Dan Mahoney was frustrated.
He wanted to turn his passion for art into a career, but he couldn’t find any takers for the comic strip he’d drawn. He’d sent his portfolio to publishers, but it hadn’t landed him any work.
So Mahoney decided to drive from Albany to New York City to hand deliver his portfolio to a publisher. As long as he was there, he thought, he’d leave a copy with a second publisher, too.
When he went back to the second publisher later in the day, Mahoney expected to find the typical Nice work, here are a few things you could improve note attached to his portfolio. Instead, he landed his first job.
`They said, ‘We really love your work, and there’s one picture we thought could be a story,’` Mahoney remembered.
That story turned into Mahoney’s first book, `The Saturday Escape.` He hasn’t looked back since that big break, publishing two more of his own books, illustrating others and creating artwork for clients such as Scholastic and Weekly Reader Magazine.
Mahoney also makes a number of school visits each year, reading to kids and showing them the work that goes into putting a book together. It was during one of those visits, to the Albany Academies, that he suggested putting together an event where kids could come and meet authors from around the region. Mahoney had been to a similar festival in Rochester and liked the idea of holding one in Albany ` a city that `never really does anything like this,` he said.
It does now. On Friday, April 17, as the culmination of National Library Week, the Albany Academies will host a Children’s Book Festival from 3 to 7 p.m. More than 15 children’s books authors will be on hand to talk to kids, sign books and do demonstrations. Admission is free ` the authors all said they were happy to donate their time.
`For me, it’s a fun thing,` said Sylie Kantorovitz, an Albany-based author and illustrator. `You get to meet with the world instead of being stuck in the studio all day.`
Mahoney, an Albany native, is particularly excited because he never had the chance to meet any authors himself when he was a kid. Not that that stopped him from aspiring to be published himself ` he still has a folder full of comic books he created when he was younger.
`I’ve just always loved to draw,` he said.
The same is true of Kantorovitz, who spent a year teaching in her native France before deciding to try to make it as a children’s book illustrator and author. Like Mahoney, she landed a big break after taking her portfolio to Manhattan and showing it around. A publisher wanted her to illustrate `The Wheels on the Bus,` a song book by well-known children’s musician Raffi.
It’s common for a publisher to pair a relatively new and unknown illustrator with a high-profile writer, Kantorovitz explained. That’s because they can save a few bucks on the illustrator while paying the star the big money.
Not that Kantorovitz was complaining. She was thrilled for the chance to actually make money through her art.
More illustrating gigs followed, and then Kantorovitz had a daughter, Sosha. As Kantorovitz regaled her daughter with stories, she decided to try to have a book of her own published. In 2004, that dream was realized when Kantorovitz’s `I Love You, Mister Bear` was printed.
`It’s based on my daughter,` she said. `We used to go to yard sales and look for toys.`
`I Love You, Mister Bear` tells the story of one such toy, a raggedy teddy bear that the main character ` also named Sosha ` finds at a yard sale. She takes the bear home and fixes it up until it’s as good as new.
Mahoney, too, has drawn on real life for inspiration. As a kid, he and his friends wanted to build a clubhouse, but they couldn’t decide what kind of clubhouse to build. It’s the same dilemma that a horse, pig, dog and bull face in Mahoney’s `The Perfect Clubhouse.`
Anna Alter, who will travel to Albany for the children’s book festival from her home outside of Boston, said she likes to write about kids resolving issues. The book she just had published, `What Can You Do With an Old Red Shoe?` tackles recycling. It offers about a dozen projects kids can try to recycle everyday items, like turning a ripped shower curtain into an apron.
Creativity has been a hallmark of Alter’s life. Both her parents were artists, and they always supported her pursuit of the arts, which took her to the Rhode Island School of Design.
`I was lucky they didn’t ask any of those questions about how I was going to make a living,` she said.
She hopes that she can offer similar inspiration at events like the Children’s Book Festival, knowing not everyone grows up with parents as encouraging as hers.
Organizers said they aren’t sure just how many kids the event will draw.
`We could have 200, we could have 1,000,` said Ann Wendth, the academies’ director of external affairs ` but if the turnout is good, they’d like to turn this into an annual event.
Mahoney has high hopes, noting that they thought they’d be lucky to get just a few authors.
`I never thought it would turn out like this,` he said.
The Children’s Book Festival is Friday, April 17, from 3 to 7 p.m. on the West Campus of the Albany Academies, 135 Academy Road in Albany. “
