Gather, a Kidlit Podcast
by Boyds Mills
Our mission is to positively impact children by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves. This podcast was created for those who have a passion for storytelling for children and young adult audiences.We publish podcasts with audio from our free online events, called #Gather. From time to time, we also publish interviews with kidlit authors and illustrators with tips, tricks, ideas, and craft lessons.
Episodes
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Gather: 2026 Scholarship Celebration and Info Session
Each year, Boyds Mills proudly celebrates the inspiring journeys of our scholarship recipients and opens the door to a new season of scholarship opportunities. Join us for this special session to hear directly from past awardees, learn about our one-of-a-kind programs (offered both at our retreat...
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#Gather: A Morning at the Whole Novel
Have you ever wondered what a morning at Whole Novel feels like at the retreat center. Or wished you could bring that feeling home with you? Join Alison and Sarah for a cozy taste of a Whole Novel morning. We'll begin with a short, nourishing talk from Sarah on how to place yourself inside your...
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#Gather: Writing for and Writing WITH Kids
Our stories help kids see themselves in the world—and if we're lucky, spark a lifelong love of reading. For many stories, the love of reading ignites another skill— writing! In many classrooms, books serve to nurture readers and young writers. Join us for our next free HFGather exploring what it...
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The Resilient Writer: Writing Through Trauma and Grief
We bring much of ourselves to our work—for the better, many would agree—especially when writing for kids and teens. But, how do we do this work without harm to ourselves? How do we nurture our wounds, while providing honesty and hope to our readers? For this special #HFGather, join Heather...
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Celebrating National Poetry Month with Poets!
Charles Waters and Irene Latham lead our first-ever National Poetry Month Celebration showcasing their NEW poetry collection for children, IF I COULD CHOOSE A BEST DAY. Special guests join for a reading and discussion.
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2025 Scholarship Celebration and Information Session
Our first HFGather of the year focused on celebrating our scholarship program and answering questions. With panelists Alison Green Myers, Nancy So Miller, Trisha Elam Walker, Hoda Elmasry and Darla Himeles.
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Patti Gauch, Session 4
Patti Gauch, a legendary faculty at the Highlights Foundation, has been inspiring authors for over 40 years. Her insightful lectures and mentorship have shaped countless careers. Recently, she revisited some of her favorite Highlights Foundation lectures, and they're being released now for the...
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Patti Gauch, Session 3
Patti Gauch, a legendary faculty at the Highlights Foundation, has been inspiring authors for over 40 years. Her insightful lectures and mentorship have shaped countless careers. Recently, she revisited some of her favorite Highlights Foundation lectures, and they're being released now for the...
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Patti Gauch, Session 2
Patti Gauch, a legendary faculty at the Highlights Foundation, has been inspiring authors for over 40 years. Her insightful lectures and mentorship have shaped countless careers. Recently, she revisited some of her favorite Highlights Foundation lectures, and they're being released now for the...
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Patti Gauch, Session 1
Patti Gauch, a legendary faculty at the Highlights Foundation, has been inspiring authors for over 40 years. Her insightful lectures and mentorship have shaped countless careers. Recently, she revisited some of her favorite Highlights Foundation lectures, and they're being released now for the...
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Writing about Climate Change for Kids: Amplifying Black Voices for Social Justice, Racial Equity, and Caring for Our Planet
Join authors Pam Courtney, Andrea Loney, and Crystal Allen as they discuss one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change. This impassioned #HFGather will explore the power of storytelling to inspire meaningful change for our future. Through this conversation, we hope to connect ways...
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Here Comes Summer–Reading, Swimming and Gathering
Valerie Bolling, Jack Wong, Lucy Ruth Cummins and Emily Joof kicked off summer by sharing four picture books about swimming; revealing the story behind their stories, and have a conversation about representing diversity in picture books.
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Q&A About In-Person Programs at the Highlights Foundation
Special guest alums Jasminne Poulino and Elizabeth Lilly joined some members of the Highlights Foundation team for a question-and-answer session about coming to an in-person program at the Highlights Foundation. If you missed it, you can see the video and read the transcript below.
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Crafting and Sharing Books from the Heart
Author/agent Sera Rivers and agent Linda Camacho joined us for an #HFGather conversation facilitated by author Heather Demetrios about their personal experiences crafting and sharing books with readers–Sera sharing as an author shaping her past into a novel and Linda as a friend of the Rebecca...
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2024 Scholarship Celebration & Information Session
Highlights Foundation Program Director Alison Green Myers celebrated our 2024 scholarship program with some special guests: scholarship recipients Camellia Koo, Karol Ruth Silverstein, Elyse Arring and Shuba Mohan. Special thanks to our ASL Interpreter, Cynthia Norman.
