Curator Talk with Bruce Handy

Bruce Handy is a longtime magazine writer and editor whose work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Time, The New York Times, and elsewhere. He is the author of Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature as an Adult (2017) and the forthcoming Hollywood High: A Totally Epic, Way Opinionated History of Teen Movies. He has also written four picture books, three of which were named New York Times Best Children’s Books, including, most recently, There Was a Shadow (2024), illustrated by Lisk Feng. His fifth picture book, Balloon, illustrated by Julie Kwon, will be published this fall.

Airlie Anderson is the author and illustrator of Neither, Cat’s Colors, Momo and Snap Are Not Friends!, and several other children’s books. She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and creates her illustrations using gouache on paper. She has also won the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, and the Practical Preschool Award.

Sophia is a Filipina American artist born and raised in New York City. She collages, grows dye plants, weaves, dyes fabrics, marbles paper and illustrates. You can usually find her digging in the dirt at her local community garden, stirring dye pots or cooking with her son Lionni. She is the eldest of three sisters whose art and creative spirits constantly inspire her. 

Daniel Salmieri is an artist and illustrator from New York City. He graduated from the University of the Arts with a BFA in Illustration. His illustrations for picture books include four best-sellers, one of which is Dragons Love Tacos. He regularly contributes to The New Yorker and The New York Times and other print and digital media.