Say what you will about Wikipedia—that it’s unreliable, that it’s unaccountable, that it’s run by a bunch of idealistic zealots—the fact remains that it is one of the most heavily accessed web resources in the world.
And so, one day as I was researching some of my favorite contemporary kidlit authors and illustrators, I found they were not mentioned in the online encyclopedia. Scott Magoon? Not there. Kate Messner? Nope. Tammi Sauer? Dagnabbit.
I think it’s time we rectified that situation. These folks deserve to go on record, especially those who have won awards for their work.
If you’re a frequent reader of this blog, I’d like to ask you a favor. Pick a favorite contemporary kidlit author or illustrator. Check to see if they’re in Wikipedia.
- List of Wikipedia Children’s Literature Authors
- List of Wikipedia Children’s Literature Illustrators
And if your favorite person is not there, pledge to create an article for that kidlitter by the end of March. Show your love for children’s literature and the people who create it!
Remember that Wikipedia wants you to source references when writing your article. There is a handy-dandy article creation wizard for those of you unfamiliar with the Wikipedia process.
If you are interested in participating, just leave your name and the name of your chosen kidlit personality below. I’ll check in at the end of this month with a master list of potential pages we’re creating.
C’mon, who’s with me?
As a children's book author and mother of two, I'm pushing a stroller along the path to publication. I collect shiny doodads on the journey and share them here. You've found a kidlit treasure box.
26 comments
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February 7, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Cathy C. Hall
Wow. I just checked a few of my favorites and nope, they’re not there. But I’m wondering…do you need to get permission from an author to write an article? I mean, it seems like the right thing to do because what if someone didn’t want to *be* in wikipedia?
February 7, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Tara
That is a good point, but if the information is accurate, and also available in other sources, I can’t see why they wouldn’t want to be there. We’re not going to be writing TMZ articles, just information about their books and awards, plus perhaps what state they’re from, where they graduated from, etc.
February 7, 2012 at 2:25 pm
scravak
Has anyone called dibs on the “Tara Lazar” page?
February 7, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Tara
Ha ha. No page on me. My first book isn’t even released yet!
February 7, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Julie
It’s a great idea Tara, but what is involved in creating an article?
February 7, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Tara
That Wikipedia article wizard should give you a good idea about what’s involved.
February 7, 2012 at 2:42 pm
Carole Lindstrom
Sure, Tara. I’d love to! I’ve chosen Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich. 🙂
February 7, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Tara
Excellent! I love Gbemi!
February 9, 2012 at 12:13 am
olugbemisola
Oh, Carole!!! You are the sweetest! I would be so honoured!
February 7, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Darlene Ivy
A few years ago as part of a picturebook class at PennState, I had to write a WIkipedia style article on a children’s writer or illustrator as a class project. I’ve always wanted to do something with that piece, but It was on Leo and Diane Dillon, and there already is an entry for them. Do other children’s lit classes have similar assignments? If so, there are several entries already written.
February 7, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Kerry Aradhya
Hi, Tara. Don’t know if you shared this yet, but here is a list of children’s authors who are on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_children's_literature_authors
I’d be happy to write an article on author/illustrator Anna Dewdney (one of her books just got made into a musical!) but I don’t know if I will be able to have it by early March. Have tons of deadlines at work this month and don’t even know how I am going to get them all done! Can I send it in a little later?
February 7, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Tara
Good going, Kerry! I didn’t even think to look for that. I’ll add it to the post later tonight.
February 7, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Tara
Just the name of the person you want to write about is due in early March. You have until the end of March to write the article. And yeah, you could always do it after then, too!
February 7, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Kerry Aradhya
Ok. Thanks. Shouldn’t been reading more closely. I’ll do it as soon as I can. This is going to be fun!
February 7, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Kerry Aradhya
And here is a list of illustrators 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Children's_book_illustrators
February 7, 2012 at 2:50 pm
Janice D. Green
This is a great idea. I want to caution you, however, that once you put articles up you may want to monitor them for a while to be sure someone doesn’t edit them and turn them into pornographic monsters. My husband used to write numerous articles for Wikipedia that were forever being changed by weirdos. Perhaps Wikipedia is doing better at keeping the weirdos out – I hope so.
February 8, 2012 at 5:23 am
John Shelley
Re-editing and updating is what Wikipedia is all about, however it’s supposed to be in order to improve and expand on articles, not destroy them. It’s a good idea to keep a back up text file of your article. I once created a well researched page on a historical subject which was virtually re-written by a highly opinionated amateur with limited English skills, who disagreed with established facts and imposed his own unreferenced politics onto the page. The article had to be re-constructed from notes, and it really put me off writing for Wikipedia.
Each page has a history link so editors can be identified and ‘weirdos’ reported. Most of the time it’s just over-enthusiastic egos like the guy I just mentioned, however in the case of malicious re-writing often they’re anonymous editors who are difficult to pin down. Wikipedia does support it’s editors however.
February 7, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Audrey Vernick
I hereby challenge Carole Lindstrom to a duel. I want to write about Gbemi!
February 7, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Tara
Well how ’bout you take Gbemi, and Carole takes you!
February 7, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Joan Y. Edwards
Dear Tara,
What a neat idea! I love Wikipedia, myself. Do something fun to celebrate you and your good ideas!
Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards
February 7, 2012 at 8:10 pm
angelapenadahle
Awesome! I’ll at least look into it. Maybe not this month, I have to adjust my schedule first.
February 7, 2012 at 8:39 pm
lauraboffa
Great idea! Getting some important names represented on such an omnipotent resource is well worth a little of my writing time, and learning the process of writing a Wikipedia article is not a bad bonus.
I’ll take Antoinette Portis for starts!
February 8, 2012 at 5:10 am
John Shelley
Good idea. I was gratified to find a page on my work, though I think my publisher’s publicity person had something to do with it.
For illustrators I’ve found Wikipedia to be quite patchy in it’s coverage. There are lots of pages on obscure comic and manga artists of dubious wider public interest, and until recently several blatantly self-promotional pages. However well written, correctly referenced contemporary children’s illustrators are unevenly represented.
There are a lot of existing pages that need to be expanded, or provided with references etc. Simply writing a page is easy enough, but it has to abide by Wikipedia’s rules, especially regarding links to other verifiable sources.
February 8, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Kirsten Larson
I’ll do author/illustrator John Himmelman. “Chickens to the Rescue” anyone? I LOVE that book.
February 9, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Susanna Leonard Hill
Ah, so this is the answer to how we get kid lit writers up there? I’m in in spirit, although I’m not promising any article writing by any deadlines as I am feeling overwhelmed and swamped just now. I will if I can. But how to choose which one…?
February 22, 2012 at 1:10 am
viviankirkfield
Tara…this is an extremely worthy project. Thank you so much for thinking of it and mustering the cavalry. 🙂
I’d love to participate…will look at the list…and then at my schedule. 🙂 I keep saying I am going to cut back on computer time (blogging, commenting, etc.) and then a wonderful project like this comes up.