Listening to Trees Part 2 - Creating a Picture Book Biography with Author Holly Thompson and Illustrator Toshi Nakamura
Oct 12, 2024
Tokyo Women's Plaza, 5-53-67 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 Japan
Holly Thompson and Toshiki Nakamura's 'Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker' (2024)
This is the second part of our two-part event 'Listening to Trees'. (Part one - Sketch and Scribble information can be found here).
Creating a Picture Book Biography with Author Holly Thompson and Illustrator Toshi Nakamura
Holly Thompson and Toshiki Nakamura will share the process of creating the picture book, Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker. Holly will recount her initial idea followed by research, visits to George Nakashima Woodworkers in Pennsylvania to observe, photograph and consult with George's daughter, and the drafts that led ultimately to the haibun form, acceptance of the manuscript, then revision and full development of back matter. Toshi will describe his process from accepting the assignment to working with art director, sketching roughs, developing the illustrations using iPad tools, then revising for nonfiction accuracy, and illustrating backmatter. Q&A will follow.
This event will take place at the Tokyo Women's Plaza
Date: Saturday October 12th, 2024
Time: 6:00 - 7:30 pm
There will be a charge for this speaker event payable at the door:
SCBWI Members - 1,000 JPY
SCBWI Student Members - 800 JPY
Non-SCBWI attendees - 1,200 JPY
Non-SCBWI Student attendees - 1,000 JPY
Following the event we will have dinner at a nearby restaurant. There are limited places for dinner, so please let us know if you would like to join us ASAP by writing to Mari Boyle - japan-ra@scbwi.org
Holly Thompson
Holly Thompson (hatbooks.com) is the author of the picture books Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker; Twilight Chant; One Wave at a Time; and The Wakame Gatherers, and the verse novels Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, The Language Inside and Orchards. A long-time resident of Japan now based in Massachusetts, she writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults, and teaches creative writing in Japan, the U.S., and places in between.
Toshiki Nakamura
Toshiki Nakamura (artoftoshi.com) is a Japanese illustrator and character designer for animation, currently based in Mie, Japan. He is the illustrator of Fall Down Seven Times, Stand Up Eight: Patsy Takemoto Mink and the Fight for Title IX, and Hush, Little Trucker. He has worked as a character designer on a number of animated features, TV series and ad pitches worldwide. He is an avid runner who trains for trail-running races and Spartan Races almost every day, and he enjoys cooking and playing the piano in his spare time.
Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker
A poetic and moving picture book biography celebrating the life and work of the visionary Japanese American woodworker George Nakashima. Words by Holly Thompson. Pictures by Toshiki Nakamura (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House), October 22, 2024. 48 pages. (Available for preorder from Amazon US & Kinokuniya Bookstore Japan online)