Welcome to my website. Thank you for stopping by.
Writer for children—reader forever…that’s Vivian Kirkfield in five words. Her bucket list contains many more than five words – but she’s already checked off skydiving, parasailing, banana-boat riding, and visiting critique buddies all around the world. When she isn’t looking for ways to fall from the sky or sink under the water, she can be found writing picture books in the picturesque village of Bedford, NH. A retired kindergarten teacher with a masters in Early Childhood Education, Vivian inspires budding writers during classroom visits and shares insights with aspiring authors at conferences and on her blog, Picture Books Help Kids Soar where she hosts the #50PreciousWords International Writing Contest and the #50PreciousWordsforKids Challenge. She is the author of numerous picture books. You can connect with her on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Linkedin, or just about any place people with picture books are found.
And here’s a little bit more:
When I was younger, I stayed up till 3am reading books – now I stay up till 3am writing them.
My favorite story character: Pollyanna because she could always find something to be glad about and I was the same way…and still am.
My writing motto: Magic Happens When You Make Every Word Count.
My advice to parents: We all need a cheering committee, and parents are a child’s best fans!
My life mantras:
- Never be too busy to offer an encouraging word, a sympathetic shoulder, and a hand up.
- The only failure is the failure to keep trying.
- Nothing is impossible if you can imagine it.
MY BOOKS:
PIPPA’S PASSOVER PLATE (Holiday House) illus by Jill Weber
FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK (PomegranateKids) illus by Mirka Hokkanen
SWEET DREAMS, SARAH (Creston Books) illus by Chris Ewald
MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: THE INSPIRING FRIENDSHIP OF ELLA FITZGERALD AND MARILYN MONROE (Little Bee Books, January 14, 2020) illus by Alleanna Harris
FROM HERE TO THERE: INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WAY THE WORLD MOVES (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, January 2021, illus by Gilbert Ford
PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER: ANNIE LONDONDERRY, FIRST WOMAN TO BIKE AROUND THE WORLD (Calkins Creek/Astra Books for Young Readers, Spring 2024, illustrated by Alison Jay)
PIPPA’S PASSOVER PLATE – BOARD BOOK EDITION (Holiday House, January 17, 2023, illustrated by Jill Weber)
ONE GIRL’S VOICE: HOW LUCY STONE CHANGED THE LAW OF THE LAND (Calkins Creek/Astra, Spring 2025, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon)
BASIC GUIDELINES FOR THE #50 PRECIOUS WORDS CONTEST
Dates are announced every year in the Contest-Is-Coming post sometime in February. Please follow my blog (www.viviankirkfield.com) to be notified.
- Write a story appropriate for kids ages 12 or under, using only 50 words…they can all be different words, or you can use some of them over and over…just as long as the total word count of the story is 50 or less.
- It can be prose, rhyme, free verse, silly or serious…whatever works for you.
- Title is not included in the word count.
- No illustration notes please.
- IMPORTANT: Post your story in the comment section of the OFFICIAL CONTEST POST for the current year. If you have your own blog and want to post your story there also, please do. And let us know your post link. I ask for the link so that people will visit each other and find new friends in the kid lit community. You can also post on social media. But no matter how many other places you want to post your story, make sure at least one of those places is in the comment section of the OFFICIAL CONTST POST for the current year…and please make sure you put your name in the post because some of you have very creative emails/avatar names and I won’t know who you are. If you have any trouble at all posting the story, please email me and I will be happy to do it for you: viviankirkfield@gmail.com. (but please don’t email me at 11:58pm on the final day of the contest)
- We love the camaraderie in the comment section…and no matter how many thousands of comments we receive, they are all positive and supportive. Thank you for that!
- The #50PreciousWords Literacy Initiative has donated over 700 brand-new children’s books to local schools in need. Participants are asked to purchase a children’s book (board book, picture book, middle grade or YA) from my local independent bookstore. This is not required…it is just a request and a way for us all to help put books in the hands of kids who need them.
- When I start contacting the winners, 1st place will choose whichever prize he/she/they wants. Then I will contact 2nd place with the remaining prizes to choose from. And so on down the line. If you see your name in the top winners’ circle, please email me RIGHT AWAY (viviankirkfield@gmail.com) so that I’ll have your email close at hand when I need it…and please scroll through the prize list ahead of time so that you’ll know what you want when I contact you.
