Interview: Emma Walton Hamilton
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your newest picture book, SHY, is “a sweet, smooth, and stylish call for listening to different voices” (Kirkus). Its “alliterative text and calligraphic flair bring a pleasing polish to this empowering tale” (Publishers Weekly). What tips do you have for authors on crafting an engaging picture book voice?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Thank you! There are, of course, several different aspects to picture book voice – there are the voices of individual characters, the general voice of the story, and the author’s voice, which can sometimes be “heard” or sensed in the background. What I tell my students and editing clients is that the first two are things you can actively work on, and the third tends to emerge on its own across multiple books and with years of experience.
I work on character voicing by trying to get to know my characters as well as possible to determine what unique elements of speech they might use in their dialogue. I consider their age, cultural and socio-economic background, upbringing, education, parenting, exposure to other influences, experiences, interests, and more. I might even create a glossary of sorts to remind myself how they speak and what specific phrasing or vocabulary they might regularly use.
The voice of the story tends to be influenced by the type of story I’m trying to tell. Is it a bedtime story or a romp? Is it educational or an epic adventure? I love mimetic writing, which is writing that matches the style and rhythm of the action in any given scene… so a chase scene might be clipped and fast, and a reflective scene might be more lyrical and, well, reflective.
I also love to lean into the vernacular of the subject I am writing about. So, for a story about music, for instance, I will research and make a list of musical words, terms, and phrases that I might be able to use for double duty in the storytelling… in other words, instead of saying a character “knocked” at the door, I might say they “drummed.” I’m a real word nerd and I love playing with language, so for me, these voice exercises are part of the fun of writing and revision.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Inspired by a true event, your recent picture book, WAITING IN THE WINGS, is “adorable, enchanting, and very ducky indeed” (Kirkus). School Library Journal added, “Animal lovers and theater kids of all ages will eagerly flock to this title.” Given your extensive experience as an actress, director, and producer, do you have a favorite theater memory? And how do kids benefit from participating in theater?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Having grown up in and around the theater, and having run my own professional theater for seventeen years, it’s very hard to pick a favorite memory… there are so many, ranging from the goosebump moments of certain shows, to the unexpected standing ovation at the end of the very first performance in the theater that my husband and I co-founded, to the moment a high school student embraced me in tears after performing in a play they wrote based on a courageous true story from their own life. Theater is simply amazing, and offers so many benefits to kids and adults alike. Among the many benefits to kids from participating in theater is experiencing empathy and compassion, developing critical thinking skills, practicing teamwork, and developing confidence… the list goes on and on.
SARAH STEINBACHER: “Music drives away a depressive fog” (Publishers Weekly) in your picture book, THE ENCHANTED SYMPHONY. How has music shaped your own life? And what do you hope children take away from this story?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: The Enchanted Symphony is about the power of music—and the arts in general—to revitalize the spirit, and to unify a community. It was inspired by a true event that happened during COVID when arts houses were struggling because they had no audiences, so a little opera house in Barcelona arranged an audience of house plants for its musicians to play for. We loved that idea and image, but our fable imagined a more metaphorical reason a community might develop a malaise and be reinvigorated by the power of music. In our book, the villagers lose touch with their joy and authentic selves when they get caught up in focusing too much on tourism and commercialism… but rediscover those gifts through music and communion. Music and the arts have played that role in my life on multiple occasions. That’s a fairly sophisticated message for a picture book, though— we were really just hoping that our young readers might come away with a new appreciation for or curiosity about music, and maybe a desire to visit their local performing arts centers to learn more about it.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Your picture book, THE FIRST NOTES: THE STORY OF DO, RE, MI, is “note-able, indeed” (Booklist, starred review), “a charming collaboration that strikes just the right notes” (Kirkus, starred review). How do you approach collaborating on a project like this?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Are you sensing a common theme yet in all our books? ;-) That book took eleven years to develop. We started out thinking we would use the Do, Re, Mi song as a way to teach children some basic music theory, with a bit of the history about the man who invented the way to write music—a Benedictine monk named Guido Arrezzo in 11th century Italy. But, after many years of trying and thinking and researching, we realized that what the story really wanted to be was a picture book biography about Guido and his discovery. We consulted a lot of medieval specialists and music historians and learned everything we could about Italy in that time period, about the Benedictine order, and about Guido himself, and then tried to write the story in a way that would interest today’s kids, which was challenging!
SARAH STEINBACHER: In your updated middle grade novel, THE GREAT AMERICAN MOUSICAL, you used “the inherent humor of stock theater types to take readers on a romp rife with mouse/theater puns that will delight any Broadway-loving kiddo…a real ‘coup de fromage’” (Bulletin). How do you write humor that will land with today’s kids? And do you have a favorite pun from the book?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: The first version of The Great American Mousical was published in 2006, and we were very fortunate to be given the opportunity to revise and update it twenty years later, after it was adapted into a stage musical (which is just about to be licensed for production in schools and theaters around the country!) We wrote it as a valentine to musical theater, using all the theater tropes and humor we could squeeze into the story from our own backgrounds. We didn’t actually focus on writing humor that would land with today’s kids – we focused on making ourselves smile, and hoped that by extension kids and family members might do the same. In the updated version, we were able to improve on a few things and make it a bit more “politically correct” for today’s audiences. One of my favorite things about the book is that all the mice are named after famous characters in classic Broadway shows, but that is never overtly stated, it’s just an inside joke for any theaterphile adults or kids who might be reading along.
