A panel of traditionally published children's book authors will discuss their experiences writing a picture book, from inspiration and process to working with an illustrator and publication. Join panel moderator, Penny Bernath, Education Director of South Florida PBS, and our panelists for a lively and informative session.
Moderator:
Penny Bernath is the Education Director of South Florida PBS. She has contributed to the station’s success with the creation of KidVision PreK, an online professional development program for preschool teachers. The KidVision PreK program contains over 100 virtual field trip learning units plus lots of extras, such as jobs people do videos, vocabulary words, and 360 videos. The professional development offers teachers up to 10 CEUs and 100 In-Service Hours for learning Florida’s Early learning and Developmental Standards for 4-year-olds, cross-walked with Head Start Learning Framework Ages Birth to Five. The training uses entertaining and educational virtual field trips, hands-on lesson plans, student standards achievement assessments, and take-home pages. The training and support materials are offered in English and Spanish. The website is a resource for preschool teachers, children, and families. http://www.KidVisionPreK.org
Panelists:
Author: Jill Dana
Book: Butternut
Jill Dana is an author, illustrator, award-winning filmmaker, and certified elementary educator. She has master's degrees in television and film production and elementary education plus TESOL. She is the author of the Butternut series, about a little butternut squash and his supermarket world, with themes of identity, friendship, #WhereFoodComesFrom, and more: Butternut (book 1) and Butternut & Buttercup (book 2). Jill Dana is a Rate Your Story judge, an active SCBWI member. and an Author's Guild member. She's also a member of the picture book groups @PBSunrays and @PictureBookGold.
Author: Silvia Lopez
Book: Pacho Nacho
Silvia López, a former school media specialist, came to the United States as a Cuban refugee at an early age. Her books, many bilingual, have received recognition including two Florida Book Awards. She is the author of Just Right Family: An Adoption Story (Ziyue Chen, illus.), Handimals: Animals in Art and Nature (with Italian artist Guido Daniele), Pacho Nacho (Pablo Pino, illus.), Queen of Tejano Music: Selena (among the Best Books of 2020 – Center for Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature) and the Spanish version: Selena: Reina de la Música Tejana (Paola Escobar, illus.), My Little Golden Book about Frida Kahlo (in English and Spanish, Elisa Chavarri, illus.), Sonia Sotomayor, part of the Little Golden Book Biography series (English and Spanish, Nomar Pérez illus.) José and El Perro, and José and Feliz Play Fútbol, bilingual Easy Readers co-authored with Susan Rose (Gloria Félix, illus.) are due for release in Spring and Fall, 2023. She has written several books for the school market, and is currently working on projects with Little Brown Books for Young Readers.
Author: Medeia Sharif
Book: Remembering Mom’s Kubbatt Halab
Medeia Sharif was born in New York City and presently calls Miami her home. She received her master’s degree in psychology from Florida Atlantic University. After becoming a voracious reader in high school and a relentless writer dabbling in many genres in college, she found her niche writing picture books, short stories, and novels for young people. In addition to being a published author, she’s a public-school teacher. When she’s not writing, she is busy collecting recipes and is fond of baking. She also loves to garden and take care of her feline fur babies.
Author: Sita Singh
Book: Birds of a Feather
Sita Singh was born and raised in India, and currently lives in South Florida with her husband and three children. An architect in the past, Sita now writes heartwarming picture books with a South Asian backdrop. Her writing is inspired by her experiences of living in the East, and the West. When Sita isn’t writing, she can be found trying new recipes in the kitchen, experimenting with food photography, or movie marathoning with her family. Sita’s debut picture book, Birds of A Feather, is about finding strength in the things that make us different, and beauty in all its forms.
For the 2023 Local Author Book Fair schedule of events and a list of participating authors, please visit www.mdpls.org/author-fair.
AGE GROUP: | Young Adult (12-18) | Adult (19+) |
EVENT TYPE: | Special Event | Performances & Presentations | In-Person | Book Clubs | Author Event |
TAGS: | Local Author Book Fair |
