Book Giveaway – TYPEWRITER by Yevgenia Nayberg

Author/Illustrator Yevgenia Nayberg has a new picture book, TYPEWRITER. It cam out last week, so you can find it on bookshelves, now. She have agreed to share a giveaway a copy to one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is leave a comment. If you Re-blog, Tweet, Post on Instagram, or talk about it on Facebook with a link, you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you do to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. Thanks for helping to support children’s books and talented authors/illustrators like Yevgenia!

BOOK DESCRIPTION: 

A neglected Russian typewriter clicks, clacks, and rings to life with a new owner.

BOOK JOURNEY:

For years I’ve been interested in objects that immigrant families brought to America. Many of those things turned out to be completely useless. A couple of years ago, I asked people on Facebook to share their useless things with me. I asked not to tell me about the tomes of Dostoyevsky, matryoshka dolls, or samovars. I was looking for something unusual, but not sentimental. Naturally, I got many responses with Dostoyevsky and the samovars anyway. But there were a few real surprises, including a typewriter with a Russian alphabet. I thought that one cannot come up with a more useless object!

I wrote and illustrated a story of a Russian typewriter that emigrates to America and, once there, feels completely useless.

At first, I thought about writing from the point of view of the writer’s child, who observes and later inherits the typewriter. But then I realized that I don’t need to add a character—Typewriter IS the character. Everything clicked after that. I wrote from the point of view of the typewriter.

My agent submitted the dummy and we heard back from several interested publishers. I spoke to them first to get a sense of what they are looking for and chose The Creative Company.

Working with my editor Amy Novesky and art director Rita Marshall was fantastic. It was a true collaboration and I felt enriched by their ideas. All communication was done long distance and I can only imagine how great it would have been to work in the same room with them.

Typewriter is a book about immigration, but also about letters, love, and deception—the necessary components of the authentic Russian story.

YEVGENIA NAYBERG’S BIO:

Yevgenia Nayberg is an illustrator, painter, and set and costume designer. Her illustrations have appeared in magazines and picture books, and on theatre posters, music albums, and book covers; her paintings, drawings, and illustrations are held in private collections worldwide. As a set and costume designer, she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Endowment for the Arts/TCG Fellowship for Theatre Designers, the Independent Theatre Award and the Arlin Meyer Award. In 2018 she received a Sydney Taylor Silver Medal for her illustrations for Drop by Drop by Jaqueline Jules. Her debut author/illustrator picture book, Anya’s Secret Society, came out in 2019 and received a Junior Library Guild Selection Award.

Yevgenia Nayberg was born in Kiev, Ukraine. After graduating from The National School of Art in Kiev, she began working as a freelance illustrator and an assistant art director for, UkranimaFilm, an animation studio. Yevgenia moved to the United States in 1994, where she studied theatre design at Carnegie Mellon University. At the age of 23 she received her MFA degree in Theatre design from California State University, Long Beach. She has since enjoyed a successful career as a painter, scenic – costume designer, and illustrator. Yevgenia’s dedication to theatrical arts is clearly manifested in her illustrations which rely on color intensity, fantastic landscapes, and dramatic light and shadow to tell a story. When illustrating, she likes to look for a visual equivalent of a word, for metaphorical translation into the language of visual art.

Her new book Mona Lisa in New York, will be published in 2020. She lives in New York City.

Yevgenia, what a great idea to tell this story from the typewriter’s point-of-view. Thank you for sharing it and your journey with us. As always, your creative illustrations keep everyone’s attention and makes them eager to turn the page. Best of Luck with the book.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy