Kidlit Author Interview with Rosie J. Pova

Rosie J. Pova is a multi-published, award-winning children’s author, poet, speaker, writing coach and school presenter on a mission to inspire children not only to read and write more, but to use their creativity, follow their passions, dream big and believe in themselves. She’s also a Writing Instructor for the Dallas Independent School District, an instructor with Writing Workshops Dallas, teaching online picture book courses to children’s writers, and a Rate Your Story judge.

Rosie speaks on many women’s topics as well and has appeared on radio and print media.

Her newly released picture book, Sunday Rain, was featured in The New York Time and Parents Magazine. Her upcoming picture book, The School of Failure: A Story About Success will be released in spring of 2022 from Yeehoo Press. Visit Rosie at www.rosiejpova.com.

Congratulations on your new book! What was your author journey like? What brought you to picture books?

Thank you, Helen!

My journey to publication was definitely long and full of heartbreaks along the way, but also full of learning, growing, experimenting, and discovering….

I’ve always had a passion for writing and have written in all languages I knew since my adolescent years. But once I became a mom and started reading picture books to my daughter―and then later, started writing my own―there was no turning back! I was hooked and in love with the picture book format, and also determined to become a published author myself.

However, given the fact that English is not my native language, and I had no clue how publishing worked, no wonder it took me 13 years to get my first yes from a traditional publisher. I had so much to learn, so much to catch up on as an immigrant, and so much to experience before I found my footing.

But when that yes came, two more came with it as well, so I received three publishing contracts all at once! That was certainly an exciting victory!

Fast-forward to today, I have five traditionally published books (four out, one upcoming), and my newly released one, Sunday Rain, was recently featured in The New York Times and Parents Magazine which is an absolute dream come true!

Can you give us a short introduction of SUNDAY RAIN?

Yes, absolutely! This is a story about the power of imagination, the love of books, and making new friends. It will resonate with every child who has ever been in a situation of being “the new kid” and trying to adapt to a new situation. The story also has multiple layers that readers are taking notice of and appreciating. Plus, Amariah Rauscher’s illustrations are absolutely adorable and people are loving the art! I’m really happy of the way this book turned out, and that it found its perfect publishing home.

What do you hope readers will learn or discover from reading SUNDAY RAIN?

I hope that they will be reminded to keep their imaginations wild, be encouraged to be spontaneous, confident in their ability to adapt to a new situation, and also embrace change. But most of all, to be themselves!

In addition, they will discover a few surprising elements when they read the story, but I’ll let them discover those on their own when they read the book. 😉

How was the editorial process? Did you do any revisions?

This is one of those rare cases when I did very little revisions of the text after the first draft, and the published book is very close to the original version, too. But the few tweaks that my editor and I made while working together made a huge difference and I am so happy that we were able to elevate the story so much more and infuse it with more meaningful layers in the process!