Alum shares publishing insights
Katherine Jacobs 鈥02 came back to her alma mater for Calvin鈥檚 聽to share about her experiences at a major publisher in New York City. Jacobs is a senior editor at Roaring Brook Press, a division of Macmillan Children鈥檚 Publishing Group, where she edits a wide variety of books for children and young adults.
A reader from a young age, and a lover of children鈥檚 literature throughout聽her life, Jacobs got her first taste of children鈥檚 publishing working at Pooh鈥檚 Corner in Grand Rapids while attending Calvin. After spending聽time in the Peace Corps and teaching聽English as a second language in聽Romania, Jacob鈥檚 received her聽master鈥檚 from the Center for the Study of Children鈥檚 Literature at Simmons College. There one of her professors, upon hearing that she was a Calvin grad, said, 鈥淥h, you鈥檒l be fine in graduate school. Calvin students know how to write.鈥
Jacobs has edited picture books and novels on subjects ranging from harried matrimony to the history of Motown. She edited the young adult novel Sekret by Lindsay Smith, about a girl in communist Russia forced to work as a psychic spy for the KGB,聽as well as books like I See Kitty by Yasmine Surovec, about a toddler聽finding the perfect cat. A few other titles she鈥檚 proud of are Devoted by Jennifer Mathieu, A Patron Saint聽for Junior Bridesmaids by Shelley Tougas and When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill and聽illustrator Theodore Taylor.
While at the festival, Jacobs gave聽a talk titled 鈥淭he Body Electric:聽Creating Characters That Spark With Life.鈥 She led participants through examples of characters in children鈥檚 and young adult literature that aren鈥檛 one-dimensional, but rather have聽clear motivations, rich inner lives聽and problems that drive the plot. She shared some practical advice for making that kind of character light聽up one鈥檚 own writing, and she spoke about the career path that led her into editing. 鈥淚鈥檓 always impressed聽by the high level of conversation at聽the festival,鈥 she said afterwards, 鈥渁nd I thought people asked really good questions at my sessions.鈥