Henry Cole and Cynthia DeFelice, who have delighted readers of all ages for years, will bring their enthusiasm for children’s literature to southeast Kansas this week for the annual Allen County Young Authors Conference.
They will be joined by local elementary and middle school students who have penned their own stories Saturday for a Young Authors Celebration at Iola High School.
DeFelice has penned novels and picture books for the past 25 years. Cole, meanwhile, focuses primarily on illustration, although he, too, has written stories.
Cole even collaborated with DeFelice on her 2003 award-winning “Nelly May Has Her Say,” a story about a servant girl whose new master insists she create unusual names for common objects.
And Cole’s name should ring a bell for local reading enthusiasts. He participated at the 2006 Young Authors Celebration, appearing jointly with long-time collaborator Pamela Duncan Edwards.
Cole grew up on a dairy farm outside Purcellville, Va.
He studied forestry at Virginia Tech University, which allowed him to dabble in his lifelong loves of art and science.
The son of a professional illustrator, Cole nonetheless is best described as a “self-taught” artist, drawing on his ability to study nature closely and observe a vast array of plants, animals and other interesting objects.
Cole has taught elementary school science classes for 16 years. He lives in Florida.
“I’ve always loved to draw pictures, and I’ve always loved picture books,” Cole writes in his website www.henrycole.net.
He marveled at visiting authors and illustrators who would visit his school — not unlike this year’s Young Authors events — and eventually convinced himself to try his hand at illustrating a book.
He has since illustrated more than 60 books for other authors, while writing and illustrating six of his own.
DeFELICE began her writing career a bit later in life — at age 37 — when she worked as a children’s librarian.
When reading a story, she noted how intently the youngsters would pay attention during particularly engrossing stories.
She decided to give it a whirl with “The Strange Night Writing of Jessamine Colter.”
