by Aya Khalil
As a freelance journalist, blogger, and now debut picture book author, I am always looking for writing ideas. Some of my best ideas came from my own life experiences—good and bad—especially as a writer of color.
My debut picture book, THE ARABIC QUILT, is based on true events growing up. I immigrated to the United States when I was one year old with my older brother and parents. We lived in several different states, but a memory that happened over twenty years ago gave me the inspiration to write THE ARABIC QUILT.
I spent three years in tiny town called Minot, North Dakota. My brother and I stood out from our classmates, who were mostly white Christians. I was in third grade and remember trying hard to fit in. I don’t remember being teased about my dark brown, curly hair, but until today, remember how my teacher made me feel loved and included.
She asked me to write my classmate’s names in Arabic. My mom helped me that night writing their names and I proudly presented each student with their name in Arabic. My teacher then asked the students to copy their names on their own piece of paper and decorate it. She hung it up to display. Thus, this simple, yet beautiful lesson the teacher came up with was the main inspiration for my debut.
I’ve written many articles growing up as a Muslim American, like how people should stop asking me where I’m from, sarcastic pieces like phrases to avoid while flying and why accents rock. I’ve also written serious essays like learning to drive with my immigrant father and sexual abuse. As a journalist, I’ve interviewed tens of dozens of people for articles. I’ve had people “compliment” me when I interviewed them at “HoW iS yOuR EnGlIsH Is SoOoO gOoD?” Even these micro-aggressions can be turned into a story.
I recently sat with my parents and asked them to tell me stories of when they immigrated to the US 31 years ago. Talk to other people and get their perspectives; look through their lens for inspiration and ideas.
Marginalized writers can absolutely write picture books that are inspired by life events. It can be a mundane scenario that you have a vague memory of. Diverse writers’ voices need to be amplified and you must write them yourselves. Your #ownvoices stories should be told because they’re authentic, even if it is through a fiction picture book. We need our kids and grandkids to physically hold these stories in their hand and inspire them to write, create, and story-tell. It can be something you wrote about in your diary when you were in middle school. Or a story your grandma told you about when you used to bake together. I have a vague memory of me and my grandma walking to a nearby park and picking berries. That can absolutely be turned into a picture book. Or the first happy or sad memory you remember as a kid. Look for old paper or projects your parents may have saved when you were growing up. Re-visit old photos on Facebook from your college or high school years and see what feelings came to mind when you saw them. A picture is worth a thousand words, after all, so why not make it into a picture book?
Aya Khalil holds a master’s in Education with a focus in teaching English as a second language. She’s a freelance journalist and blogger. She’s been featured in Teen Vogue, Yahoo! and other publications. Her writing has been published in The Huffington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Toledo Area Parent and many others.
Aya is a picture book author and is represented by Brent Taylor of Triada US Agency. Her first book THE ARABIC QUILT will be out on February 18th, 2020 by Tilbury House.
Visit her at ayakhalil.com and follow her on Twitter @ayawrites, Instagram @ayakhalilauthor or Facebook.
Aya is giving away a copy of her debut book THE ARABIC QUILT when it’s released.
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Kate Garchinsky listened to inner Poopynannyhead for twenty years before fully committing herself to her dream of illustrating children’s books. Since then she has illustrated four children’s books, including The Secret Life series of narrative non-fiction picture books written by Laurence Pringle. Her most recent book is The Secret Life of the Skunk. Before that she held less-fun jobs like retail cashier, patio furniture salesgirl, hoagie maker, dollhouse decorator, and packaging designer. She lives and works on the edge of the woodlands in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania with her husband, two kitties, and their new rescue puppy, Ruby Roo.
Carrie Finison began her literary career at the age of seven with an idea, a box of markers, and her father’s typewriter. She has been writing off and on ever since, though she has (somewhat regretfully) traded in the typewriter for a laptop. Her debut picture book, DOZENS OF DOUGHNUTS, illustrated by Brianne Farley, will be published in July, 2020, by Putnam, with a second book, DON’T HUG DOUG, illustrated by Daniel Wiseman, coming in 2021. She lives outside Boston with her husband, son, daughter, and two cats who permit her to write in their cozy attic office. For updates, 
Heidi didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published more than 20 books including You Nest Here With Me, Not All Princesses Dress In Pink, and 2 Fairy Tale Feasts cookbooks, as well as numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children.
John Cusick is a VP and literary agent with Folio Literary Management, representing a diverse list of award winners and New York Times bestsellers. His focus is middle grade, young adult, and crossover fiction. He is also the author of the YA novels Girl Parts and Cherry Money Baby (Candlewick Press), and the forthcoming middle-grade Dimension Why: How to Save the Universe Without Really Trying (HarperCollins). He tweets at 
Angela Burke Kunkel is the author of the forthcoming DIGGING FOR WORDS: JOSÉ ALBERTO GUTIÉRREZ AND THE LIBRARY HE BUILT, illustrated by Paola Escobar and published by Random House/Schwartz and Wade. Look for both English and Spanish editions in September 2020!
Ashley Franklin is a writer, mother, and adjunct college professor. She received her M.A. from the University of Delaware in English Literature, where she reaffirmed her love of writing but realized she had NO IDEA what she wanted to do about it. Ashley currently resides in Arkansas with her family. Her debut picture book, NOT QUITE SNOW WHITE, was published in 2019 by HarperCollins.
Dawn Young graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, and later with an MBA. For years, Dawn worked as an engineer and, later, manager at a large aerospace company, until her creative side called her to pursue her dream of writing children’s books. After reading and writing hundreds of corporate documents, none of which were titled The Little Engineer Who Could or Don’t Let the Pigeon Fly the Airbus, Dawn is thrilled to now be reading and writing picture books instead.
Dawn is also a math enthusiast. When she’s not busy writing and reading, she can be found doing math problems, sometimes just because… In high school, Dawn’s dream was to have a math equation named after her, but now, she believes having her name on the cover of books is a million times better! Dawn lives with her husband, three children and golden retriever in sunny Arizona. Counting Elephants is her second book. Her first book The Night Baafore Christmas released in October 2019. Find her online at 
Abi Cushman is a children’s book author-illustrator. Her debut picture book, SOAKED!, comes out in July 2020 from Viking Children’s Books, with a second book, ANIMALS GO VROOM!, to follow in 2021.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 