You May Contribute A Verse
This is the podcast You May Contribute a Verse, where we talk to kidlit creators, share their stories, and learn from their journeys!
Episodes
Proudly portraying professionalism per perennial plans, presenting: Prittany Pomales... I mean Brittany!
It Started with a P just released in April! (But obviously it hadn't yet when we first recorded this chat last year)
Enjoy - she is a pleasure!
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Our sponsor is Tielmour Press! Check out Fungi Are More than Mushrooms, out March 2025, AND Jon's new kids' show, Hook Book Barrel!
Our reviews this week:
I ROCK MY HAIR by An...
Our response to meeting Vicky Fang? Charmed, I'm sure.
Check out Vicky's chapter book series Ava Lin, the latest installment, Ava Lin, Super Duper Happy, out June 2025!
Our reviews this week:
LLAMAS GO BANANAS by Briony Britten, illustrated by Pauline Gregory
THE INTERPRETER, by Olivia Abtahi, illustrated by Monica Arnaldo
IT STARTED WITH A P, by Brittany Pomales, illustrated by Andrew Joyner
Judy Campbell-Smith is here! Check out her books Baseball for Breakfast (coming 2026), Ice Cream Everywhere, and AJ's Neighborhood, AND make sure and join PB Power Hour if you can. It's a great resource for the community.
Enjoy!
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Our sponsor is Tielmour Press! Check out Fungi Are More than Mushrooms, out March 2025, AND Jon's new kids' show, Hook Book Barrel!
Our reviews this week:
Today’s guest is picture book author Carrie Finison make sure to check out her newest release, Pigs Dig A Road illustrated by Brian Biggs to see her incredible rhyming skills in action!
We chat about Carrie’s start with Baby Bug magazine and writing short snippets, Latin scansion, of all things, and how rhyme has ruined radio for her! We also dove into the Rutgers conference and Carrie was kind enough to share the intro to a piece ...
Do you know Bitsy Kemper? You should. She's fastidious, fanatical, and fantastic. If you've never seen it before, check out her List O'Publishers and all her books, especially her two upcoming books, Best Friends with Grandma and Best Friends with Grandpa!
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Our sponsor is Tielmour Press! Check out Fungi Are More than Mushrooms, out March 2025, AND Jon's new kids' show, Hook Book Barrel!
Our reviews this week:
Team Versy is Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, outdoors person, and podcaster, Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster Jon Seymour, podcast wizard, author/illustrator and family man.
This episode was proudly sponsored by Tielmour Press
Our guest for this conversation was Alastair Heim. You can find Alastair here.
Carter Higgins, author, illustrator, motion designer, librarian, great thinker, is here! You have probably read her books already because they're great, but one of Josh's favorites is discussed within!
And hey, not that you weren't going to anyway, but stay til the very end for an introspective discussion about Carter's next book, Round and Round the Year We Go, which is delightful and contains human children!
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Our sponsor is ...
Team Versy is Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, outdoors person, and podcaster, Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster Jon Seymour, podcast wizard, author/illustrator and family man.
This episode was proudly sponsored by Tielmour Press
Our guest for this conversation was Erika Cohen Lyons. You can find Erika here.
If any editors are listening, Adria Goetz loves you!
Adria stays open. She reads your queries. She tracks editor interest (even poop jokes). She's thoughtful and nice and get ready for an educational chat.
This conversation was recorded so long ago (April 2024!) that we still called Twitter Twitter (and we still enjoyed a community there). I think the state of the industry is just as glacial and frustrating as it was way back then,...
Today’s guest is Chiara Colombi, author of Rocket Ship, Solo Trip and the follow-up Rocket Beams, Lunar Dreams both illustrated by Scott Magoon. We chat about marketing your debut, being your own advocate, and asking yourself why you write. But you’ll have to listen all the way to the end to hear our ideas on revolutionizing the query process and to hear Chiara’s Dead Manuscript!
But, really, agents, if you’re listening, please chi...
Zany hijinks ensue with Kirk Reedstrom! News flash, we had this conversation six months before publishing it, and wouldn't you know it, it's dated because there's now a FOURTH book in Kirk's Duck and Moose series out next year! The man is hustling!
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Our sponsor is Tielmour Press and our reviews happen to be coincidentally for Neigh Kid, by Alan Mayfair and Gabi Moraes, just out as of December 7, 2024 <3
Team Versy is Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, outdoors person, and podcaster, Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster Jon Seymour, podcast wizard, author/illustrator and family man.
This episode was proudly sponsored by Tielmour Press
Our guest for this conversation was Phaea Crede. You can find Phaea here. And Phaea’s podcast Brodents can be found here.
A yoga instructor's guide to demon hunting? Not this time. It's Kat Chen and her Play with Me series! A hoot indeed. Thank you to Joyce Sweeney for hooking up this conversation and - in the intervening months - signing me (Josh) as a client! This conversation serves as a huge endorsement of working with The Seymour Agency through the lens of Kat's super charming experience.
Our little podcast is sponsored by Tielmour Press! For a t...
Our guest today is Brian LaRossa editor at Scholastic. We talk about lowering the barrier to entry, mentorships and imposter syndrome. At its core the conversation explores inclusivity at every level and having more voices at the table.
This episode was proudly sponsored by Tielmour Press
You can find Brian here.
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This episode’s book reviews:
Lucky you if you happen to listen to this episode the day it's released because it's also publication day for Justin Colon and James Rey Sanchez's Impossible Possums!
You're also lucky in the future because now you can go read Impossible Possums and then use this episode as a behind the scenes sneak peek into the possum sausage-making, which I guarantee is more fun than it might sound like.
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Our guest for this conversation was Maria Marianayagam, kidlit author, known for her STEM and girl power books. We talk preempts, option clauses and subbing on proposal.
You can find Maria here.
DON’T MISS AN EPISODE! Sign up for our newsletter here!
This episode’s book reviews:
If you want to be a part of the #KidlitForKamala movement or want more information click here.
Bedrooms, bathrooms, and bookshelves. All other people's places we should be staying out of unless invited. Especially if you're a fascist.
Martha Brockenbrough is here! Talking Kidlit for Kamala, continuing children's lit education, and the frankly shocking number of books about bigfoot that one person can write.
But mostly Kidlit for Kamala!
A reminder from Martha: everything is political. All the things we take for granted, all ...
Our guest for this conversation is Anita Yasuda. We chat about her start in the educational market, her journey to an agent and her new book UP, UP, EVER UP JUNKO TABEI: A Life In The Mountains illustrated by Yuko Shimizu.
You can find Anita here.
DON’T MISS AN EPISODE! Sign up for our newsletter here!
This episode’s book reviews:
If you want to be a part of the #KidlitForKamala movement or want more information click here.
All it takes is one person to believe in your work for you to break through this crazy industry.
And all it takes is several hundred persons to listen to this interview with kind soul and skilled author Dianna Wilson Sirkovsky!
Dianna's books, James's Reading Rescue and Just One Pebble, are kind acts of writing based on kind acts of goodness. Give them a read and get inspired!
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Our guest for this conversation is, the amazing and delightful Sylvie Frank, editorial director at Disney Hyperion. We chat behind-the-scenes at Disney, context switching, and trusting your critique groups.
You can find Sylvie here.
DON’T MISS AN EPISODE! Sign up for our newsletter here!
This episode’s book reviews:
If you want to be a part of the #KidlitForKamala movement or want more information click here.
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