In Conversation
Where The Wild Books Are: How Jewish Authors and Illustrators Revolutionized Children’s Picture Books
Children/YA book author Dashka Slater and illustrator/author Lisa Brown in conversation
1:00 pm | Seminar Room
Jewish Arts and Bookfest
Sunday, May 3, 2026
at UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
What do Frog and Toad, Curious George, Shrek, and the Wild Things have in common?
They were all written and illustrated by Jews. Join children’s book creators Lisa Brown and Dashka Slater for a conversation about groundbreaking picture book artists like Maurice Sendak, Ezra Jack Keats, and William Steig, and how their backgrounds, whether by design or not, influenced their thoughts about visual art, writing, and childhood.
Ages 12 and up
About Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is a New York Times bestselling illustrator, author, and cartoonist of more than twenty books. Her award-winning picture books include: The Airport Book, The Hospital Book, The Moving Book, Mummy Cat by Marcus Ewert, and The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, by Lemony Snicket, and is the creator of the “Baby Be of Use” series of board books for McSweeney’s. Her comics include The Phantom Twin, a graphic novel for young adults, and Long Story Short, a literary comic strip collection. She writes essays and book reviews for New York Times and other publications, and is senior adjunct faculty at the California College of the Arts. Lisa lives in San Francisco, where she chairs the board of 826 Valencia and drinks too much coffee.
Photo Credit: Kristen Sard
About Dashka Slater
New York Times-bestselling author Dashka Slater has been described as a “triple threat” for her success in journalism, adult fiction, and children’s literature. The author of many books of fiction and nonfiction for children, teenagers, and adults, her work has been translated into more than fifteen languages and has sold more than a million copies. She has received numerous awards for her writing, including the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award gold medal for Accountable, the 2023 Kurt Vonnegut Speculative Fiction Award for her short story, The Jeanines of Summer, and the 2018 Wanda Gág Read Aloud Award for her picture book, Escargot.
Her books for younger children include the beloved Escargot picture book series, The Feylawn Chronicles middle grade fantasy series, and The Antlered Ship, which received four starred reviews and was named one of the best picture books of the year by Amazon.com. Her New York Times best-selling young-adult true crime narrative, The 57 Bus, has received numerous accolades, including the Stonewall Book Award, and was named to Time magazine’s list of the 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. Her latest nonfiction narrative, Accountable, was the first young adult title to ever receive the prestigious J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from the Columbia Journalism School and Harvard’s Neiman Foundation for Journalism and received numerous additional awards.
Photo Credit: Amy Sullivan