Faculty

Deb Buschman was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Wisconsin. She graduated from Carthage College, located on Lake Michigan. Over the years she has held various jobs, including busgirl, waitress (how she met her husband), fashion model, copier sales person (didn’t last long) to human resources for a bank. But by far her two favorite careers have been being a mom to four sons and a children's writer. She has been a member of SCBWI since 2011 and served as the Wisconsin Regional Advisor. Deb won an honorable mention in the humor category of the Vivan Kirkfield’s 2022 50 precious words. Her debut picture book A Knight and His Trusty…released this year with The Little Press. She loves writing informational fiction; especially humorous animal stories. You will find her outside in every season of the year and cheese is her favorite food group.

Kirsten W. Larson used to work with rocket scientists at NASA, but now writes books for curious kids. She is the acclaimed author of over 30 nonfiction books for young readers, including The Fire of Stars, an NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor book, as well as the craft book Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book: A step-by-step revision guide, praised as “a must-have for every nonfiction picture book writer’s bookshelf.” You can also find her hosting the Nonfiction Kidlit Craft Conversations podcast, which takes a deep dive into the craft and business of children’s nonfiction.

Irene Latham writes poems and stories from the Purple Horse Poetry Studio & Music Room beside a mountain lake in Blount County, Alabama. The author or co-author of twenty-five books, African Town, winner of the Scott O'Dell Award; Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, a Charlotte Huck Honor book; and The Cat Man of Aleppo, awarded a Caldecott Honor. Her latest adventure is curating poetry anthologies with her "Poetic Forever Friend" Charles Waters, including The Mistakes That Made Us (an NCTE Notable Poetry Book), If I Could Choose a Best Day, and the forthcoming For the Win. Read hundreds of Irene's poems for free at irenelatham.com.

Melissa Manlove is an Executive Editor at Sourcebooks. She has been an editor for 22 years and a children’s bookseller for as long. Her acquisitions encompass picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, graphic novels, and novels in verse. When acquiring, she looks for fresh takes on familiar topics as well as the new and unusual. An effective approach and strong, graceful writing are important to her.

Pat Zietlow Miller has published 23 picture books and has more on the way. Her first book, SOPHIE’S SQUASH, won the Golden Kite Award, an Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Honor, and a Charlotte Zolotow Honor. BE KIND was on the New York Times bestseller list for 10 weeks, and IN OUR GARDEN is a two-time Dolly Parton Imagination Library selection. Pat lives in Wisconsin. Find her at www.patzietlowmiller.com, on Twitter and TikTok at @PatZMiller, and on Instagram at @patzmill.

Children’s book author and indie publisher DARCY PATTISON has written over seventy award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for children. Five books have received starred PW, Kirkus, or BCCB reviews. Awards include the Irma Black Honor award, five NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books, six Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book (CA Reading Assn.), two Junior Library Guild selections, two CLA Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, a Notable Social Studies Trade Book, a Best STEM Book, an Arkansiana Award, and the Susannah DeBlack Arkansas Children’s History Book award. She’s the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature. Her books have been translated into eleven languages.

Teresa Ho Robeson is an Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Picture Book Award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction books on science and her own culture, from picture books to middle grade to graphic novels. She has seven more books scheduled to release over the next three years. A former Co-Regional Advisor for Indiana SCBWI, Teresa also teaches about writing (Highlights, SCBWI, and more) and is working some novels and another graphic nonfiction. She lives on a mini-farm in southern IN with her scientist husband, younger child, and a flock of unruly chickens. Teresa is also an artist and surface pattern designer.