ALUMNX STORY: Nora Ericson, 2010 MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults
Nora Ericson (WCYA ’10) is a 2010 graduate of the VCFA MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program and the author of the Dill & Bizzy series (Dill & Bizzy: An Odd Duck and a Strange Bird and Dill & Bizzy: Opposite Day). Ericson’s most recent book, the delightful picture book Too Early, has been named an ALA Notable, a Bank Street College Best Book of the Year, the 2023 Margaret Wise Brown Prize Honor Book, an Amazon Editor’s Pick and Best Book of the Month, and has received four starred reviews and a review in the New York Times. Most recently, Ericson and Too Early were honored with the Oregon Book Award for Children’s Literature.
Ericson spoke to VCFA about Too Early, her advice to her VCFA peers, and what she’s working on next.
Nora Ericson on Too Early
Q: What is a summary of Too Early?
A: Too Early is the story of a child who gets up, you guessed it, too early! But what starts as a sleepy stumble downstairs with
a slightly grouchy dad becomes a tender time together watching the rest of the world wake up. The beautiful illustrations by Canadian paper-artist Elly MacKay do so much to bring the story to life.
Q: What is the story behind Too Early? How did this particular book come to be?
A: My first child was an early riser, and I mean early. (He got up at 4:00am sharp for a number of years.) So my husband and I got to spend a lot of bleary pre-dawn hours contemplating both the magic and pain of parenthood! At one point I wrote a little poem/narrative about those early mornings from the perspective of my child and brought it to my writing group, wondering about whether it could be a picture book. The consensus was that it was more of a poem, without enough action to be a picture book. I can’t even remember if I ever showed it to my agent, but it definitely was never submitted to publishers. Years later, though, I read it at an “open mic” night at an SCBWI retreat and the editor in attendance (Emma Ledbetter at Abrams) later asked me to send it to her. And about four years later, in 2022, Too Early was published! It just missed the publication window for the 2023 Oregon Book Awards, though it got some lovely accolades and was the Margaret Wise Brown Honor Book in 2023. That is an award given specifically for a picture book text, and is something I’m very proud of. And then Too Early won the 2024 Oregon Book Award for Children’s Literature. The whole way it happened—my little ode to early mornings, first scribbled down in the wee hours as a sleep-deprived mom of young kids, winning this big award so many years later, when that early-rising child was about to turn 13—feels so improbable… and yet, here we are!
Q: What does receiving the Oregon Book Award for Children’s Literature mean to you as a writer?
A: The first few days after winning the award, I kept sort of randomly shaking my head in disbelief. Did that really happen? It felt like when I signed with my agent, Sara Crowe, many years ago. I kept feeling like maybe I was imagining the whole thing! And with the Oregon Book Award it didn’t help that I had arrived home from a three-week trip to New Zealand the evening before the ceremony. I knew I was a finalist, but the winners are announced from the stage, and I was so jet-lagged and delirious by that point, it wasn’t even that far-fetched to think it was all a dream! But in the longer term, there is definitely a kind of affirmation that comes from winning an award like this. It is so easy to feel imposter-syndrome and to feel like your career isn’t going anywhere, especially when you have long gaps between books like I’ve had. But getting this kind of recognition can help other people take your work seriously, and most importantly, help you take your own work more seriously. There are so many deserving books that don’t win awards, I know how lucky I am. So I’m trying to put the boost this award has given me to good use, refocusing on my writing and also dipping my toes into teaching. I’m actually teaching a workshop this February (2025) through Oregon Literary Arts on the crossover between poems and picture books!
Q: What encouragement/advice/mentorship would you give to your WCYA community?
A: Keep writing, don’t give up. I graduated from VCFA in 2010 and my career did anything but skyrocket. Through these many years of raising kids (my first was born in 2011), my productivity has certainly ebbed and flowed and I was never a fast or prolific writer to begin with. But the one thing I’ve had going for me is that I’ve never given it up. I think being creative and making art, whether it is with words or pictures or whatever your medium, has to be its own reward. As my art teacher way back in high school told me, you do it because you have to. And then once in a while, sometimes out of the blue, some recognition comes your way. Those external validations can be real highs, and open doors, but even then, and pretty darn quickly, the doubts will creep back in. So in the end, whether you get the agent/get published/win awards or not, it is the internal motivation to create which will sustain you.
Q: What are you working on next?
A: I have another picture book coming out next year with the same editor and illustrator as Too Early, though it is a very different book! The Bunny Ballet is a fantastical, rhyming celebration of lapin dancers and the illustrations by Elly MacKay are stunning. I’m pretty excited for its release! I’ve also been writing some longer pieces. I have two early middle-grade manuscripts complete and looking for a home in the (currently tough) middle-grade market. So we’ll see what happens with those. I’m also working on my first creative nonfiction picture book and taking an illustration class, so who knows what the next few years will bring!
Learn more about Ericson and Too Early at noraericson.com.