The R(ev)ise and Shine! Residency 2026 Special Guests
XXXX (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.
Sera Rivers (Guest Agent)
Sera Rivers is a literary agent at Speilburg Literary Agency, an AALA member, and a writer. She represents books in the children’s and adult markets, prioritizing stories by BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and other marginalized and historically excluded identities. She is represented by Katie Shea Boutillier at Donald Maass Literary Agency.
Sera started reading at age four and has been obsessed with books ever since—if she could live in creative worlds, she would. Some of her all-time favorite childhood books are The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, Peppermints in the Parlor by Barbara Brooks Wallace, Behind the Attic Wall by Silvia Cassedy; and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.
Sera received her master of fine arts degree in Writing for Children, with a concentration in young adult novels, from Simmons University. Her young adult memoir THE WICKED ONES won the 2016 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award. She worked in educational publishing for seven years, writing and editing a variety of genres for children and adults. Now, as an agent, Sera provides editorial feedback to help clients get their manuscripts submission ready.
Sera lives with her partner and their island rescue pup Jett. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found running all over New England training for her next race. To find out more about Sera and what she’s looking for, check out her wish list. Her social handles are @writeloudly. You can follow Jett’s adventures on Instagram: @jettonwheels. Find out more at www.serarivers.com.
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.
