Press

How lovely to be read by Australian children’s book author Michelle Cooper. In a recent Memoranda blog post, she comments from half a world away on Leonard’s collection of conversations with (mostly American) humor writers for young readers, Funny Business.

Astra Publishing House in association with Beijing-based Thinkingdom Media and the European and American editors of minedition have launched a worldwide picture book writing competition open to all writers regardless of nationality, place of residence, or experience level. Leonard is Jury [...]

Earlier this year, Chinese literature scholar Zhang Shengzhen visited New York University on a Fulbright Fellowship. While in New York, she contacted Leonard and recorded a wide-ranging interview with him concerning the origins and development of and current trends in Western children’s [...]

This fall, Leonard again served as one of dPictus.com’s guest curators for its annual “100 Outstanding Picture Books” showcase at the Frankfurt International Book Fair. dPictus provides the global professional children’s book community with a year-round virtual rights [...]

Beijing-based literature professor Zhang Shengzhen takes a close look at The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter, the book-length illustrated catalogue that accompanied the University of Minnesota Library’s recent adaptation of Leonard’s landmark 2013-2014 exhibition of the [...]

In its September/October 2020 issue, the Yale Alumni Magazine gave an appreciative nod to Leonard and some of the many other Yale graduates who have left their mark on the branch of literature that, perhaps more than any other, has a lasting influence on what we care about and who we become. [...]

New York, NY, August 20, 2020, 5:30 PM Eastern: Astra Publishing House has tapped esteemed children’s book expert Leonard Marcus as Editor-at-Large at the newly formed global publishing company.  “As a renowned historian, author, critic, exhibition curator, and public educator, Leonard [...]

A new adventure began on July 1st when Leonard joined forces with a small group of seasoned book world professionals to create an exciting new publishing imprint with global ambitions. You can read the full article here.

In this wide-ranging conversation, educator, art director, and podcast host Giuseppe Castellano takes a deep dive with Leonard into the history of American children’s books from Puritan primers to the We Need Diverse Books movement and beyond. Listen here: Listen to interviews with art [...]

As part of its 125th anniversary celebration at the start of 2020, the New York Public Library released a list of its ten most checked-out books of all time. The list yielded two big surprises: children’s books dominated the list–and Margaret Wise Brown’s classic bedtime [...]

Reach Out & Read is an innovative literacy organization comprised of medical professionals who make early literacy education an integral part of their well-baby and pediatric practice. Here Leonard joins author Robie H. Harris and host Dr. Dipesh Navsaria on the ROR podcast as together they [...]

Co-hosts and children’s book authors Julie Sternberg and Eve Yohalem asked Leonard to tell them all about Ursula Nordstrom, the dream editor who boasted about publishing “good books for bad children”–you know, books like Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web, Harold and [...]

While everyone continues to shelter in place, the Abilene (TX) Cultural Affairs Council’s Sidney Levesque spoke with Leonard about the memorable 2017 city-wide CALF arts and literacy festival when the illustration art of Garth Williams was celebrated with the largest ever Williams [...]

As chair of the Eric Carle Museum’s Carle Honors Committee and as founder of the awards, Leonard takes an active role in choosing each year’s winners. The Carle awards are unique in recognizing not only the contributions of the artists who create picture books but also the work of [...]

In an essay published in the December 22, 2019 print edition of the New York Times Book Review, Leonard makes the case for re-thinking the Caldecott Medal, the world’s first award for excellence in children’s book illustration, for the very different world in which we find ourselves [...]

On November 14, the Shanghai-based Chen Bochui Foundation presented its annual awards in children’s literature–China’s oldest–at the Boashan International Folk Arts Exhibition Center, Shanghai. This year, Leonard became the first American to win the coveted award for [...]

This free public program will take a closer look at the key issues surrounding diversity in the children's books that set out most directly to propose role models for young readers.

The Kerlan Collection's adaptation of the New York Public Library's most viewed exhibition ever continues to draw a wide range of visitors from far and wide and to generate lively discussion about the books that shape us in our first years of life.

Helen Oxenbury: A Life in Illustration was a long time in the making. This conversation with Gillian Engberg highlights the challenges of crafting a true portrait of an artist whose now-classic children's books are never as simple as they seem.