PAS North Shore Council: 2008 Fall Dinner Meeting

I have had a few busy weeks of late. First, Grace Lin and I attended the fabulous Rabbit Hill Festival of Literature in Westport in late October. (You can read my write-up here.) The following weekend, I was up in New Hampshire for the Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival. I haven’t even had a chance to post about the Keene Festival yet--which was wonderful. On election night, I was at a gathering of Obama supporters at the restaurant of a friend in Salem, Massachusetts. (There was a lot of loud cheering when the winner of the election was announced.) Then, on November 5th, it was the fall meeting of the PAS North Shore Council. And I’m the person responsible for making all the arrangements for the dinner and speakers.


At our council's fall dinner meeting in 2007, the panel discussion with the Blue Rose Girls was such a big hit with our members that I thought it would be a good idea to have another panel discussion this fall. This time we invited three male children’s authors and illustrators: Matt Tavares, Daniel J. Mahoney, and Wade Zahares. (Wade recently launched his brand new website. Check it out!)

OUR PANEL

Matt Tavares, Wade Zahares, & Daniel J. Mahoney

MATT TAVARES

WADE ZAHARES

DANIEL J. MAHONEY

Matt, Dan, and Wade told us about how they got started in children’s publishing, how they developed their own distinctive artistic styles, and the media they choose to work with. They explained their processes for making book dummies, for illustrating books, and told us how long it usually takes them to complete the art for a picture book. Matt and Wade, both of whom have illustrated nonfiction books about the Statue of Liberty, explained about all the research they had to do for the books. All three panelists described what types of school presentations they do--and spoke about projects they are currently working on. The panel discussion was great!

Thanks, gentlemen, for a wonderful evening!!!

From Left to Right: Dan, Me, Matt, Matt's Wife Sarah, and Wade

To learn more about the 2008-2009 PAS North Shore Council Speaker Series click here.