BIO
Hello! My name is Emily Durant and I write children’s literature.
I’d like to thank a few people and things for making my writing possible. My young son Charlie, for giving me endless ideas both in the way he lives his life/ constant questioning attitude as well as giving me actual book titles that he wants me to write. (Most recently a book about a Mom trying to read and a child keeps bothering her called "PLEASE BE QUIET I'M TRYING TO READ." I truly don’t know where he gets these ideas from!)
I’d also like to thank my beautiful writing desk which I purchased a mere month before the pandemic struck in 2020. Without you, this wouldn’t be possible. I apologize for covering you so completely with plants.
Probably most importantly, thank you to the gentleman who walks down the sidewalk by my window every morning at 5:00 am on the way to work in wind, snow, or rain, and every. single. day. gives me a wave and a cheers with his coffee cup. When I get published, you can bet he’s going to get a signed copy of my book.
Oh, and my husband too, because he’s a pretty cool guy.
A few other things about me – I am a part-time hospital-based physical therapist and I work with a wide variety of medical-surgical, cardiac, and neurological patients. Some call it torture, I call it training. (Potato, Potahto). Along with lifting weights in my social-distancing-friendly home gym, I’m a regular at the rock-climbing gym, and enjoy climbing outside as well (weather requirements: >65° F).
My rhyming children's book "The Art of Staying Dry" recently won 1st place in the children’s book category of the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association 2020 Literary Contest for Unpublished Work. See below for fancy-schmancy certificate.
Thanks for stopping by my page!
MY WORK
My style for children’s picture books is varied. Manuscript length ranges from a cozy and concise 150 words to an 800-word realistic fiction book about a child’s experience outdoor rock climbing for the first time.
I enjoy writing in both prose and rhyme - whatever feels right for that particular story - and I love injecting a little bit of humor into my stories!
My favorite focus for children’s books is on the incredible relationship between children and the natural world. As Richard Louv writes in Last Child in the Woods,
“The dugout in the weeds or leaves beneath a backyard willow, the rivulet of a seasonal creek, even the ditch between a front yard and the road – all of these places are entire universes to a young child.”
There are so many stories to be told within these small universes that will awaken a child’s sense of natural wonder - and maybe revive the parent’s sense of wonder as well!
I am currently working on a chapter book series that is reminiscent of “The Wind in the Willows” meets “The Great Mouse Detective.”
BOOKS I LOVE!
Unstoppable
by Adam Rex
The Dragon and the Nibblesome Knight
by Elli Woollard
Still Stuck
by Shinsuki Yoshitake
The Book With No Pictures
by B.J. Novak
The Magic Finger
by Roald Dahl
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
The Famous Five
by Enid Blyton
The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster
My Absolute Darling
by Gabriel Tallent
Mr. Pudgins
by Ruth Christoffer Carlsen
The Redwall Series
by Brian Jacques
Last Child in the Woods
by Richard Louv
MEMBERSHIPS
PUBLICATIONS
AWARDS
MEMBERSHIPS
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Pacific Northwest Writers' Association (PNWA)
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Society for Children's Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
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Julie Hedlund's 12x12 Picture Book Challenge
PUBLICATIONS
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"Rethinking Rats." La Joie journal. Winter 2021
HONORS & AWARDS
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"The Art of Staying Dry" First place in the children's book category of the Pacific Northwest Writers' Association 2020 Literary Contest for Unpublished Work