PLACES YOU CAN FIND ME
PUBLISHERS’ WEEKLY Q&A CELEBRATING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH – March 2024
March 9, 2024 from 1:30 to 3pm: Book Launch Celebration for PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER and Women’s History Month at G. Willikers Books and Toys – Portsmouth, New Hampshire
November 15-20, 2023: NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Conference, Columbus, Ohio
March 27, 2023: Virtual classroom visit to the kindergartens at a Hebrew school in Michigan
March 21, 2023: In-person school visit at Mont Vernon Village School, Mont Vernon, NH
March 21, 2023: Guest post on Betsy Bird’s Fuse 8 School Library Journal Blog
March 6-13, 2023: Top Shelf Picture Book Seminar Faculty
March 3-5, 2023: #50PreciousWords International Writing Contest
February 2023: Guest on Reading With Your Kids Podcast: https://readingwithyourkids.libsyn.com/fifty-precious-words
February 21, 2023: Presentation for Mid-Atlantic SCBWI – We All Have a Story to Tell
2022:
NOVEMBER 22, 2022: SCBWI-Israel Virtual Webinar – Building Bountiful Board Books
MARCH 4-6, 2022: #50PRECIOUSWORDS INTERNATIONAL WRITING CONTEST – Right here on the blog – follow my blog (and sign up for email notifications) to get all the details.
APRIL 6-8, 2022: Fay B. Kaigler Book Festival: Normalizing Diversity and Decentering the Dominant Culture Using Picture Books for Anti-Racist Teaching Panel Member
APRIL 27, 2022: Cardinal Bernardin Catholic School, Orland Park, IL – Author visit
MARCH 2022 – #50PRECIOUSWORDS INTERNATIONAL WRITING CHALLENGE – Right here on the blog – sign up for email notifications to get all the details. This year we had 750 submissions and I asked participants to purchase a children’s book at my local indie bookstore – thanks to the generosity of the kidlit community, we were able to donate 410 new books to three local schools: McDonough Elementary in Manchester NH (pictured here – and there are five large boxes filled with books on the table behind us), Merrimack Middle School in Merrimack NH, and Memorial High School in Manchester.
MAY 16, 2022: Wilkins School, Amherst, NH – Full day author visit
author Carrie Finison
January 31, 2022: Next Avenue and Forbes article: https://www.nextavenue.org/picture-books-tell-the-story-for-second-act-writers/
PLACES I VISITED IN 2021 AND WHERE YOU CAN FIND MY BOOKS
Carmel Clay Historical Society Book Talk with Executive Director Debbie Gangstad – All Aboard in From Here to There: https://www.facebook.com/CarmelClayHistoricalSociety/videos/824348481830100
Fay Kaigler Book Festival: Panel member – Breaking Into Publishing After 50: https://aquila.usm.edu/bookfest/2021/1/17/
Contributing member of WORDS OF WISDOM team: The Long and Winding Road: https://alaynekaychristian.wordpress.com/2021/04/25/kid-lit-writing-wisdom-presents-long-and-winding-road-publication-usually-doesnt-happen-overnight-part-1-of-3/
#IndependentBookstoreDay with Second Star to the Right: KidLitforGrowingMinds Panel member
PLACES I VISITED IN 2020
January 18: Book launch at Nashua, NH Barnes and Noble – 11am Storytime Reading of Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe: https://www.facebook.com/events/2884693608215658/
January 24: Author Night at the Lycee in Chicago – Make Your Voices Heard Writing Workshop for Kids
January 29: Book launch at Andersons in Naperville, IL – 7pm Author Chat, Q&A, and Book Signing for Making Their Voices Heard
March 10: Make Your Voices Heard Writing Workshop for Kids at Amherst Public Library, Amherst, NH – 3:30pm-5pm
Sadly, due to Covid concerns, many spring, summer, and fall conferences, book festivals, and school visits had to be cancelled. However, I’m so impressed with the resiliency of people…we are all learning a new way to connect – via remote conferences, Zoom school visits, and online book launches hosted by book stores. I’m doing my share, volunteering programs and presentations for classrooms via Zoom, mentoring other writers as part of the #PBChat Mentorship Opportunity – meeting Face to Face via Zoom, Skype, and Facebook video chat, plus participating in podcasts, interviews, and panels.
An hour of fun with the incredible Mel Rosenberg as I chat about how a timid little girl managed to become empowered – jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, signing with an agent, and celebrating a bunch of published books…and life itself!
