I received the news that I had been selected as one of the Robin Seaman Award (RSA) winners while sitting at my desk at the Chronicle Books office. Yes, I almost fell out of my chair. And yes, I didn’t tell anyone until I saw the news announced publicly, because it felt too good to be true and too good to jeopardize. The RSA award meant I could finally respond to the Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) committee and let them know I could attend and present at the ChLA 2023 Annual Conference in Bellevue, WA.
Two months before this announcement, I received notice that my paper proposal for the ChLA 2023 Annual Conference had been accepted. Unlike the euphoric shock from the award, I received the news about ChLA with a bittersweet mix of elation and resignation. It was an honor to be selected to present my paper, hear feedback on my work, and further develop my research at an academic conference, but I knew that traveling to and attending the event would be costly. Even with travel expenses and conference fees aside, continuing my research was already proving extremely difficult, financially, without the support of an academic institution. Though I loved my job in children’s book publishing, it seemed absurdly impossible to both work on that and develop my research as an independent scholar of children’s literature.
How could two seemingly overlapping worlds of the study of children’s books and the publishing of children’s books be so difficult to bridge?
I was discussing magical realism in a potential middle-grade novel acquisition in my day job and trying to delve deeper into my research on magical realism, race, and postcolonialism at night–if I could only get past this paywall and that journal subscription. As both a young publishing professional and a young independent scholar, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would have to choose between one of my two passions, even while I could see so clearly how they informed (and enriched!) each other and the work I was doing in both spaces.
The RSA meant that, at least for this year, I didn’t have to choose.
The award, Robin’s legacy, and the greater BAWiP support network inspires me to remember that especially in the publishing community, taking the opportunity to dream beyond the scaffolding of our industry status quo is welcomed, if not outrightly encouraged.
Pushing for diversity in what we publish stems from us being able to dream gravely, learn seriously, and discuss openly — it is not enough to simply try our best when we don’t know how, when, and where to begin in our trying. In a way I completely did not expect, the trust, openness, and unwavering support of the RSA has reinstilled in me the hope that so many of us in publishing are still committed to learning more, dreaming bigger, and doing better.
About the Author:
Mikaela Luke is a reader, scholar, and children’s books enthusiast, currently working as a Children’s Marketing Coordinator at Chronicle Books. She first moved to the Bay to attend college at UC Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.A. in English and a minor in Journalism. Besides book publishing, Mikaela has also worked in digital media and tech communications — all before returning to school to receive her M.A. in Children’s Literature from Simmons University. Her work on children’s literature and fantasy has been presented at conferences such as the International Society of Children’s Literature’s Biennial Congress and the Children’s Literature Association’s Annual conference.