Finally, he concludes with information about specific books he's made, the materials he used to make them, his art making process and background, and an interactive drawing demonstration that shows kids that drawing is something they can do, too.

• I particularly loved hearing his practical tips. As an illustrator who has never made a picture book school visit, it was incredibly helpful to learn about:
• What to include in your contract.
• Asking teachers for assistance prior to your visit: making sure they've read your book and their students will be familiar with your book; asking for their help calling on kids when it comes to Q&A; learning the school hand signal for "quiet please", etc.
• How to tactful bring up your visit fee, and what to do if a schools doesn't have the budget for it
• Planning your visit and making sure you and the school are on the same page -- i.e. materials that you're bringing or you need them to provide; how many sessions you'll be doing, how many kids you'll be presenting to, etc.
• How to handle book signings (and/or sales) during school visits.

After this session, I feel so much more prepared for my first school visit. Thank you to Stacy for so eloquently distilling his experiences into such helpful, specific, and actionable info.

Catch more of the conference highlights this year through blog posts tagged #LA17SCBWI or as-it-happens on Twitter.

Raul Colon: Picture Book Panel

Raul Colón was born in New York City, went to school for art in Puerto Rico, has illustrated over 30 children's books as well as done public art for New York and his work has appeared in numerous illustrious editorial publications.

Laurent Linn calls him a LEGEND, and if you know his work, you know you can spot his pieces out of any crowd. Laurent had the pleasure of art directing DRAW! (among other luminous titles) for Raul.

Raul jokingly says the original text for the DRAW! dummy was so good, that his editor Paula Wiseman said to cut it. Truly, the images stand alone without text, so they did decide to turn it into a wordless picture book. Raul says many teachers and librarians use the book as a creative writing exercise, asking students to write stories to accompany the images (and Raul thinks sometimes those are even better than what he had written!)

Laurent asks what a typical day is like:

"I get up early in the morning, have to have coffee, toast, take my time, hear NPR for a little bit (which hasn't been good news for the last six months...) and then I go to my studio, which has papers and books everywhere...

I sit there at my desk and the way I approach the book, after I've read the manuscript, I have to come up with the sketches. When I see a manuscript and I say yes to it, before that, during the first reading, I've got to have visions for the book come to me as I start reading, otherwise I can't say yes to it.

Then I turn on some music. Could be rock 'n' roll, could be Rachmaninoff. Doesn't matter, I get lost, especially when I get into the color/painting time. Many times I don't do more than three sketches per illustration. Usually I start with thumbnails, and then I make the larger sketch..."

Laurent asks how does Raul start an idea?

Gregory Colbert photos

DRAW! came about after Raul went to a Gregory Colbert photography exhibit of big, beautiful prints of animals. The exhibit included videos of Colbert in action. It blew Raul away. He'd been illustrating a lot of biographies, but Raul really wanted his next book to have animals in it. As a kid, Raul was very sick and indoors a lot drawing, so he put all of those elements together for DRAW!

Laurent asks what is Raul's revision/working process like?

Raul does NOT like to do color sketches before he gets to the final art, he wants to keep everything loose until the final. Because when he starts to do final art he wants to be free to change things, which keeps the energy up and the art fresh and allows him to go in the directions that best serve the art and book.