Where I’ve Been in 2019:
February 24-26, 2019: Australia/NZ SCBWI Conference in Sydney, Australia
March 18, 2019: New Zealand SCBWI in Auckland, NZ
April 13: Story time at The Bookery Bookstore in Manchester, NH
April 14: Book signing at Toadstool Bookstore in MIlford, NH
May 3-5: NESCBWI Conference in Springfield, MA: Presented two workshop programs: Creative Collaboration – Authors and Illustrators and Editors, Oh My! And also: How To Be Politely Proactive During the Publication Process
May 22: Jewish Book Council Author Network PItch Presentation for PIPPA’S PASSOVER PLATE
June 1: Story time at the Blue Bunny Bookstore at 1pm in Dedham, MA
June 3: Presentations for Eisenhower Academy, Joliet, IL and Lane School, Hinsdale, IL
June 4: Presentations for Young School, Aurora, IL and Evergreen School, Carol Stream, IL
June 8: Story time at Anderson’s Bookstore at 11am in La Grange, IL
July 26: Children’s Book Academy Picture Book Palooza presenter: Writing Cross-Culturally
August 23: Story time at Second Star to the Right Bookstore, Denver CO
October 18: School presentations to all students in grades 2-5 at Lycee Francais in Chicago
November 16: Hawaii SCBWI Webinar Presenter – Writing Nonfiction
November 23: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in Baltimore, MD – Using Picture Books to Inspire Self-Advocacy and Student-Led Learning panel member
November 25: School visit to Politz Hebrew Academy, Philadelphia, PA
November 26: Workshop for students at LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA
OUT AND ABOUT AND HAVING SO MUCH FUN:
Posts and Magazine Articles about Me and My Writing Journey
Forbes Magazine: Picture Books Tell the Story for Three Second-Act Writers
NH Magazine: Achieving Your Dreams – Children’s Book Author Vivian Kirkfield
On Writing and Illustrating Blog
On Susanna Leonard Hill’s Tuesday Debut Blog
On ReFoReMo (Reading for Research Month) Blog
On Lauri Fortino’s Frog on a Blog
On Darlene Bock Jacobson’s blog
Institute of Children’s Literature Podcast
Behind the Story on Little Bee Books’ Blog
On Kathy Temean Blog for Making Their Voices Heard
2021 Book Blog Tour:
October 14:http://justincolonbooks.com/cover-reveal-interview-and-giveaways-with-vivian-kirkfield/ – pb critique giveaway
December 9: Sandy Brehl: https://unpackingpicturebookpower.blogspot.com/2020/12/from-here-to-there-journey-of-ten.html
December 18: Beth Anderson: https://bethandersonwriter.com/2020/12/18/behind-the-scenes-creating-a-compilation-by-vivian-kirkfield Book or critique giveaway
December 22: Erin Dealey: https://www.erindealey.com/book-birthday/picture-book-sneak-peek-from-here-to-there-inventions-that-changed-the-way-the-world-moves-10-qs-with-vivian-kirkfield-and-a-giveaway/ Giveaway
January 4: Tara Lazar – I’ll be one of the mentor/bloggers for her Storystorm challenge https://taralazar.com/storystorm/ Giveaway
January 5: Kathy Temean: https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/ Giveaway
January 6: Laura Sassi: https://laurasassitales.wordpress.com/ Critique giveaway
January 8: Inclusion School podcast: https://drjuliecauston.podbean.com/
January 11: Manju Howard – Joint interview with my agent, Essie White: https://www.authormanjuhoward.com/blog-1
January 12: Kirsti Call: Reading for Research Month – Think Quick interview: http://www.reforemo.com/
January 13: Patricia Newman – LitLinks – Weaving STEM and Literacy: https://www.patriciamnewman.com/blog-4/
January 18: Maria Marshall – Picture Book Buzz interview: https://www.mariacmarshall.com/blog
January 19: Bianca Schulze – The Children’s Book Review – giveaway of 2 books and grand prize of 1 book and 30-minute Zoom author visit or 30-minute critique chat. Giveaway https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/
January 19: Matthew Winner is doing an Instagram Takeover of his podcast Instagram and will be sharing about From Here to There all day: @MatthewCWinner
January 20: Tina Cho – Grog Blog: https://groggorg.blogspot.com/ Giveaway
January 22: Maria Marshall – Perfect Picture Book Friday post – book or critique giveaway: https://www.mariacmarshall.com/blog
February 1: Melissa Stoller: https://www.melissastoller.com/
February 3: World Read Aloud Day: I’ll be reading From Here to There stories with three classes
February 11: Kaitlyn Sanchez: Math is Everywhere Blog for National Inventors Day
Headshots and more:
To contact Vivian:
Email: viviankirkfield@gmail.com
Phone: 719-237-3111
Social Media: Facebook Twitter Linkedin Pinterest Instagram
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 