Sharing Roots and Meeting Karen Watson
July 25, 2016 / Elizabeth Lorayne
It is a powerful and meaningful moment to share aspects of your childhood experience with your own 4 year old daughter and husband. We recently traveled to Seattle, WA, journeyed up north to the San Juan Islands and further still to Victoria, B.C. I hadn't spent any decent amount of time in those areas in over 10 years, long before the birth of Piratess Tilly.
It was both exciting and overwhelming to witness and explore hand-in-hand with my daughter the very same docks, shorelines and boats that I had as a child. It quickly became clear how deeply rooted those formative experiences are in my psyche -- there is no doubt that Piratess Tilly was inspired by my own childhood adventures!
To top off this meaningful trip, I finally got to meet Karen Watson, the extremely talented artist behind the watercolors to Piratess Tilly. It was like meeting an old friend! We both laughed at how incredible it is that we've created two picture books without ever meeting in person or even talking on the phone -- it has been all done through email! I cannot help but feel that it is particularly special and synchronistic that we are both from the Pacific Northwest. There is no doubt, in my mind, that this has greatly influenced our bond and our work together on the Piratess Tilly series.
I feel very fortunate to have shared all of this (plus so much more in Seattle itself!) with my family and to have finally met Karen Watson -- what a remarkable summer this has been!
July 25, 2016 / Elizabeth Lorayne/
boating, childhood, daughter, elizabeth lorayne, exploration, family, indie, inspiration, karen watson, pacific northwest, san juan islands, scbwi, seattle, self-publishing, vacation, victoria, white wave press
October Book Reading & Signing Events!
October 17, 2015 / Elizabeth Lorayne
Announcing 2 events this upcoming week! The first is a book reading and signing by Elizabeth Lorayne at Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport, MA. It is part of a fundraiser for the Newburyport Montessori School's Parent Association! The event and reading of The Adventures of Piratess Tilly begins at 4pm. There will be a second children's book author, AJ Smith reading his book Even Monsters at 7pm! The second event is Saturday, October 24th at the Boston Book Festival. Elizabeth will be signing and selling books from 10:45 to 11:30 at the Independent Publishers of New England table on Boylston Street side in Copley Square! Please come support Piratess Tilly and all of the awesome authors at the event! And stay tuned for pictures and posts following the two events! Thank you!
October 17, 2015 / Elizabeth Lorayne/
book reading, book signing, boston book festival, eco-conscious, elizabeth lorayne, events, exploration, fundraiser, galapagos islands, girl power, haiku, independent publishers of new england, ipne, jabberwocky bookshop, montessori, naturalist, pirate, watercolor illustration, white wave press
We won a Moonbeam Children's Book Award!
We are incredibly honored and thrilled to announce that The Adventures of Piratess Tilly has won its first children's book award!! We were 1 of 5 to win a very special award, the Moonbeam Spirit Award for Exploration, a Moonbeam Children's Book Award. See the full list of winners here!
This Moonbeam Spirit Award is "for dedication to children's books and literacy and for inspired writing, illustrating and publishing. This year we chose books in five different areas. All recipients will receive gold medals." The other 4 categories for this Spirit Award are: Creativity, Compassion, Imagination and Preservation.
A little bit about Moonbeam Children's Book Awards, which is in its 9th year:
"Creating books that inspire our children to read, to learn, and to dream is an extremely important task, and these awards were conceived to reward those efforts. Each year's entries are judged by expert panels of youth educators, librarians, booksellers, and book reviewers of all ages. Award recipients receive gold, silver and bronze medals and stickers depicting a mother and child reading and silhouetted by a full moon."
More info to follow once the press release is up!!
2015, children's picture book, elizabeth lorayne, exploration, girl power, gold medal, haiku, karen watson, kidlit, kidlitart, moonbeam children's book award, moonbeam spirit award, poetry, white wave press