Members

Anca Sandu Budisan was born in Romania and studied children’s illustration at Cambridge School of Art in England. She is the author and illustrator of Churchill’s Tale of Tails, The Astonishing Case of the Stolen Stories, and the upcoming Home. She is the illustrator of the Lana Lynn series, written by Rebecca Van Slyke; Gnu and Shrew, written by Danny Schnitzlein; Fly, Little Bird, Fly!, and Outside Amelia’s Window, written by Caroline Nastro.

Selene Castrovilla is the award-winning author of ten books. Her forthcoming picture book, Revolutionary Rogues: John André and Benedict Arnold (Fall ’17, Highlights Press) reveals Benedict Arnold’s plot to betray America. Her previous Revolutionary War books include Revolutionary Friends: General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette (a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book, a Booklist Top Ten Biography for Youth, an International School Librarians’ Honor Book, a Eureka! California Reading Association Honor Book ) and By the Sword (an International Literacy Association Notable Book, New York State Reading Association Recommended Intermediate Reading and Summer Reading, a Kansas Reading Circle selection). Melt, Book One in her Rough Romance young adult trilogy, won six honors including the SCBWI Spark Award and the IndieReader Discovery Award. Unpunished, the final book in the series, will be released in 2018 (Last Syllable Books) —along with a picture book biography about dancer Savion Glover (Holiday House). Visit SeleneCastrovilla.com

Caron Lee Cohen has written 15 successful picture books.  She’s especially proud of How Many Fish? a My-First-I-Can-Read Book, and Broom, Zoom! an ample story with a minimal text.  Noteworthy also is The Mud Pony, a retelling of a Pawnee tale, as it has revealed valuable spiritual truths to her.  She has two graduate degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, has taught young children and lives in New York City.

Yvonne Wakim Dennis is the Education Director for the Children’s Cultural Center of Native America and is a board director of Nitchen, Inc. an advocacy organization for Indigenous families in the New York City metro area. She serves on the Arab American National Museum committee for the children/young adult book award, which she received in 2015. Visit yvonnedennis.com

Krystyna Poray Goddu is author of several middle-grade biographies, including A Girl Called Vincent: The Life of Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (SCBWI 2017 Golden Kite Honor Book for Nonfiction); a picture book about Alicia Markova, An Unlikely Ballerina; and co-author, with Krystyna Mihulka, of Krysia—A Polish Girl’s Stolen Childhood During World War II: A Memoir. A regular contributor to Publishers Weekly, she is currently Co-Chair of the PEN America Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee.

Julie Gribble produces works for children’s media in the US and UK. While a Children’s Literature Fellow at Stony Brook Southampton, she founded KidLit TV and KidLit RADIO to help kids, parents & educators discover great children’s books, and connect with the people who create them. Her picture book, Bubblegum Princess, “a delightful book to read aloud” — Kirkus, celebrates the creative spirit. Member of the Children’s Committee of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts: BAFTA-NY and an Emmy Award nominated and multi award-winning writer, screenwriter, filmmaker, and producer. She creates picture books and graphic novels.

Amy Hest has written nearly 50 books for children of all ages, including the New York Times bestseller Kiss Good Night. She especially enjoys writing about family dynamics and dogs. Something else she enjoys is helping new writers in the classes she teaches at Bank Street.

Rosanne L. Kursedt, Ph.D. writes for children and adults. Her children’s books include Sticks vs. Stones, And I Think About You, and Karate Kid. She was the recipient of the SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant Letter of Commendation and is the Co-Assistant Regional Advisor of the New Jersey Chapter of SCBWI. Her books for adults include 100+ Growth Mindset Comments and Teaching Writing with Picture Books as Models.

Robin Newman was a practicing attorney and legal editor, but she now prefers to write about witches, mice, pigs and peacocks. Her debut early chapter book, The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake, A Wilcox & Griswold Mystery, illustrated by Deborah Zemke (Creston Books), earned a starred review and was selected a 2015 Best Middle-Grade Book by Kirkus Reviews and her debut picture book, Hildie Bitterpickles Needs Her Sleep, illustrated by Chris Ewald (Creston Books), was an American Booksellers Association’s 2016 ABC Best Books for Young Readers.

Four of my works have appeared in Highlights for Children. Do Not Open Until the Year 3000, in January 2015. Am I a Frog Yet? appeared in the August 2010 issue. No Petting the Orangutans, Please,” a non-fiction piece, was published in July 2006, and Racing Team, December 2004, received Best in Issue Award. Circus of the Senses, appeared in Spider, The Magazine for Children, in the May-June 2014 issue. A nonfiction article, Mystery Killer—A Lobster Whodunit, appeared in the March-April 2004 issue of Skipping Stones. My Summer with the Monks will be published in the July-August, 2017 issue of Spider, The Magazine for Children, a short middle-grade novel, To the Tower, A Greenwich Adventure, about a mysterious tower on an island in Greenwich, CT was published by the Greenwich Historical Society in 2002 and reprinted in 2012.

I am a member of SCBWI, Bank Street Writers Lab, Greenwich Pen Women, and The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures for which I screen and vote on best films of the year.

Roxie Munro has written and illustrated more than 50 nonfiction and concept books for children. Awards include NYTimes Ten Best Illustrated; Bank Street Cook Prize Honor (STEM). Yearly Best Lists include Smithsonian; Bank Street; CBC-NCSS; CBC-NSTA; Soc. International Librarians Honor; SLJ; NYPL; Time magazine; Horn Book. She is on the Board of KidLit TV, and currently acts as Co-Chair of the Bank Street Writers Lab.

Susanna Reich is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults. She currently acts as Co-Chair of the Bank Street Writers Lab.  She is Past Chair of the PEN America Children’s Book Committee. Among her honors are the  Tomás Rivera Award, International Latino Book Award, Orbis Pictus Honor, ALA Notable, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults and three Bank Street Best Books of the Year.

Barbara Samuels is the author/illustrator of the Faye and Dolores series of picture books, one of which, Duncan and Dolores, received a Christopher Award and was featured on the show, Reading Rainbow. Among her more recent titles are: The Trucker, Fred’s Beds and The Chickens are Coming. She has a master’s degree in education from Teachers College, Columbia University and has taught young children. And, she studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts, and also worked in animation. Visit barbarasamuelsbooks.com

Cynthia Weill is the Director of the Center for Children’s Literature and chairs the Bank Street Writers Lab.  She holds a doctorate in education from Teachers College Columbia University as well as masters degrees from Wesleyan and the University of Pennsylvania. Cynthia has lived in Europe, Asia and Latin America.   Her books Ten Mice for Tet, ABeCedarios,  Opuestos, Colores de la vida, Count me in!, Mi Familia Calaca and Animal Talk reflect her travels and use local artisanal work to illustrate basic concepts. Visit cynthiaweill.net