Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester is happy to shine our spotlight on Amy Maranville, one of the authors who will be at THIS SUNDAY’s Bharat Babies event from 1:00 – 3:00 PM.
Amy Maranville has been with Bharat Babies since the very beginning. She has a BA in English literature and anthropology from Smith College, and an MA in children’s literature from Simmons College. She is a passionate believer in the importance of diversity in the books we give to our children, and is proud to present positive images of diversity in her stories. Amy lives in Somerville, MA with her husband, two sons, and beloved basset hound.
Thank you so much for joining us, Amy! For readers unfamiliar with your work, how would you describe what you write? What can readers expect from your work?
I would describe my work as empowered children’s literature. I try to find ways to give my characters agency within their stories. So when they are presented with problems, the solutions often come from the child’s own experience, instead of from an adult voice. Our Bharat Babies texts always include a focus on diverse thought and presentation of an underrepresented group of voices. When you pick up a book with my name on it, I hope you will find empowered children with their own unique voices.
What was the biggest challenge in writing and putting out picture books? How did you overcome that challenge?
Writing picture books is tougher than it looks. The texts need to be succinct, thoughtful, different, and (above all else) entertaining. All of our books have the added goal of presenting diversity in children’s literature, which comes with a host of responsibilities for the author. The biggest challenge, for me, is keeping the text short while also conveying emotion, action, and suspense. My best work comes after many revisions to cut out unnecessary words, and consider how to create page-turning moments.
Writers very often have furry or feathered or otherwise non-human companions to “help” them through their work. Do you? What do you have? How do they “help” (or, “not-help”) with your writing?
This is the best question of all time. My writing companion is my very lazy beagle/basset hound. His name is Barney and he loves sleeping, eating, and more sleeping. The occasional sniff is acceptable, so long as it is proceeded and followed by more sleep. As I type, he is snoring on my feet, blowing puffs of warm air against my toes. He may be lazy, but his presence is cozy and calming, which makes him the ultimate writing companion.
Where can people find your work? (Besides ABSW ;)–though they should totally check here first!)
I always tell people that the best place to find my work is on the Bharat Babies website. The texts are also available in local shops throughout Massachusetts (including Magpie Kids and Porter Square Books in Cambridge), and on Amazon.com.
How can we follow your work, share your awesomeness, or otherwise stalk you in a totally non-creepy way?
An excellent question! I would say that following Bharat Babies on Instagram and Facebook is always a good way to know what we’re up to.
Thank you, again, for joining us, Amy! We look forward to having you and the team from Bharat Babies at our store THIS SUNDAY, March 25 from 1:00 – 3:00 PM.
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester 