In celebration of Women's History Month, Julie Hedlund interviews author Caroline Perry and they discuss their picture book biographies of two extraordinary women: Queen Elizabeth II and Julie Andrews. What led them to write about such famous people? What were the challenges of writing about a person who's still alive? What do they wish they had known when they started writing picture book bios? Find out in today's episode.

You'll discover:

• What inspired their individual picture book bios
• What it's like to write about a living person
• How dogs played a role in both stories
• The surprising things they learned in their research
• How kids can relate to these stories about well-known adults
• The intersections of their stories
• Caroline's marketing efforts
• The pressure of writing about a person everyone knows
• How Caroline's book changed in the second edition after the Queen passed away
• Finding the emotional throughline
• Finding the North Star of the story
• Writing a story vs. writing a list of accomplishments
• How rejections about a real person hit different
• What makes you stop working on a potential bio
• The importance of telling women's stories that have been hidden in history

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Corgi and the Queen by Caroline L. Perry and Lydia Corry
• Song After Song: The Musical Life of Julie Andrews by Julie Hedlund and Ilaria Urbinati
• Messi's Magic: How Lionel Messi Became the G.O.A.T. by Caroline L. Perry and Luciano Lozano
• The Memory Cake by Caroline L. Perry and Jennifer Bricking
• I Am Not Happy by Caroline L. Perry and Sydney Hanson
• I Am Not Grumpy by Caroline L. Perry and Sydney Hanson
• Dandy by Ame Dyckman and Charles Santoso

Find out more about Caroline: https://carolinelperry.com/

If you enjoy the podcast, please like, subscribe, and review so other kidlit writers can find us!

Thank you for listening!