The Picture Book Biography Toolbox:
What You Need to Know When You Dig Into Someone Else's Story
Many authors find the idea of writing a picture book biography intimidating, but author and Writing Barn Founder Bethany Hegedus has cracked the code. She shares her secrets from the experience of writing three PB bios published, with three more under contract. In this webinar, you will learn:
- A powerful exercise to help you uncover what subjects YOU were born to write about. This exercise will change the way you view ALL of your writing.
- The ins and outs of research and resources.
- What to do if there is another book in the marketplace about your subject.
- How to utilize page turns in picture book biographies.
- Permissions: when and how do you get family or estate involvement.
- Plus much more!
Your Instructor
BETHANY HEGEDUS’ books include the award-winning Grandfather Gandhi and the newly released Be the Change: A Grandfather Gandhi Story, both co-written with Arun Gandhi, grandson to the Mahatma and illustrated by Evan Turk.
Bethany writes about the South in her picture book Alabama Spitfire: The Story of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird and her middle grade novels Truth with a Capital Tand Between us Baxters. Her novels are known for gracefully handling issues of race, class, and cross-group friendships.
A graduate of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children & Young Adults, Bethany is prior editor of the literary journal Hunger Mountain. Bethany is the Owner and Creative Director of The Writing Barn, a writing retreat, workshop and event space in Austin, Texas.
She has sat on panels with Ilyasha Shabazz, Malcolm X’s daughter, and Arun Gandhi, grandson to the Mahatma. A former educator, Bethany is an in-demand presenter and she speaks and teaches across the country.