mentoring

EMMA WALTON HAMILTON is a best-selling children’s book author, editor, educator and arts and literacy advocate. She has co-authored over twenty children’s books with her mother, Julie Andrews, six of which have been on the New York Times best-seller list, including The Very Fairy Princess series (#1 NY Times Bestseller), Julie Andrews’ Collection Of Poems, Songs And Lullabies (illustrated by James McMullan); the Dumpy The Dump Truck series; Simeon’s Gift; The Great American Mousical and THANKS TO YOU – Wisdom From Mother And Child (#1 New York Times Bestseller). Emma’s own book for parents and caregivers, Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment, premiered as a #1 best-seller on Amazon.com in the literacy category and won a Parent’s Choice Gold Medal, silver medals from the Living Now and IPPY Book Awards, and an Honorable Mention from ForeWord Magazine’s Best Book of the Year. Emma is a faculty member for Stony Brook Southampton’s MFA in Creative Writing and Literature Program, where she teaches children’s literature courses and serves as Director of the annual Southampton Children’s Literature Conference. She is also Executive Director of their Young American Writers Project (YAWP), an inter-disciplinary writing program for middle and high school students on Long Island. As the creator and host of the “Children’s Book Hub” membership site, Emma provides resources, information and support for children’s book authors and illustrators world-wide. She is also the creator of “Just Write for Kids!“, an online course in writing picture books.  (Biographical information and photos are from Emma’s website, used with permission. To read the full biography, and to see more of what Emma does, please visit her website. But do come back for the interview!)   Beth: I first got to know Emma through the books she has co-authored with her mother, then through her blog which was a forerunner of her current blog. I participated in the posts and comments on her current blog that helped firm up the content of her Just Write for Kids! course, then took the course itself from September to November of 2010. Emma’s encouragement and enthusiasm about my writing, and her sensitivity and support through the final weeks of my mother’s life, which coincided with my participation in the course, cemented my admiration for and appreciation of Emma. I was a charter member of her Children’s Book Hub, I continue to work with her as my freelance editor on many of my writing projects, Emma and I co-administer the Children’s Book Hub Facebook Group, and I look forward to meeting her in person in July, at the Stony Brook Southampton Children’s Literature Conference mentioned in the bio. I am thrilled that she agreed to do this interview with me. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I have! Click the magic words!