SCBWI Retreat: Blank page to under a child's pillow - the creative process

Blank page to under a child's pillow - the creative process - a talk by Editorial Director, Picture/Gift Books, Macmillan Children's Books, UK, Suzanne Carnell.

Suzanne began her talk with a picture of her desk back home in the UK and pointed to the various pictures, mementos, reminders and notes around it to introduce the different kinds of work she does as well as the authors and illustrators she works with. Although Macmillan says it doesn't accept unsolicited manuscripts, she said that the post often brought surprizes that the staff couldn't resist looking at. In this way some of their well known authors had first been published.

She described working with people such as Emily Gravett, Julia Donaldson, Kazuno Kohar and Chris Riddell. Altogether the talk provided a tantalising insight into the work of a children's book publisher. The audience loved seeing the examples of books Macmillan had published. It was fascinating to see the process followed during the writing, illustrating and publishing of a book.