Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Introducing Sophia Gholz

Sophia Gholz, who will be posting about Visual Storytelling for NF Fest, made her smashing non-fiction debut with The Boy Who Grew a Forest (illustrated by Kayla Harren, Sleeping Bear Press). It’s the true story of Jadv Payeng, who began planting trees to help his island home and ultimately, over the years, transformed a bare space into a 1,300-acre forest filled with native plants and animals. Praised by School Library Journal and Booklist, this 2019 Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Honor Award recipient is rich in evocative language. Sophia will share how she, as a trained artist, brings that winning visual component to her storytelling.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Join the party!


Meet NF Fest blogger Heidi Stemple!

You may know that the child in Owl Moon is Heidi Stemple, whose father is in the story and whose mother, Jane Yolen, wrote it. But you may not know that Heidi wasn't interested in the family writing business, becoming a probation officer in Florida after college. Luckily, her genes triumphed and this NF Fest author went on to write more than 25 books for kids.

Another sneak peek!

NF Fest will begin with a co-presentation from Karen Blumenthal and Candace Fleming.Karen Blumenthal's favorite book when she was a kid was Harriet the Spy. Now, the longtime journalist, who edited and wrote for decades for The Wall Street Journal, uses detective techniques to discover the real story behind what everyone thinks they know about everything from Steve Jobs to Hillary Clinton and Bonnie and Clyde. A Dallas-based graduate of Duke University with an MBA from Southern Methodist University, she's also a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, believes cookies are the perfect food and bakes such delicious ones, she’ll have you believing that, too. Her new book, coming out in February, is Jane Against the World: Roe v. Wade and the Fight for Reproductive Rights (Macmillan Children's).

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Meet Melissa Stewart!

Melissa Stewart has published more than 180 books on a variety of science topics from seashells to tyrannosaurs. Before she was an author she was a children’s book editor for nine years. She knows her stuff from both sides of the editorial desk. Her research has taken her on safari in East Africa, swimming with sea lions in the Galapagos, and exploring rain forests in Costa Rica. And now her love of writing is bringing her to NF Fest in February 2020! Don’t miss her detailed post “Without a Hook It’s Not a Book”. Learn more at www.melissa-stewart.com.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Coming in February!


Beth Anderson loves gardening, exploring nature, and weaving both textiles and words. She writes narrative nonfiction and historical fiction picture books and loves burrowing into history in search of inspiring characters and just the right words. A news blurb about Ben Franklin inventing his own alphabet inspired Beth’s new book, An Inconvenient Alphabet. We look forward to Beth’s tips on writing non-typical biographies during NF Fest this year! https://bethandersonwriter.com/

A sneak peek at our NF Fest lineup


Over the next few months, we'll be giving you a sneak peek at our NF Fest blogger lineup. Follow this blog and our Facebook page so you don't miss a post!
 
NF Fest will begin with a co-presentation from Karen Blumenthal and Candace Fleming. Candace began her storytelling career with such realistic tales of her three-legged cat that no one knew there was no such pet. Today Candace still creates fiction stories, but her nonfiction is meticulously researched. She writes science and seven biographies including Eleanor Roosevelt, P. T. Barnum, and The Family Romanov, for which she earned seven starred reviews and 20 prestigious awards including the Orbus Pictus Award and a Robert F. Siebert Honor award.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Coming soon!

If you write picture books, you have the StoryStorm online challenge. Poetry writers have NaNoPoWriMo and novelists have NaNoWriMo. But until now, there was NO online monthly challenge for nonfiction writers. 

Which leads to my big news! The seven Nonfiction Chicks have remedied this oversight. Starting in 2020, there will be NF Fest, an online challenge for nonfiction writers for kids! February has 29 days, an auspicious month in which to begin NF Fest! Daily author blog posts, prizes, activities! Stay tuned to learn more. It begins four months from today!

REGISTRATION is January 15 - 31. Much more info to come!