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Erin Entrada Kelly and Laurel Snyder
Erin Entrada Kelly and Laurel Snyder joined George Brown to discuss their writing process, how to write for the middle grade audience, their current works in progress, and their recent middle grade retreat experience.
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Intisar Khanani
Intisar Khanani joined George Brown to discuss writing the Mighy Girls series, being a mentor and mentee at the Highlights Foundation, and her writing process as an intuitive writer.
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Nikki Grimes
Nikki Grimes joined George Brown to discuss the Nikki Grimes Cottage on campus, her most recent book birthday, her works in progress, and her push to get people thinking about banned books.
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Traci Sorell, Monique Gray Smith and Andrea Page
Traci Sorell, Andrea Page, and Monique Gray Smith joined George Brown to discuss the in-community retreat for Native writers and illustrators, the new Native Creatives cabin, scholarshop opportunity for Native writers, and their writing process.
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Delia Ruiz & Alex Villasante
Authors & Highlights Foundation team members Delia Ruiz and Alex Villasante joined George Brown to discuss the work they do for the organization, how they find community here, their works in progress, and the upcoming Latinx Kidlit Book Festival.
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Sara Gómez Woolley, Joe Cepeda, and Aram Kim
Illustrators Sara Gómez Woolley, Joe Cepeda, and Aram Kim joined George Brown on our podcast to talk more about their work style, upcoming projects, and insight into their visit on campus.
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Courtney Pippin-Mathur
Courtney Pippin-Mathur joined George Brown on our podcast to talk more about her art method, and her upcoming projects as an author-illustrator, and the Highlights Foundation course she teaches: From Idea & Sketch to Dummy & Submission: An Author/Illustrator Online Course.
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Rajani LaRocca & Abhi Alwar
Author Rajani LaRocca and illustrator Abhi Alwar joined George Brown on our podcast to talk more about the creative, personal, and emotional process behind their new picture book SUMMER IS FOR COUSINS and Abhi's experience as an illustrator attending the Crafting Novels in Verse workshop.
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Rajani LaRocca & Chris Baron
Authors Rajani LaRocca and Chris Baron joined George Brown on our podcast to talk more about their novel in verse collaboration, how they balance their writing with full-time professions, and hosting the Crafting Novels in Verse workshop.
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Cordelia Jensen
Cordelia Jensen joined George Brown on our podcast to talk more about the classes she teaches at the Highlights Foundation, her work in progress, and everything related to novels in verse.
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Pride & Joy, An Antidote for Erasure
Authors NoNieqa Ramos, Vicki Johnson, and Alexandra Villasante will gather together to talk about illuminating and joyous books that we've loved, and projects that have brought pride and joy to our lives, even in unexpected places. At the end of the session, Em Dickson will join us in…
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Zaynah Qutubuddin
Zaynah Qutubuddin, program manager for the Muslim Storytellers Fellowship program, joined George Brown on our podcast to talk more about her writing experience with the Whole Novel online course, the work of the Muslim Storytellers Fellowship program, and her takeaways from her experience as a...
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M.O. Yuksel & Hatem Aly
Author M.O. Yuksel and Illustrator Hatem Aly were on campus for the Muslim Storytellers Fellowship Symposium. George Brown hosted them on our podcast to talk more about their projects, their takeaways from the Muslim Storytellers Symposium, and the art wall at the Highlights Foundation Retreat...
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Grace Lin & Debbi Michiko Florence
Author Debbi Michiko Florence and Author/Illustrator Grace Lin were on campus for the Asian and Asian American Voices In-Community Retreat. George Brown hosted them on our podcast to talk more about their projects, the retreat they are hosting to celebrate this diverse and talented community, and...
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Charles Waters & Irene Latham Talk Poetry for Kids
Poets Charles Waters and Irene Latham were on campus for their workshop Poetry for Kids: A World of Publishing Possibilities. George Brown hosted them on our podcast to talk more about how their partnership came about, the market and craft of writing poetry for kids, and their writing practices.
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A Quick Jolt of Inspiration to Remind Us Why We Do This (Kids) and a Summer Camp Reunion to Remind Us How We Do It (Together)
A Jolt of Inspiration, Indeed! Program Director Alison Green Myers opened this #HFGather with an inspiring mini-keynote celebrating this creative life, with echoes back to the Highlights Foundation's first summer writers' workshop at the Chautauqua Institution and reflections on moving the summer...
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2023 Scholarship Celebration and Information
Alison Green Myers celebrated our 2023 scholarship program, and answered questions, with some special guests: 2022 scholarship recipients Christiana Doucette, Sid Champagne and Jenniffer Jones and faculty member Sarah Aronson....
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Writing About Trauma and Grief for Kids
At our latest #HFGather, authors Ally Malinenko, Amber McBride and Linda Epstein shared an honest and thoughtful conversation about writing about trauma and grief for kids and teens sensitively and honestly. Resources Mentioned:...
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Income Streams For Children's Book Illustrators
Illustrators Pat Cummings, Shadra Strickland, Xindi Yan and Rudy Gutierrez joined us to talk about this important topic! Pat moderated a lively conversation, asking the others to talk about the kinds of work they've done and to share some of their experience and wisdom. A few things talked about:...
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Empowering Readers & Reader Choice with Julia Torres
The Highlights Foundation's Alison Green Myers and Alex Villasante had a wonderful conversation with educator, advocate, and activist Julia Torres: Empowering Readers and Reader Choice. Among the things they discussed: The importance of encouraging young people to recommend books to each…
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PRIDE Celebration of Stories
Jas Hammonds, Anna-Marie McLemore, NoNieqa Ramos and Em Dickson joined us for a PRIDE Celebration of Stories. They had a wonderful conversation with Highlights Foundation team members Alison Green Myers and Alex Villasante about: Supporting stories you love and getting those books into kids'…
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AMA: Upcoming Workshops-Whole Novel
Faculty Sarah Aronson answers questions and shares what makes the Whole Novel Workshop so special.
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AMA: Upcoming Workshops- Crash Course
At the latest Ask-Me-Anything, we answered some general questions before moving to breakout rooms with Sarah Aronson (Whole Novel Workshop) and Pam Cummings and Harold Underdown (Crash Course in Children's Publishing) This video shares the content from before and after the breakouts. It also...
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Author Sarah Aronson and Amy Guglielmo of Reading Rainbow Live! joined us to celebrate Children's Book Week and Teacher Appreciation Week!
We celebrated Children's Book Week (and Teacher Appreciation Week!) with an #HFGather featuring author Sarah Aronson talking with Amy Guglielmo, Creative Director for Reading Rainbow Live. The two had an enthusiastic conversation about: Amy's work as an artist, art educator and Creative Director…
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A Celebration of Poetry
In this #HFGather, we celebrate Poetry Month with "A Celebration of Poetry" with Margarita Engle & Padma Venkatraman. Padma and Margarita converse about poetry, their stories, and their mutual respect for one another's craft.
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AMA: 2022 Scholarships Season
The Highlights Foundation just introduced a new scholarship application process and we wanted to host an office hour to answer anymore questions our community might have. Program Director Alison Green Myers and Social Media Manager Cat Galeano answered questions submitted and talked a little…
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2022 Scholarship Info & Celebration Night!
It's our Scholarship Info & Celebration Night! We celebrate our scholarship programs, learn about the available scholarships together, and talk about the process for applying. The application deadline is March 13th; more than $75,000 in scholarships will be awarded in total this year. We love…
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AMA: Workshops & Retreats
Do you have a question before you make an investment in a Highlights Foundation workshop? Is there an online course that sounds appealing, but you're not sure if it's the right fit for you? Do you need more information before you make plans to travel to our Retreat Center? Highlights Foundation...
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Celebrating 2021 with Staff & Community!
We had so much fun celebrating our highlights of 2021! Virtual visitors joined us from India (hi, Steve!), Mexico (hello, Yuko!) and all over the U.S. Everyone on the Highlights Foundation Team had things to share, and we were all humbled by the stories shared by our community about our impact on...
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In Conversation to Celebrate and Amplify Latinx Voices in the Kidlit Community
In this #HFGather, five children's and YA authors joined us in conversation to celebrate the start of Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month: Alex Villasante Mia García NoNieqa Ramos Ismée Williams Hilda Eunice Burgos They shared a wealth of resources for Latinx authors and illustrators, and ways for...
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Into the Words with Traci Chee
Author Traci Chee on Highlights Summer Camp, finding voice and morning rituals.
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Tiffany Jackson: From TV Sets to Full Time Writer
Author Tiffany Jackson talks about her jump from the TV/Film world to being a full time writer and how plotting your favorite movie can really help you with your story.
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Shadra Strickland: On Writing, Illustrating & Some
Author/Illustrator Shadra Strickland talks words, illustrations, teaching and secret agenting.
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Catching up with Ashley Hope Perez
In between sessions of the Whole Novel workshop, we caught up with Author and faculty Ashley Hope Perez.
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Which novel workshop should you take in 2020?
Which novel workshop should you take in 2020? Program Director Alison Green Myers breaks down this year's workshops.
About this show
Our mission is to positively impact children by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inform, educate, and inspire children to become their best selves. This podcast was created for those who have a passion for storytelling for children and young adult audiences.We publish podcasts with audio from our free online events, called #Gather. From time to time, we also publish interviews with kidlit authors and illustrators with tips, tricks, ideas, and craft lessons.
Hosted by
Boyds Mills