Writing workshops on representing mental health, a curriculum promoting cultural diversity through picture books, and an opportunity to bolster school library collections are among the new initiatives announced by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ Impact and Legacy Fund. The ILF, SCBWI’s charitable division, advances literary programming beyond the organization’s general membership. Led by founder and managing director Lin Oliver, the ILF honors authors with annual awards, offers monthly $1,500 microgrants, and trains and mentors teen Student Advocates for Speech in partnership with the National Coalition Against Censorship.
To address young readers’ mental well-being, the ILF plans a virtual seminar for book creators, initiated and sponsored by author Anna Shinoda (Learning Not to Drown). In addition to her work as a writer, Shinoda is a spokesperson on mental health and married to Linkin Park musician Mike Shinoda; she became known for her public health advocacy after the 2017 death of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington.
Shortly after the ILF was established in 2022, Shinoda met with Oliver to discuss the representations (and misrepresentations) of specific mental health challenges in books for young readers. According to Oliver, “We decided to create four seminars for creators and publishers, diving deep with experts on the serious mental health issues that have spiked in children and teens,” so that fiction and nonfiction can more accurately depict conditions such as addiction, depression, anxiety, and self-harm. “We are currently establishing a team of experts to help develop the curriculum,” Oliver added, including “psychologists and psychiatrists who serve young people and students in schools.”
The Writing About Mental Health seminars, plus supporting materials on best practices for responsibly depicting difficulty, will be available in spring 2025; Shinoda will serve as an advisor to the program, in cooperation with ILF Steering committee members Ellen Hopkins (Sync) and Tara Michener (I’m Just O.K.).
Test Kitchens Around the World
In addition to Writing About Mental Health, the ILF is creating a curriculum called Let’s Eat: Food, Books, and Culture. An ILF Let’s Eat subcommittee—whose members include Rob Sanders (Queer and Fearless) and Ismée Williams (Abuelo, the Sea, and Me)—is in the process of designating 10 picture books about cuisines around the world, which will be the bases for lesson plans about diverse ways of life. “We are hoping to have books from each of the six inhabited continents,” said Oliver.
“Food is a bridge to understand cultures other than your own,” Oliver explained, citing examples including Linda Sue Park’s Bee-bim Bop!, illustrated by Ho Baek Lee; Kevin Noble Maillard’s Fry Bread, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal; Grace Lin’s Dim Sum for Everyone!; and Winsome Bingham’s Soul Food Sunday, illustrated by C.G. Esperanza. The ILF took the curricular concept to the Rosenthal Family Foundation, established by Everybody Loves Raymond creator and Somebody Feed Phil star Phil Rosenthal and his family; the foundation’s Somebody Feed the People branch tackles global food insecurity and supports creative projects.
“We plan to have the program ready to test in five elementary classrooms the first quarter of 2025,” Oliver said, and “we hope to get some geographical diversity of these schools.” Author participation, through video cooking demos and traditional recipes, will be encouraged as part of the program, which emphasizes delicious home cooking from around the world.
Diversifying School Libraries
On this year’s Giving Tuesday, December 3, the ILF plans to focus on author and physician Federico Erebia’s grant program to enrich school libraries. Erebia (Pedro & Daniel), a member of the ILF Steering Committee, won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Exceptional New Writer; since August 2022, he has given out School Librarians’ Mini Library grants to diversity and increase schools’ book collections.
“Every quarter, three librarians each choose $500 worth of books from curated lists” across age categories, Erebia said. “All the books are by and/or about marginalized and/or underrepresented individuals. In the last two years, we have sent 802 books to 27 schools all over the U.S., reaching over 25,000 students.” Erebia donates his time and effort to the program, and he partners with Bookelicious, a search tool for educators, which helps maintain librarians’ booklists and ship the books that librarians choose.
The ILF set a Giving Tuesday goal to double Erebia’s gift and make his program self-sustaining. “We will raise money to be able to donate $1,000 to at least 12 school libraries” across the U.S., and keep it funded going forward, Oliver said. “We have created the infrastructure to do this program efficiently and basically at no administrative cost, so all donated funds will be used to buy books” that stock and diversify school libraries.
“Every penny goes towards getting books into the hands of children,” Erebia said.