SARAH STEINBACHER: How has your experience as a Grammy-Award-winning audiobook voice-over artist impacted how you approach writing stories for children?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I absolutely love doing voiceover/audiobook narration work. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I started out as an actor before transitioning to directing, producing, and finally writing, so doing narration allows me to lean into that background while staying safely inside my own recording booth (aka closet!) That said, the focus in audiobook voicing for kids books is on the readaloud experience for the listener—finding ways to make the characters come alive, and lift the story off the page in a musical way that lands nicely on the ear. That has taught me to think about the importance of the readaloud experience (which most kids books are designed for, or at least expected to stand up to) while writing—so I do a lot of reading my own work out loud while I am writing and revising, or asking other people to read it aloud to me, to ensure I am meeting that goal.
SARAH STEINBACHER: You’ve also been nominated twice for your role as Executive Producer and Writer for the Netflix show, Julie’s Greenroom. How does writing for a children’s television program differ from writing a picture book?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Actually, there are more similarities than differences! Picture books are a visual medium, as is film / television—in both cases, you are writing with characters, action, scenery, costumes, and props in mind. You are thinking about scene changes—essentially page turns in picture books. And you are thinking about emotional arc and how the visual action moves the story forward—also very important to picture books. People say writing picture books is like writing poetry, and that can be true, but I think it’s also very much like writing a screenplay. The difference, of course, is that in a picture book you can write narrative and dialogue, whereas in a screenplay you are focusing mostly on dialogue, with action.
SARAH STEINBACHER: What have you learned from teaching Creative Writing and Literature at Stony Brook University’s MFA program?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I have learned more from teaching than all my years of doing. Helping someone to understand their craft or identifying how they can make their story better or improve their writing requires identifying and articulating those elements of craft in a very concrete way… and the more you articulate those craft elements, the deeper they go into your own psyche. I can’t tell you how many times I have come home from teaching a class with a fresh perspective on how to solve a problem in one of my own books!
SARAH STEINBACHER: You cocreated Picture Book Summit, an annual online conference for picture book writers, with Julie Hedlund and Katie Davis. What are some of your favorite PB Submit memories? And what are you most excited about for the 2026 summit?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: Picture Book Summit takes place on October 3rd. Now in its 12th year, it’s a day-long conference with keynotes, workshops, panel discussions, submission opportunities, and more that people can attend in their PJs from the comfort of home. We work on it all year long and have such a good time putting it together! Every year I look forward to hearing from our keynote speakers—this year it’s Deborah Underwood, Derrick Barnes, and Brian Lies—as well as from our featured agents and editors panels. And we are offering two really exciting workshops this year—Julie Hedlund is leading one on “picture book hooks” that is going to be a game changer for people, I think, and Katie Davis and I are co-presenting a workshop on page turns and how to write with them in mind. Anyone interested in attending can find out more at https://picturebooksummit.com
SARAH STEINBACHER:What do you find challenging about writing for kids? And what’s your greatest hope for the future of kidlit?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I think the most challenging thing about writing for kids is staying in touch with what’s relevant to and resonant for them... especially as I get older, and my own kids are now adults. The best children’s books don’t preach at or talk down to young readers, but rather they offer kids a chance to feel seen, and to make discoveries about and find tools to cope with their own lives. It’s a noble calling and an awesome responsibility to write for “other people’s children,” as a writing friend of mine says! The best way I know to stay current in this way is to read tons of current picture books. It’s still a relatively young genre, and the standards evolve every 5 years or so, so it’s critical not to rely on the books we read as kids or even read to our own kids if they are now older.
My greatest hope for the future of kidlit is that it continues to remain relevant and to reinvent itself so that young people keep reading. There are so many other distractions these days with the digital world, social media, AI… but reading provides social-emotional, cognitive, and developmental benefits that nothing else comes close to… so I pray we can continue to preserve and value that skill in future generations.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Is there anything you wish I had asked about but didn’t?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: I’d love for people to know I have an independent editing practice for children’s books, and also offer online courses in writing for children and young adults.
SARAH STEINBACHER: Do you have any other projects you’d like to share?
EMMA WALTON HAMILTON: In addition to Picture Book Summit, I co-host The Complete Picture Book Submissions System with Julie Hedlund, the founder of the 12X12 Picture Book Challenge. It’s a soup-to-nuts course that provides every tool and piece of information needed to submit picture book manuscripts to agents and editors for publication consideration. There is also an optional Community membership, where we provide feedback on pitches and queries on a daily basis and offer monthly coaching calls. We have a free training for anyone who is interested at https://picturebooksubmissions.com/free-training
Follow Emma through her website, Instagram, Bluesky, and through Picture Book Summit and The Complete Picture Book Submissions System.
*****Order Emma’s picture book, SHY, available now.*****
