A Talk With Adam Rex

Nothing I like better than a good interview. Except maybe chocolate. God, I love chocolate. Sweet, delicious, forbidden chocolate (can you tell it's Lent?).

Back to interviews. One Ms. Kelly R. Fineman has a simply delicious (still stuck on chocolate) one-on-one with everyone's favorite illustrator Adam Rex. He also happens to create clay heads. Clay heads that I want. Clay heads that I, daresay, NEED. In this interview there's a very nice shout-out to my HMOCLification of Mr. Rex.

Betsy Bird over at Fuse #8 named you a Hot Man of Children's Literature in September, 2006. Has your life changed as a result and, if so, how?

Well, the pageant was nice. But before you're crowned you don't realize how many library ribbon-cuttings and the like you'll be asked to attend.

Ain't it the truth?

The best news of the lot? In the wake of Hugo Cabret, Mr. Rex has his own illustrated novel coming out. It's called The True Meaning of Smekday. Oh, sweet awesomeness. Please check this interview out. It's remarkably amusing and I urge Ms. Fineman to do many others in the near future.

Thanks to Chicken Spaghetti for the link.

Matt Phelan Interview

Oh, this is neat. Anyone heard of A Thousand Times No before? It's a kind of podcast site that discusses a single topic; what happens when somebody receives a great big NO? Their February 4th production interview is with Matt Phelan.

Just this past Saturday I attended Book Fest at the Arts & Humanities Library (the one with the lions) here in NYC. And who should be seated behind me but none other than Mr. Phelan himself. Such a nice guy. Had I but known that the illustrator of the most recent Newbery winner was going to attend, I would have brought my copy for his signature. Ah well. Another year. In any case, we had a great bunch o' conversations. Amusingly enough we ended up at one point talking about Shaun Tan's work on The Rabbits... and then M.T. Anderson spoke not long thereafter and also mentioned The Rabbits... and then I went home and reviewed Tan's The Arrival. I love meaningless coincidence.

The Thousand Times No piece talks about how Matt wanted initially out of college to be a screenwriter. I love stories of how people came to their eventual calling in life. SCBWI fans will appreciate his repeated mentions of the organization. The interviewer also is good enough to have Matt walk listeners through the process one goes through when illustrating a children's book. And at one point Matt laments that there aren't enough kidlit cocktail parties out there. So maybe I'm filling a void here. Hrm....

Anywho, it's well worth checking out. Long long long, but worth it.

Thanks to Children's Illustration for the link.