Clelia Gore is a lawyer-turned-literary-agent who heads Martin Literary Management’s kid lit division. She represents authors and illustrators in both fiction and nonfiction, from board books to young adult.

As faculty for SCBWI’s upcoming Writers & Illustrator’s Day, she will lead a session titled “The Interplay Between Art and Text in Picture Books.” She also will critique manuscripts and will be an illustration contest judge.

Erlina Vasconcellos: What do you want participants to take away from your breakout session at Writers & Illustrators Day?

Clelia Gore: I get two kinds of picture book queries: author/illustrators and authors only. For people who are authors only, they sometimes need a little help seeing how the art and writing can work together to tell the story. A lot of picture book writers who are early in their careers don’t understand how the two forms of art interplay in telling the story.

For authors who are illustrators, it’s honing in on things to think about when crafting their story…Hopefully people will leave inspired and it will lead to thoughtfully crafted books.

EV: What question are you asked often? Continue reading →