Tag Archives: aspiring authors

Picture Book Basics: How to Set Up a Manuscript

Submissions for our twenty-third annual New Voices Award are now open! Do you or someone you know write for young readers? Are you a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writer hoping to break into the publishing industry for the first time? Then this picture book manuscript template is for you. Read on to learn more!

Continue reading

Five Great Writing Resources for New Voices Contestants

Submissions for our twenty-third annual New Voices Award are now open! Do you or someone you know write for young readers? Are you a writer of color or Indigenous/Native writer hoping to break into the publishing industry for the first time? Then these resources are for you as you refine and finalize your manuscript. Read on for five tools from editors and writers!

Continue reading

Ten Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting to the New Voices Writing Contest

With the New Voices submission deadline quickly approaching, aspiring picture book writers preparing to submit to the contest may be asking themselves “Am I ready to send off my story?”. If you are a writer grappling with this question, you’re in luck! We’ve assembled a checklist of ten questions you should ask yourself before submitting to the 2018 New Voices Award writing contest:

New Voices Award banner

Continue reading

Submissions Now Open for our New Voices and New Visions Award Writing Contests for Authors of Color

Lee and Low Writing Contests

This year, we’re opening submissions for our nineteenth annual New Voices Award and our sixth annual New Visions Award a month early. That means submissions for both awards are now open! The New Voices Award and the New Visions Award encourage writers of color and Native nations to submit their work to a publisher that takes pride in nurturing new talent.

Continue reading

Interview: Axie Oh, author of Rebel Seoul (Out Today!)

Today is the release day of Rebel Seoul, the New Visions Award-winning science fiction debut by Axie Oh! When Lee Jaewon is assigned to partner with supersoldier Tera in Neo Seoul’s top weapons development division, he must decide where he stands: with the people his rebel father protected or with the totalitarian government that claims it will end all war.

To celebrate today’s release, we asked author Axie Oh about her writing process, the inspiration behind Rebel Seoul, and her advice to aspiring authors.

Axie Oh Rebel Seoul

Continue reading

10 Do’s and Don’ts for Writing Realistic Dialogue

You’re a writer working on a manuscript and you’ve finally got your two most important characters in the same room. There’s tension between them. One character has a question and the other has the answer. The conflict your plot has been riding on has finally come to a head—these characters need to say what’s been on their minds for pages!

But how do you make sure that your characters say what they need to in a way that’s believable to the reader? Nothing ruins a moment like this more than when the dialogue doesn’t flow or sound believable. If this is a problem you’re grappling with, don’t worry. We asked two previous New Voices Award-winning authors, Pamela M. Tuck (As Fast As Words Can Fly) and Glenda Armand (Love Twelve Miles Long) for their tips and tricks on writing successful, realistic dialogue.

Continue reading

Interview: Uma Krishnaswami on Citizenship, Culture, and Community

Today is the release day of Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh, a middle grade historical novel about nine-year-old Maria Singh who longs to play softball. To celebrate, we interviewed author Uma Krishnaswami to find out more about her writing process and her inspiration behind Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh.

Continue reading

Submit Your Picture Book Manuscript to the New Voices Award!

New Voices Award Winner sealSummer is right around the corner! That means the eighteenth annual NEW VOICES AWARD is now open for submissions. Established in 2000, the New Voices Award recognizes a picture book manuscript by an unpublished author of color. It was one of the first (and remains one of the only) writing contests specifically designed to help authors of color break into publishing, an industry in which they are still dramatically underrepresented. Continue reading

Announcing Our 2016 New Voices Award Winner

new voices award sealNew York, NY—January 23, 2017—LEE & LOW BOOKS is proud to announce that Roberto Peñas of Olathe, Kansas, is the winner of the company’s seventeenth annual New Voices Award. His manuscript, Pedro Flores: The Toymaker, is a biography of the inventor of the modern yo-yo. In the early 1900s, Flores emigrated from the Philippines to the United States, where he pursued an education and his entrepreneurial ambitions. After reading about a ball-and-string-like toy in the newspaper, Flores was reminded of a similar toy from his childhood. He redesigned the toy and named it “yo-yo” (Tagalog for “come back”). It wasn’t long before the yo-yo became a popular toy. Continue reading

Interview: Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore on Collaboration

Prairie Dog Song cover imageWith Susan L. Roth’s signature collage illustrations and Cindy Trumbore and Roth’s detailed narrative, it’s clear that Roth and Trumbore’s styles are a perfect match. Their award-winning books, The Mangrove Tree, Parrots Over Puerto Rico, and Prairie Dog Song are a testament to their effortless collaboration style and their shared passion for conservation. In this interview, Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore discuss their writing process, their stylistic differences, and working together to create the perfect story.

Continue reading