Craft and Community: My VCFA Peeps are the Best!

Plus an Interview with Picture Book Author Kate Hosford

Photo credit: Christopher Welch

Years ago, after I realized I had a lot of stories for kids in me and I wanted to write them down, I was advised to join a writing critique group. There, I was told, I would gain community around my writing, and partake in what I’ve come to understand is an essential part of writing for publication—the giving and receiving of feedback. To be sure, anyone is welcome to write whatever and however they choose, only if there’s a thought or desire to be published and share work with the reading world, I have come to believe—fervently—that feedback and revision are super important to the writing process. I believe in critique so strongly that I decided to hone my writing craft even more deeply through Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. During those golden MFA semesters, not only did I write an entire draft of my May 2025 debut novel Kat’s Greek Summer, but also I met an inspiring, fun and talented group of children’s writers. From picture books to chapter books to verse novels, to middlegrade and YA novels, well, I was surrounded by the most interesting and engaging group of fellow students I could possibly imagine. What a delicious and satisfying experience; how grateful I am to be in touch closely with many of my VCFA writing colleagues all these years later.

Which brings me to today’s post where I offer an interview with one of my incredible VCFA colleagues: the brilliant and generous Picture Book Author Kate Hosford (who I learned recently grew up in my adopted home of Waitsfield, Vermont) Enjoy!

What does it feel like for you to sit down to write? Describe?

Writing picture books and poetry usually feels joyous once I get started. Sometimes I think I am too busy to write, but putting it off is almost always a mistake. I feel more grounded when I am writing. As poet Mary Oliver said, “if you show up to your writing desk, your muse will show up too.” Also, the more I write the more willing I am to take on my non-writerly tasks when I am done.

I seem to have an easier time with the rhythms of rhyming poetry than I do with prose. The rhythms of writing prose are equally important, but less defined. It’s necessary to vary the length of the sentences to give each paragraph a shape. I’m finding this is especially true now that I’m trying to write a humorous middle grade novel. Humor is so dependent on timing, and the wrong combination of sentences or even the wrong number of words or syllables can make a paragraph fall flat.

What is it like for you as an author? Please share any aspect you wish, like, the best aspects, the hardest?

My favorite part is definitely the writing itself. Once a book is complete, promotion is a whole other skill set and one that takes constant work. The energy of writing is about accessing something within oneself, and the energy of promotion is about projecting some of that energy outward. It can be somewhat jarring to switch from one to the other. Having said that, once the adjustment is made, I love interacting with students at school visits and book fairs.

What is a favorite memory/experience/surprise of connecting with a reader?

One lovely surprise was that after the translation rights sold for Infinity and Me in Romania, there was a celebration of the book at a library in Bucharest. They even made up an infinity song!

The Romanian translation is in the lower left-hand corner.

It is also wonderful when readers reach out. Recently, I had a mother write me a beautiful email about Mama’s Belly, which was instrumental in getting her through the tough time leading to the birth of her second child.

At book fairs and school visits, I like to show children this illustration from my book A Songbird Dreams of Singing: Poems about Sleeping Animals and ask them why the otters are holding hands. There is often some wide-eyed child who says, “Because they love each other!”

How has the recent climate of book banning and challenges affected you/your choices as a writer? As a published author?

I don’t think book banning has actually affected my choice of subject material, but I am always horrified to see the various attempts nationwide to censor children’s literature and present the choice as good teaching or good parenting. Those in our society with dictatorial aspirations know that it is easier to control an ignorant populace, and the shutting down of ideas is part of the attempt to make sure that the upcoming generation is not allowed to read widely and freely. I imagine the hope of so-called 'concerned parents and school board members’ is that authors will eventually begin to engage in self-censorship. As Judy Blume says, "It's not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read”. As authors, we must guard not only against censorship, but also against self-censorship.

Why are paper books still relevant?

For me, curling up with a good picture book is not the same as curling up with an electronic version of the story on a tablet. A picture book is a beautiful three-dimensional object. A whole team of talented people worked hard to design both the inside and the outside of the book so that it can be shared, most often by an adult reading to a child. Reading a picture book can also be a tactile experience. For my latest picture book, You’ll Always Be My Chickadee, there were so many lovely details that the publisher considered. The dust jacket has spot gloss on the title which a child can touch, and once the dust cover is removed, there is a different image on the actual hardcover. The end papers at the beginning of the book show plants and animals that the mother and daughter encounter during the day (at the beginning) and at night (at the end). Hopefully a child will flip back and forth between the two, compare them to each other, and flip through the book searching for these creatures. The page turn is also an important part of reading a picture book, and the rhythm is not the same if one is using a tablet.

Middle grade and young adult books are less illustrated, but they are still carefully considered three-dimensional works of art that make the reading experience more intimate. I would also argue that the more time we can spend away from screens, the better!

Dust jacket

Design on the actual cover

Day and night end pages

What is a question no one ever asks, but you wish they would? What is your answer?

An interesting question might be, “If you were not a children’s book writer, what would you be?” I think I would like to be a lyricist for songwriters or for musical theater. I took a class in songwriting for musical theater years ago, and it was fabulous. I would also love to be the person who chooses the artists for the New York City subway mosaics. Some of the mosaics are so beautiful that I just stop and stare. Here is a photo I took the other day—a detail from "Departures and Arrivals” by artist Ben Snead at the Jay Street/ Metrotech stop in Brooklyn. I had missed my stop, but I think it happened just so I could see these birds.

All photos taken by Kate Hosford (except the credited pic at the beginning, of course)

Kate Hosford is the author of six picture books and two poetry collections, garnering awards such as an American Library Association Notable Book, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Junior Library Guild Selection, and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book. Her books have been published in eight languages. She is a graduate of Amherst College and Vermont College of Fine Arts where she earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Her most recent book, You’ll Always Be My Chickadee, was published by Chronicle Books in spring 2024. Kate lives in Brooklyn with her family and is represented by Victoria Wells Arms at Wells Arms Literary/HG Agency.

Book-ku

You’ll Always Be My Chickadee by Kate Hosford, PB, RL: all

Lovely rhyming text

And truly gorgeous pix.

A family feast