Join us for a lively discussion among a panel of four local children’s book illustrators: Marty Kelley, Mary Newell DePalma, David Biedrzycki, and Barbara Johansen Newman.

Wednesday, April 15, 6-8pm in Hunneman Hall in Brookline Main Library

Marty Kelley was born hundreds and hundreds of years ago in Manchester, NH. He is currently a children’s author and illustrator but has, in the past, been a second grade teacher, a baker, a cartoonist, a newspaper art director, a drummer in a heavy metal band, a balloon delivery guy, an animator, and lots of other things. He’ll probably continue writing and illustrating children’s books for many years to come because there are few other jobs where being able to paint a perfect booger-bubble is an actual job requirement. Some of his books are: Fall Is Not Easy; The Rules; Winter Woes; Summer StinksFame,

Fortune, and the Bran Muffins of Doom; Twelve Terrible Things; and A Cape!

www.martykelley.com

Mary Newell DePalma has illustrated twenty picture books and is the author of seven, including A Grand old Tree, an IRA/CBC Children’s Choice in 2006, and Bow-Wow Wiggle-Waggle, one of Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of 2013. In her long and varied illustration career, Mary has drawn just about everything, including eyeballs, cans of shrimp, mice, matchsticks and dogs in swimsuits!

Mary also gives lively, interactive, and fun classroom presentations about the creative process.

Learn more by visiting www.marynewelldepalma.com.

The moment his brother showed him how to draw a face when he was four years old, David Biedrzycki knew what he wanted to be. Growing up he wrote and illustrated his own books for family and friends. A commercial artist since 1980 his work has appeared in magazines, book covers, billboards, and even ice cream boxes. The supermarket is like a gallery of his work. He illustrated his first children’s book in 1996. Now David has returned to his first love of writing and illustrating his own books. The award winning Ace Lacewing Bug Detective and Me and My Dragon put him on the map as an author illustrator. His new book series Breaking News Bear Alert was a Junior Library Guild Selection and nominated for both the Georgia State and Illinois Book Award. He also visits over 70 schools a year all over the world sharing his work with aspiring young authors and illustrators.

You can visit David at: www.davidbiedrzycki.com

Barbara Johansen Newman began her artistic career as a puppeteer and soft sculpture artist in Upstate New York. In 1981 she relocated to Boston and made the move to a career in illustration. Since that time she has illustrated for newspapers, magazines, brochures, calendars, and over twenty-five books for children including the Bones Mystery series written by David A. Adler (Viking) and the Doyle and Fossey Science Detective series, written by Michele Torrey (Dutton/Sterling). She is also the author/illustrator of three picture books: Tex and Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty, Glamorous Glasses, and Glamorous Garbage. When she is not writing and illustrating she designs textiles, paints, and obsessively collects all things vintage and funky.
You can learn more about her at johansennewman.com, glamorousglasses.com, and glamorousgarbage.com.