The R(ev)ise and Shine! Residency 2025 Special Guests
Eileen Robinson (Guest Editor)
Eileen Robinson has worked in children’s publishing for close to 30 years and is still in love with creating children’s books, and helping authors gain confidence in telling their stories. She published in-house for Scholastic and Harcourt, and in 2019 helped build and launch Reycraft Books children’s imprint under Benchmark Education. As an entrepreneur and independent publisher, her company Move Books strove to get reluctant middle-graders (especially boys) back into reading. This mission was embraced by Charlesbridge Publishing in October 2022 when they acquired Move Books as a new imprint (now Charlesbridge Moves) and she came on as Editorial Director. She also teaches for the Highlights Foundation and mentors young writers and future publishers in underserved communities.
Stephen Barbara (Guest Agent)
Stephen Barbara is a literary agent at InkWell Management.
A graduate of the University of Chicago, he began his career in publishing as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins. He then worked as contracts manager for the Donald Maass Agency for three years, prior to becoming a full-time agent with Foundry Literary + Media where he spent six years before joining InkWell in 2015.
Stephen represents authors in both the adult and young reader spaces, and he’s particularly excited about plot-driven fiction written with distinction and style. His adult clients include British Fantasy Award winner and New York Times bestseller Paul Tremblay (Horror Movie; The Cabin at the End of the World, recently adapted into the #1 film in the country, “Knock at the Cabin”), New York Times bestseller and creator, writer, and executive producer of Panic (now streaming on Amazon Prime Video) Lauren Oliver; and Clémence Michallon, author of the international bestseller The Quiet Tenant, which has been published in 33 territories. His authors of books for young readers include New York Times bestseller and Newbery Medal winner Laura Amy Schlitz (Splendors and Glooms); National Book Award finalist Lisa Graff (A Tangle of Knots); USA Today bestseller Kamilla Benko; and award-winning and acclaimed picture book authors such as Minh Lê (Drawn Together), Betsy Bird, and Travis Jonker. Stephen has additionally represented a number of public figures from other fields, including actress Krysten Ritter, K-Pop star Jessica Jung, actor Diego Boneta, and shoe designer Kat Maconie, among others.
Stephen lives in Long Island City, New York with his wife and two young kids, and he’s always on the look-out for great new projects.
James E. Ransome (Guest Illustrator)
Photo Credit: John HalpernJames E. Ransome, illustrator and author, was most recently awarded the 2023 Children’s Literature Legacy Award honoring an author or illustrator whose books have made a significant and lasting contribution to literature for children.
He has also been named by The Children’s Book Council as one of seventy-five authors and illustrators everyone should know. Currently a member of the Society of Illustrators, Ransome has received both the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration and the IBBY Honor Award for his book, The Creation. He has also received a Coretta Scott King Honor Award for Illustration for Uncle Jed’s Barbershop which was selected as an ALA Notable Book and is currently being shown as a feature on Reading Rainbow. How Many Stars in the Sky? and Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt were also Reading Rainbow selections. PBS’s Storytime featured his book, The Old Dog. Ransome has exhibited works in group and solo shows throughout the country and received The Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance award for his book, The Wagon. James is also a fine artist and lives in New York’s Hudson River Valley region with his family.
Photo Credit: Jeff Harris PhotographyAlysa Wishingrad (Guest Author)
Alysa Wishingrad writes fantastical stories for young readers, tales that ask; is the truth really true? Her favorite stories are those that meld the historical with the fantastic, and that find ways to shine a light on both the things that divide and unite us all.
She is the author of Between Monsters and Marvels, which was a 2024 Golden Kite Finalist, a 2024 Crystal Kite Finalist, and The Verdigris Pawn, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection.
Alysa lives in the Hudson Valley with her family, two demanding rescue dogs, and a cat-shaped dog, who are all either monsters or marvels, depending on the day.
