Hugs and Hurrahs

Happy November, everyone! 

 Welcome to this quarter's Hugs and Hurrahs!

Although Katherine Higgs-Couthard lives in Michigan, she works at Saint Mary's College in Indiana and her YA novel, Junkyard Dogs, made the shortlist for the Indiana Author Awards. Junkyard Dogs explores teen homelessness and poverty and is inspired by Kat's experiences growing up in poverty and also by South Bend’s 2006 Manhole Murders, which made national news.

We're so happy for you, Kat!

Kristin Bartley Lenz's young adult flash fiction, Metamorphosis, was published in a YA anthology, Just YA: Short Poems, Essays, & Fiction for Grades 7-12. The anthology is part of an open access program at Oklahoma State University and includes a teacher guide. Learn more at https://open.library.okstate.edu/justya/.

Congratulations, Kristin!

Lori McElrath Eslick has a solo exhibition at the St. Cecilia Music Center's Terryberry Gallery, including paintings from Cricket Magazine, and several of her book's cover art and interior painting/illustrations. Oct. 1- Oct. 31 Terryberry Gallery, St. Cecilia Music Society's gallery

She is also honored to be in the Ezra Jack Keats Memorial Fellowship Exhibition at the Kerlan Collection of Children's Literature and Art, University of Minnesota. As a former fellow, she was invited to exhibit art, and explain how the research collection influenced her art going for future children's books. More about this at www.lib.umn.edu/clrc/  Oct. 22, 2014 - Jan. 4, 2025

What an honor, Lori!

Sarah Rockett at Tilbury House has acquired world rights to My Backyard Used to Be by debut author Lynn Baldwin about a child playing the backyard who ponders the history of the land—from the present to the prehistoric—imagining all the people and animals that played there before. Publication is planned for Fall 2025. 

That's wonderful, Lynn!

Upasna Kakroo’s nonprofit, Peerbagh, just released the first edition their BIPOC-led illustrated children's magazine, Bento. It is the only South-Asia-inspired children's print magazine in the world with contributors from US, Canada, India, Pakistan. The magazine has opened to glowing reader/parent reviews.The first issue is themed, "where the wild things are" and it talks about wildlife and conservation.

Way to go, Upasna!

Rhonda Gowler Greene is excited to announce the sale of her manuscript If You Want to See a Narwal to Little Brown which will be published in Fall 2026 and illustrated by Xin Li. Xin lives in Norway (one of the few places narwhals live!).  She was a grand prize winner for the SCBWI 2021 Winter Conference Portfolio Showcase.

Rhonda also sold her story THE TRICK-OR-TREAT TRAIN to Bloomsbury. Its planned release is Fall 2027.

Finally, she was happy to learn that Bernie’s Book Bank, a literacy organization based in Chicago, is publishing a low-cost edition of her book THIS MAGICAL, MUSICAL NIGHT (little bee books, 2021) and planning to donate 20,000 copies.

That's incredible, Rhonda!

Please join me in congratulating our talented and prolific colleagues! 

Next quarter's Hugs and Hurrahs will be in the new year. Please feel free to send your good news any time to aewhodgson@gmail.com. 

Keep writing!

~Alison Hodgson