Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Garton Scanlon
Hi Liz Garton, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I loved language from the start, and in my 20s, I got degrees in both journalism and creative writing, I helped edit a poetry journal, and taught English at the community college, and moved into corporate copywriting. It was all good practice. But it wasn’t until I had my children, when I was re-introduced to picture books, that everything clicked and my heart exploded open. I could not get over the lyricism and humor and possibility and re-readability of picture books. And the tender intimacy of sharing them. I wanted in. That was 25 years ago, and I’ve done this ever since. There is nothing like an audience of young people — the ones waking up to story, to the world, and to themselves. That still gives me shivers.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There was a nearly five year gap between publishing my first book and my second. Now I’m able to see that as the time and space I needed to really learn the form, but at the time it was frustrating and disheartening. And there have been countless rejections since then; that’s inherent in the work. The thing about making a career as an artist is it’s essentially a freelance gig — with all the wobbles and hustle and fear, and with none of the safety nets — forever. It’s worth it, but wow, it’s humbling.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I write for children — from the very youngest pre-readers, in board books and picture books, to newly independent readers in chapter books, and adolescents in middle grade novels. I write from a really intuitive place (I’m described as a pantser — because I fly by the seat of my pants) so if I have a brand or speciality or trademark, it’s only accidentally and in retrospect. Much of my work features the natural world, because that’s what I love, what I am most awestruck by, and what matters to me. Nearly half of my picture books are written in rhyme (and I hope the ones that aren’t still have a musicality to them, because they’re meant to be read and relished out loud.) In my books for older kids, voice and language still matter to me a lot, but I also use those spaces to try to actively see and listen to and hold and give credence to the lived and felt experiences of young people who aren’t always listened to or validated or empowered by the big wide world. That mattered to me when I was 8 and 12, and it matters to me now.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Art & Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orland, is a bedside table book
Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom articulates the magic of making books for young people
Kidlit Happy Hour demystifies the process through warm, loving, funny discussions with creators https://www.kidlithappyhour.com/
But mostly, reading lots and lots and lots of the kind of books I admire and aspire to — there’s nothing better than that
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lizgartonscanlon.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lizgardensalad
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liz.g.scanlon
- Other: https://bsky.app/profile/lizgardensalad.bsky.social
Image Credits
Elizabeth McGuire
Noah Nofz
